Studying photography

[jon ryan]

Excellent article from a couple of years ago by Neil Turner, a tutor on the UpToSpeed photojournalism course at The Bournemouth Daily Echo. Neil is Vice-Chairman of the British Press Photographers’ Association, and was a staff photographer on the Times Educational Supplement and Times Higher Education Supplement for over fourteen years. He has worked with and taught on several degree courses. (This info is from the date of the original article and may have changed)

 

[magicaxeman]

From my own personal standpoint I would love a BA course that had no work related or assignments elements that I could do at home, it would give me something to do and achieve thats related to my hobby.

 

[kickstart]

My daughter has just finished the Up To Speed course with Neil, she said she learnt more in one day than she did in a year on her Documentary Photography degree course.

I went to the degree show and I could honestly say that there were only about 10 students I thought had any skill or commercial potential. One of her course mates took pictures of trees wrapped with string (struggling to see anything 'documentary' about this subject) and got a higher mark for her degree.

If anyone is interested this is my daughters website (needs updating), her final portfolio was about people living with, and the manufacture of, prosthetic limbs.

http://www.elliehoskins.com

 

[ajax_andy]

Couldn't agree more with that article based on the 2 people I know who've done degrees in photography. 1 is a hair dresser and hardly ever takes photos, and the other is just finishing his degree... I let him help me out with one of my 1st ever weddings and his work was awful!!! Incorrect shutter speeds, poor use of flash and no real understanding of many basic techniques. He's now looking at doing pet portraits as he can't get any work doing anything else.

I actually work at the place he is doing his degree and wonder just what the hell the staff in that department are doing if he can be so bad yet still continually pass all his modules and is about to gain his degree!