% - Ten Thousand Hours Photography

Progress towards photography goals and skill development — Click above to go straight to top images – below for more content including progress towards goals, skill development and analysis of time spent.

Goals Set at 2,500 Hours

Regarding the goals and aspirations set in my “The First 2,500 Hours – Review at 25%“, this is an interim report on my way to 5,000 hours which was the timeline for the goals.

Formal Qualifications

CPAGB – Failed in November 2019 with only 183 points out of the required 200. See “My Failed CPAGB Submission“. I received some terrific advice from Ray Brammel who was appointed as my “Advisor”, and I now feel more confident. Resubmission, end of 2020/ early 2021 Covid-19 permitting.
Interestingly 8 out of the 10 images in my new submission have been shot since the 2,500 hour milestone.
ARPS – I received some limited feedback from the PIC group, on the 19^th December 2019, regarding my multiple exposure images of London (only 5 images presented). Overall comment from Steve Smith FRPS(x2): “Look at how Peter Stevens FRPS did it, and copy that”. My objective differed from Peter Stevens’ in that I am trying to depict the experience of the business traveller or commuter and show London as a dynamic hub of commercial energy.
Since the Coronavirus lockdown I have been unable to take any more images, London has changed, and I have instead looked at re-processing the images I shot before in more vivid colours. Thus representing my recollection of London before the pandemic. Hoping to obtain some more advice about this soon.
AFIAP – I have all the acceptances I require for this with the exception of prints. A number of print salons, or the print section of mixed salons, have been cancelled due to concerns about coronavirus. However, I am reasonably confident that I will have the required 4 print acceptances by the autumn of this year when I can apply for the distinction.
BPE1 – requires 25 acceptances into British Photographic Exhibitions. I think this is just a case of getting the acceptances as part of the general FIAP Salon process and applying.

Style Development

I aspire to create clean minimalist images.

My “go to” colour toning action adds a ColourTone adjustment layer to warm the shadows, with (10,-10,-10) adjustments, and cool the highlights (-10,10,10). This gives the appearance of adding contrast to the image, but I am undecided about how much I like the effect. Certainly needs more work.

Technical Skills to Acquire

I have moved completely from PC to Mac hardware having purchased a 27inch iMac and a small MacBookPro.

Camera tethered to laptop in studio progress towards photography goals and skill development — Shooting tethered in a studio environment – 18^th July

Specific skills targeted:

I use a Wacom tablet exclusively, even for doing my emails. I haven’t touched the Mac mouse for months, literally.
Pen tool in photoshop used on a regular basis to make complex selections. Still not an expert user – but getting there.

Artistic Development

Goal was to “improve the quality of the work I’m producing to the level of the FIAP International Salons” and in particular to do more:

Monochrome – lots of Landscapes from Patagonia converted to Black and White with a few fairing well in FIAP salons
Portraiture – Some images shot at reenactments at the Chiltern Open Are Museum, keen to do more
Nature/ Wildlife, still an area that requires development.

Top Images

“Hoodie Descending a Staircase” – best competitive image with 27 acceptances and 2 awards from FIAP salons – also won first prize in the Intermediate section of the Amersham Print competition on 11th November 2019.

Multiple exposure Paddington Station London — Entering the Underground at Paddington

“Man and Best Friend” – a personal favourite.
Shot whilst with my friend and mentor Yin Wong in Portobello Road on 21st July 2019.
Has done reasonably well in FIAP and club competitions but was considered too “high risk” to include in my next CPAGB application.

“The Scowl” – a generally successful monochrome image – again shot with Yin, this time at the Chiltern Open Are Museum, and received help and advice from a number of sources including my PAGB advisor, Ray Brammel, on 7th June 2020.

“Time from Reuters Plaza” – a different style of monochrome

Three Silver Birch in Stoke Common — “First Light Stoke Common” – shot during the Coronavirus lockdown – well received by the Amersham Mono Group

Monochrome lake scene with stormy sky — “God Rays Patagonia” – my most successful landscape image. Shot in Chile early 2020 accepted in several FIAP salons.

“Fox Cub Patagonia” – also shot in Chile early 2020.

Karl Taylor Education – Challenge #2Wine Bottle Photography – took about a week to shoot in June 2020

Food still life — “King Prawn Pad Thai” part of a commission from the Som Tam Thai Restaurant in Shepherds Bush London

How Time has been Spent

When I started this project on 1^st November 2017 I defined what counts as an hour deliberate practice and specifically what does not. Then in my post “Time Analysis at 3,000 Hours” I defined the categories used below:

Analysis of progress towards photography goals and skill development — How my time has been spent – each bar represents 100 hours of deliberate practice.

Overall my time has been spent as follows:

Shooting (including planning and preparing for shoots) – 17%
Processing and editing – 37%
Writing up this journal – 18%
Learning activities – 29%

This means I’m spending over half my time actually “doing”, i.e., shooting and editing, with the other half split between the reflective activity of writing up this journal (including posts like this one) and learning how others work.