Seasonal review: 10,000 hours deliberate practice photography spring 2023. To see the above photos in more details, click on the image above, to read about them click below, and in either case please follow me on the social media links to the right.
Top Image
“London in Spring”
This is a detail of an image shot on a rainy day in Trafalgar Square, London (27th April); cropped and inverted. I like the multiple layers: first is the red coated figure walking across the scene; buildings in the background are visible as they define the skyline; then one notices the shoes at the bottom, which are the only part of the image that is not a reflection; and the whole thing is overlaid by the grid pattern of the wet paving slabs.
It works because it grabs the attention, but requires the viewer to understand what is going on, and in this way maintains their interest.
Other Images
“Black Tulip”
Initially shot on a white background on 9th May in my garden at home. The chalkboad background was shot at the Chiltern Open Air Museum last year.
“Surprise Arch”
Shot on 27th May in the “Fiery Furnace” of Arches National Park, Utah, USA.
The shot was made vertically upwards. So there is no natural orientation to the image. After discussing this with member of the Amersham Coffee group, the consensus was that it felt most comfortable to have the clouds at the top of the image.
“In every landscape should reside jewels of abstract art waiting to be discovered.”
Melissa Brown
“Dining Rock Squirrel”
Shot in Zion National Park, Utah, USA.
“Hard Technology”
Shot from the side of the road in Utah; mans intrusion into the desert wilderness.
“Road Trip Americana”
A classic road trip scene through central USA
“Dystopian Woodland”
The main burnt branch is almost an abstract in its own right.
“Arch at Arches NP, Utah”
“Early Morning Utah”
Shot after a failed attempt to get to Kodachrome Basin, first thing in the morning.
“Yellow T-Shirt, Shades and Fire Hydrant”
Denver street scene.
New Artists and Philosophers
- Julian Schnabel (12th March)
- Surrealists (4th April):
- Yves Tanguy
- Kay Sage
- Georgio de Chirico
- Cicily Brown (30th May)
Danto’s The Expressive Theory of Art explained by Amor Sciendi postulates that each new art movement builds on the development of the past with the goal of ever improving the artist’s ability to express themselves, i.e., how they feel about a subject. This assumes the purpose of art to be emotional communication, which was my definition in my early post “What is Art?” which was written at the start of this project.
If one accepts Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes as art, or any of the post expressionistic art movements, art is not emotional intelligence. The Institutional Theory of Art, i.e., “It’s art of the art world says it is”, endorses post expressionistic art. So art by that definition is more than emotional intelligence. This is the basis of my “Further Thoughts on Art” post that I started writing this quarter.
Distinctions
Not a good season for distinctions: my prospective Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society was not accepted on 12th April due to technical issues and I failed (again) the CPAGB assessment on the 22nd April.