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Introduction and Scope
This is the fifth winter time review of my 10,000 hours of deliberate practice learning the art of photography covering the months December 2021 to February 2022. Specifically, I look at:
- Top Images
- Long Term Projects
- Progress Against Goals
- Notes
Top Images
York
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| Impressionistic street scene of York in pre-Christmas celebration. | “Golden streets of York” Cold morning as the first few residents venture out to start their day. |
The above were shot at the start of December when I made photo walks every day around the city, both first thing in the morning and early evening. On just such an unplanned walk, I discovered a closed show selling hairpieces. Seeing it from the other side of the road, I thought there has to be a photo here. The aim was to combine the mannequin heads with the reflection of the street.
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| “Roof-Top View” | “Dodgy Outlook” |
Abstracts and Composites
The above is inspired by Magritte’s “L’Empire des lumières” paintings which show a nighttime street scene with a daytime sky. This was entered into competition on the 8th of this month, sadly the judge didn’t recognise that it was a composite and clearly didn’t know who Rene Magritte was. In hindsight, perhaps the sky needs to be a little brighter.
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| “Composition in Green and Magenta” | “Homage to Barnett Newman” |
Both of the above were shot at the Stoke Poges Photography Club workshop on the 7th of December and then entered into competition on the 25th January.
Polina Plotnikova Flower Course
Using continuous lighting and juddering intentional camera movement over a 2 second exposure. The key tip from the course was to plan the movement so that the key elements remain within the frame throughout the exposure.
The above technique also works in creative portraiture.
Karl Taylor – “Working to a Brief” Challenges
“Milk Splash”
Composite of a number of splashes and pour. All shot with a fast flash, my Godox AD600 on about 16th power.
Mood was considered to be good when judged by Karl on the 9th February.
Karl Taylor – Working to a brief challenge – mock honey advert.
I think this is my best attempt at a challenge to date and meets the brief on the basis that:
- the mood is healthy and optimistic
- all items are broadly in the location specified
- backlighting is good and matched by the cutout round the lavender which looks natural
- honey dipper well positioned against the background and well darkened to emphasise the honey
- good golden glow on the wooden board in the foreground from light through the honey.
Images Submitted to the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition
The November challenge for the Amersham Beyond group was an image worthy of the RA’s Summer Exhibition. This inspired a visit to the exhibition on the 26th November, and then the production of a couple of images for the Beyond Group challenge.
Long Term Projects
Presentation of my potential A Panel to the Amersham PIC group on 20th January. The biggest issue was that the images were “too blue” and many people just didn’t get past this.
Other issues included:
- too much repetition between images, e.g., images 9 & 10; each picture is like a chapter of a book and should say something new
- images 11 & 15 had burnt highlights
- 8 just wasn’t good enough for a central image.
Images 1, 12, 13, 14 & 5 were considered OK, and they liked the mounting and general presentation of the panel. “‘Landscape’ is a difficult category.”
No progress was made towards the EFIAP accreditation and momentum has been lost on this front.
Progress Against Goals
Understanding of the history of art moved forward with an appreciation of:
- The German Expressionists, including the “Blue Rider and “Bridge” groups
- humour in the works of Paul Klee
- The New York School of Abstract Expressionism; specific interest in
- Helen Frankenthaler – Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2nd February
- Clyfford Still – Life line works.