Levels/Achievements avalible in Photography?

Jooo13

Jooo13

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Jo
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Hello all again! :D
I'm a Yr9 (Going into Yr10 in September) student from Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School and I've chosen my options for GCSE.
Art was my main, most focused choice as it will most likely be incorporated into something I want to do in the future, but photography is a passion of my mine I've had for a while...and I've been told I have a gift for it :love:
I've set up an online portofolio for some of my work, too www.joannejohnson.daportfolio.com

I was a bit annoyed at the fact my school does not offer an A-level or GCSE course of any type in photography although my teacher has agreed to let me merge it into my artwork... if I can find the ways in which to do it :lol: I'll also be doing art in one year, instead of the usual two for GCSE so I can start an A level at an earlier age :D

But I was wondering if there are any courses/levels avalible to achieve for me at my age out of school? As I'm wanting to build a good reputation in photography before I apply for University :p

Thank you! - I'll stop rambling now! :lol:
Jo​
 
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Obviously I shouldn't be saying this on results day of all days but...qualifications aren't everything. Between art GCSE, a-levels and university you're going to be more than qualified enough to do anything photography related as far as education goes. Concentrate on getting good results in them, rather than adding any other courses or anything - they won't do you many favours for the amount of work.

There are two things you need to do to become a good photographer in my opinion - look at lots of photos and take lots of photos. Find ones you like, work out why you like them and then take something influenced by them. Take any opportunities you get to photograph things. Take your camera out with you regularly and snap away. Maybe use something like Flickr, or DeviantArt to show off your pictures and get feedback, and offer it to other people. Maybe do the same on here. Maybe join a camera club. Maybe try and find a few people that share your interest and go out as a group. Etc.

Just take lots of photos. Concentrate on making your portfolio amazing (and there is already some good stuff in there, so you're off to a good start) and you'll be a more employable photographer than anyone who has done every course available.

Good luck with it!
 
If you want to merge photography in to art, consider things like showing half of a photo, say a landscape, but them you draw/paint/sketch the other half.

IE! Consider a dark moody photo of a graveyard, use one half of the photo and then draw either the rest of the scene of a lighter more life celebrating image for the other half :)

As for courses, I wouldn't worry too much about qualifications in photography at this point. Instead, look at setting yourself personal challenges or taking part in the '52' challenge on here :) Qualifications are important if you want to go into things like Forensic photography or teaching.

You may also want to consider a business related course, this will help you in the long run with running a successful business :)
 
grades wont get you a reputation in photography.
Photographs will! :D

But really for college you have 2 choices.
BTEC In Photography (National Diploma Level 3) - Equal to 3 A-Levels
or
A-Level photography at a sixthform college.

BTEC at MMM or above will genereally get you into university.
Not sure about A-Level as im ona BTEC.

But as i said, reputation is about your work - not your grades.

Hope this helped,
 
Thanks everyone! :D It's all greatly appreciated. I'm looking at other sixth forms in my area as my school curently doesn't provide BTEC or A-levels in Photography :(
 
Jo - BTEC ND Photography is at College, not availiable in high school.
Most Photography courses are at college (not year 10/11 - year 12/13 in sixthform)
 
Jooo13 said:
Hello all again! :D
I'm a Yr9 (Going into Yr10 in September) student from Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School and I've chosen my options for GCSE.
Art was my main, most focused choice as it will most likely be incorporated into something I want to do in the future, but photography is a passion of my mine I've had for a while...and I've been told I have a gift for it :love:
I've set up an online portofolio for some of my work, too www.joannejohnson.daportfolio.com

I was a bit annoyed at the fact my school does not offer an A-level or GCSE course of any type in photography although my teacher has agreed to let me merge it into my artwork... if I can find the ways in which to do it :lol: I'll also be doing art in one year, instead of the usual two for GCSE so I can start an level at an earlier age :D

But I was wondering if there are any courses/levels avalible to achieve for me at my age out of school? As I'm wanting to build a good reputation in photography before I apply for University :p

Thank you! - I'll stop rambling now! :lol:
Jo​
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lol i'm awaiting my GCSE results on tuesday but i went to queen elizabeths mercian school.

when i chose options i chose media because i was into photography and film and so media made sense, if you can get that then do it but something i would seriously recommend doing that i never did...you can do photography at college after you finish high school but what i'm stressing about is that the course i'm trying to get onto requires 4 GCSE passes and so pick easy subjects because your grades from high school are menial its just a ticket to 'proper' education in college and uni etc, so try and pick easy and fun subjects. while art is related to photography all my mates regretted taking it because of the exams and coursework it required. heres my take on options;

PE - pointless really especially for photography

RE - really simple GCSE and quite interesting but not related to photography

English - it can be hard for some and easy for others, it teaches you techniques that also help in photography.

Maths - lovely subject especially for photography but some can do maths and some can't.

Science - again a bit like maths its a nice subject to learn about the technical aspects of photography but it can be easy for some and hard for others.

Music/music tech - not related to photography but fun if you can play instruments.

Art - best for creative photography however the exams and coursework requires an extreme amount of dedication.

History - pretty fun I took it and enjoyed it coursework can be a pain and not related to photography.

Geography - boring unless you like that sort of stuff.

IT - this can be really fun also and i've heard no problems whatsoever from any of my mates that took it.

Business studies - this is awesome and i mean absolutely brilliant i took it and its helped me so much when it comes to making money from photography.

these are GCSE but they normally have vocational courses (BTEC) aswell involving media which I took and child care etc.

Hope this helps, and remember we are near the same age so i know what I'm talking about :lol:

geo
 
:lol: Thank you for your advice...I hope your results come back good!
I've chosen to take:

Art
Geography
ICT short course (Half a GCSE and I already have a qualification in there too :D)
French
And I'm also doing an AS level In Sociology & Extended Science GCSE (Where you get the 3 qualifications instead of standard two) :D


And all the other mandatory subjects :)
 
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Jooo13 said:
:lol: Thank you for your advice...I hope your results come back good!
I've chosen to take:

Art
Geography
ICT short course (Half a GCSE and I already have a qualification in there too :D)
French
And I'm also doing an AS level In Sociology & Extended Science GCSE (Where you get the 3 qualifications instead of standard two) :D


And all the other mandatory subjects :)
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pretty good selection that is, not much of a MFL person myself but never have been. that sociology one sounds very unusual indeed:lol:

hopefully you'll do well and walk away with a nice selection of results and besides there so easy to get nowadays you can get them on the backs of cereal boxes :lol:
 
mastertrinity said:
pretty good selection that is, not much of a MFL person myself but never have been. that sociology one sounds very unusual indeed:lol:

hopefully you'll do well and walk away with a nice selection of results and besides there so easy to get nowadays you can get them on the backs of cereal boxes :lol:
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Thanks, I'm hoping for A's all round :D

Yeah, the Sociology is only opened up to a few students each year :D
 
RevOnline said:
Afraid to break it to you, but...

They're not.

(Good luck with your results though!)
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lol i hear soo many say that, its but depends on expectations. I am entertained by just having photography in my life so the rest of my life might be hard yet i'm happy.

high school is easy I know that already and i only left two months ago but some like it and some hate it...me...i hated it.
 
Jooo13 said:

I was a bit annoyed at the fact my school does not offer an A-level or GCSE course of any type in photography although my teacher has agreed to let me merge it into my artwork​
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As soon as I read this bit I was impressed. Well done on getting Photography into the artwork, on getting your teacher to agree.. It may be a landmark and become a part of the course for furture students... Not everyone would have the gumption to sort that.... So I say well done :)
 
KIPAX said:
As soon as I read this bit I was impressed. Well done on getting Photography into the artwork, on getting your teacher to agree.. It may be a landmark and become a part of the course for furture students... Not everyone would have the gumption to sort that.... So I say well done :)
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Thank you :) It did take a while for me to convince her into letting me do it, but I got there. She said aslong as I make sure it fits with the criteria, I'm good to do whatever I want with my art :D
 
mastertrinity said:
lol i hear soo many say that, its but depends on expectations. I am entertained by just having photography in my life so the rest of my life might be hard yet i'm happy.

high school is easy I know that already and i only left two months ago but some like it and some hate it...me...i hated it.
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Ahh year 11, the greatest year ever. As soon as I got to sixth form I realised how awesome it was.

Jo, your choices look good, French GCSE was quite good as well although i regretted choose it at AS, became so much harder.


Adam
 
AJ1992 said:
Ahh year 11, the greatest year ever. As soon as I got to sixth form I realised how awesome it was.
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It wasn't "year 11" in my day, but the sixth form was the best because everyone that didn't want to be in school had left and the only people there actually wanted to be there. So, no-one acting the idiot during lessons. etc
 
onomatopoeia said:
It wasn't "year 11" in my day, but the sixth form was the best because everyone that didn't want to be in school had left and the only people there actually wanted to be there. So, no-one acting the idiot during lessons. etc
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Totally agree with this - and all the mandatory subjects you loathe are behind you.

Jo - sounds like you have a plan sorted but I was going to suggest some kind of business studies course - if you want to look at photography as a career this could be far more useful to you than an actual photography course.

I'm torn with what advice to give you really. While you are not having to pay for your education I want to say concentrate on the things you enjoy - like the arts - but then my sensible head says collect as many really useful qualifications / skills while you have the opportunity and someone else is paying for it. I had the option to learn how to touch type when I was in school but didn't. I think I did some PE related activity instead which was great fun but doesn't help me in my day job much now!

Photography wise I'd say just work it into your Art and start to build a portfolio. If you can find yourself a chaparone I'm sure you would be welcome on some of the meets that are organised on this forum. There is a lot to be learnt just from getting out there and doing it - and you want to develop your own style.
 
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