Some final thoughts and my Tutor's reports

With everything now ready for assessment submission, this seems like a good time to record some final thoughts about the course and my own state of development.

What impact has the course had on my photography?

Overall, I believe that my photography has developed a thoughtful and experimental strand that was missing previously.
Rather than individual photos, I am beginning to think in series or groups, with an attempt at an idea behind them.
On the interpersonal skills side, I still have some way to go before I could take a close portrait of a complete stranger uninvited, but otherwise I think I have demonstrated that I can take photos of people with a reasonable degree of success and use people in shots to emphasise the points I am making, or to add emphasis or interest to a shot.
A big step forward for me on this course was the ability to demonstrate the importance of note-taking, research, ideas and concepts to the process of developing a story.
Another major change has been the demonstration of a good level of ability in the effective selection and editing of images to achieve objectives and show that I can reflect perceptively on my learning experience.

What did I learn from the course, in no particular order?

• To look at the world around me and explore its photographic potential.
• To use technical and interpersonal skills effectively to capture images which reflect your ideas
• To take time to properly understand any opportunity, consider the different angles and compositional possibilities before shooting.
• To work around any brief, if asked for 4 themes, develop 10 and select the best.  For most of the assignments I have taken a stepwise refinement process, not only of the images, but also the conceptual base.
• That it really is better to ask for forgiveness than permission - a cliche, but in this day and age a critical attitude for anyone photographing in public places
• To study practicing photographers, learn from their success and try to adapt some of it to my own style.  
• To think about photographs as they relate to each other, I have tried very hard to deliver photographic essays, not simply the best individual images for the assignments.
• Oddly, to take a break from photography, put the camera down for a few weeks and then start again.  Prior to Christmas I was suffering from overload, being unable to shoot for a few weeks has reinvigorated my desire and view.
• A considerable part of the course's success for me was the way it has developed my understanding of the ability of a photo or series of photos to tell a story or convey an idea or a feeling.
• I still have a huge amount to learn, however, my biggest takeaway is a significant increase in confidence and a feeling of being able to handle pretty much any subject matter now.

I found this a difficult course to engage with in the early stages, because it pushed me so far from my comfort zone, but I’m glad I persisted.
Whatever the outcome of this assessment I’m sure my photography is better for it.
A key challenge for the next few months is not to lose the momentum on people photography. Whether I’ll be able do this by developing some more personal projects remains to be seen, but I’ve gained too much to drop it now.


All my assignments, and the working associated with them, can be found via the links on the right.


The assessors or anyone else who is interested can find the Tutor's reports hereunder:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2MajyfW2UfuUHZlNXhud1FrS1U/view?usp=sharing