This journal records my actual 10,000 hours photography; ten thousand hours of deliberate practice mastering the art of photography. In particular, these journal pages contain references to:
- Images as they are made
- References to source materials
- Thoughts that might, or might not, later form part of a full post
(Hours at start of month: 9,019)
15th September 2024
Hours 9,060 to 9,06
(½h) editing and processing the Ultra photos shot yesterday
14th September 2024
Hour 9,059
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) shooting a friend running the Thames Path 100km Ultra Marathon – image replayed to supporters via direct transfer to iPhone then WhatsApp
13th September 2024
Hours 9,057 to 9,058
(1h) identifying images for SPPC externals
(½h) creating the following version of the “September Fantasy” image following yesterday’s comments from the Amersham Mono Group
(½h) updating this journal
12th September 2024
Hours 9,052 to 9,056
(½h) updating this journal and Flickr site
(1h) creating the images below, a slightly coloured version of the original with a shadow on added to the box on the wall to show its 3 dimensional prominence from the rest of the wall. Now called “September Fantasy” to suggest back-to-school
and one in mono, which I had printed and took to the Amersham Mono group
(1½h) sorting images for the Stoke Poges Photographic Club’s entry into external competitions
(2h) Amersham Mono Group where the above image was critiqued – generally liked but the white inside of her coat was deemed to be too white and to have lost the texture that was visible in the colour versions
11th September 2024
Hours 9,050 to 9,052
(1h) creating a combined version of the “Son of Man” image – which is my best version to date
(2h) at the Amersham Coffee meeting where my images were discussed (comments below), along with Laurie Turner’s workshop on Monday
Image | ….. | Comment |
Currently untitled “Friends tells friends never to do spot colour” Need to bring back a little colour in the background | ||
“Pinstripes” Considered a potential competition image | ||
“The Passenger” There was some confusion as to what this was an image of, let alone about. Which disqualifies it as a competition image – I still like it in terms of composition | ||
“Hassan and Oryx” Oryx is perhaps slightly too sharp and distracting | ||
“The Distorted Voice of Space” Nobody knew the Magritte original which is a general problem for the accessibility of my series of recreations | ||
“Insight” Again nobody knew Magritte’s, 1935, The Portrait, painting which inspired this image (along with the success of my “Magritte Hat Pipe Flower & Cloud“) |
10th September 2024
Hours 9,048 to 9,049
(1h) updating this journal, mainly with notes and reflections from yesterday’s APS talk
Not to be confused with the philosophy of Mark Fisher and his book of the same name; “Capitalist Realism”, as an art term, refers to the Berlin-based movement of the 1960s expressing their unique position between the Soviet Realism of the East and Pop-Art of the West
(1h) at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club – interesting following the post-processing workflow of Ken Grant, a professional photographer and highly competent photoshop user
9th September 2024
Hours 9,046 to 9,047
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – talk/ workshop by Laurie Turner: “Wonderful Images: the Art of Composition”
This essentially boils down to:
- decide the objective; what the image is about rather than what it is of
- work out how to deliver this in the clearest way; with fewest distractions and maximum simplification
This is the same principle as writing clear concise text
Left me feeling unsatisfied as this does not work for abstract art – also the element of intrigue was missing. A good image commands the viewer’s attention
8th September 2024
Hours 9,044 to 9,045
(2h) starting the “9,000 Hours – 90% Review” post
7th September 2024
Hours 9,039 to 9,043
(1h) finishing and publishing my “Summer 2024” post
(2h) shooting the Stoke Poges Village Market – Organising Committee, right
(2h) editing and processing the day’s images
6th September 2024
Hours 9,035 to 9,038
(½h) creating and ordering prints for next Wednesday’s Amersham Coffee meeting
(½h) creating the following “Climate Change” variation of the previous Damaraland Grasses which might work as a PDI making it look like a torn image as it will be surrounded in black with an incomplete keyline so that the torn areas blend in with the background
(2h) working on the “Summer 2024” post, including finalising the selection of top 10 images and creating the cover image
(½h) collating the rest of the time data for the “After 9,000 Hours – 90% Review”
(½h) preparing for tomorrow’s shoot at the first ever Stoke Poges Village Market
5th September 2024
Hours 9,033 to 9,034
(2h) creating the, temporarily named, “August 2024”, above which started as a mono conversion of a derelict building shot in Riga a few days ago. I thought it might make an interesting backdrop for a CosPlay model, e.g., shot at ComicCon last year. I think it works better with just the legs, and the shadow suggesting the rest of the image
4th September 2024
Hours 9,029 to 9,032
(1h) entering the Flobecq print salon in Belgium
(1h) Amersham Coffee meeting discussing, inter alia, the images in the catalogue of last year’s Smethwick salon – this also being largely print based
(2h) updating the August 2024 journal page, adding images from Riga
3rd September 2024
Hours 9,026 to 9,028
(1h) updating this journal with images from Riga
(1h) adding the tear to “Insight”, right
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club including long discussions with a potential new member, Rick Moore who has a lot of experience
2nd September 2024
Hours 9,023 to 9,025
(1h) early morning street photography in Riga:
- “Riga Contre Jour”, left
- “First Day of Term Riga”, below
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s images
(1h) at the Amersham Photographic Society where each of the sub-groups presented the best images from the previous season – inspiration stuff
1st September 2024
Hours 9,019 to 9,022
(1h) early morning street photography in Riga, “Beyond the Art Nouveau Quarter”, above. I like the woman leaning out of the window, smoking a cigarette and looking at her phone as the world passes by in the street
(2h) at the Latvian National Museum of Art, including at least 5 minutes sitting directly opposite and appreciating the massive 8x10m painting by Andris Eglitis which was commissioned or the opera Hamlet by Janis Kalnins, below. The Eglitis exhibition continued in the basement as “Some Encounters of Imagination and
Matter”
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
New artists:
- Andris Eglītis, born 1981 in Latvia, exhibition “Some Encounters of Imagination and Matter”
- Jānis Deinats, photographer, “The First Five Years”, documentary of the period before Latvian independence