The quality of the photos you can take with a photographic degree

There's sooooooooo much *******s talked about photography. I'm just glad I do it because I like it.

I hope you get the job hashcake!

Edit: I see the swear filter kicked in :)


cheers
 
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Bloody hell, I'm a pro. I'll submit my portfolio (I think I have about 50 images I'm happy with in two weeks of DSLR ownership), should qualify me for a degree.

I left a comment at the bottom of that article, I bet it won't get through moderation.

Can anyone highlight any aspect of any image there worthy of mention?
 
I'm really not sure what to say about these on two counts.. 1) Technically and creatively I fail to see that much thought has gone into the shots - there's no clear composition, harsh flash etc and 2) it makes me cringe to see British culture. I suppose the second point may negate the first, but the fact is thousands of these photos get taken every night by drunken revellers on their phones! Fair play for getting the publicity I suppose..
 
Considering they were taken by various (I think 50) disposable cameras dotted about the place - they were the pick of the bunch !
 
Go check out the website (linked to in the blog post), if you can believe it it gets worse. The portraits are terrible, there is one image that might be worth keeping IMO, the one with the two girls on the setee. The rest... looks like on camera flash for half of them.

I swear I know one of the people in those images
 
It really does annoy me that the BBC can actually waste their time with such dire photos.
I don’t mean any disrespect to the girl but is she really proud of these?
Like many of us amateurs I spent a lot of time learning how to take a good shot but in hindsight, perhaps I should just throw my knowledge out of the window and take a degree in photography.
 
Given that the photos are crap, and no better than what a bunch of drunks at a party could produce with the same equipment, you would like to think that at least the taker demonstrated a knowledge of photographic principles with regard to exposure etc. However, as all of these images were produced using disposable cameras which, if I am given to understand correctly, have no manual controls at all other than a shutter button and a means with which to wind the film on to the next frame, she can't even lay claim to any sort of technical skill!

Where do I sign up to get one of these degrees?
 
Blimey, I don't even really see any sort of journalistic/documentary merit to them. The images of drunks on the streets of Cardiff were far more interesting and technically leagues ahead.
 
One thing she wanted to avoid was yet another depiction of "drunken Britain", as she puts it.
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There are women with their lady bits out, a couple getting a bit intimate and a bloke with his trousers round his ankles!!! Of course, that goes on all the time everywhere else???

Hmmm.
 
No need to comment as everything that could be said has already been posted in the BBC's comments section.


Steve.
 
I have come across this attitude when I took my Art degree- We called it the Emperors new clothes Syndrome. We had students who were trying to learn painting techniques such as Chuck Closes' hyper-realism or other well known artists, in order to incorporate their style in to the students way of painting. These students were dismissed as "copying", even though they expained the reason for the imitation of artists. We then had the Prima-Donnas of the students who for example would lay objects on a canvas- then spray-painted over the canvas- removed the object, leaving a stencil effect and called these works of art "memory of ......" what ever the object had been. They left with 1st class degrees:shrug: I feel if you can talk a convincing theory you can go far in the Art world, or any other field to be honest. Rob
 
hashcake said:
perhaps I should just throw my knowledge out of the window and take a degree in photography.
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Darran, I think you should keep your knowledge but throw that ropey old Canon out the window.:lol: Rob
 
i agree that this girl has very little compositional skill, not sure about her technical skill as this is pretty lacking when you are working with a disposable camera. Framing is something any photographer will learn how to do and will make a good photographer able to use just about any tool to create his shots.

What i take great offence to, is this insinuation that her having a degree is somewhat relevant in this discussion.

i dont think anyone on this site has said anything about degrees 'making' you take good photos, i dont think anyone has suggested a degree will give you the ablility to be a photographer, simply that it will hone skills that are already there - improving your photography.

It depends alot on your tutors, equipment and attitude of the university you are studying with, it also depends alot on you and how much feasibly you can improve even with all the help in the world.

So please, dont assume and insinuate that this girl getting a degree is somehow reflective of her abilities of a photographer, that simply isnt true

and you wouldnt see the 'pro' uni ones among us suggesting that awful wedding photographers on the news are only awful because they dont have a degree

there is enough evidence to say otherwise, and to show that many people find many ways to study their art, some sucessful and some not.
 
I've got a sneaky suspicion we may have missed the point, the photos are *****, methinks it is intentional (no one can be that stupid) and that they are a set with some written speel that has some sort of meaning/ art to it

if not they're just ***** pictures
 
Hi Feeb,
I think that her degree is relevant to this discussion- Hashcake has found a photographer who has worked as an intern at a major broadcasting company and has had her work showcased on its website for millions to see. The point is that she was able to do this due to her being a photography graduate. Rob
 
feek said:
I have come across this attitude when I took my Art degree- We called it the Emperors new clothes Syndrome. We had students who were trying to learn painting techniques such as Chuck Closes' hyper-realism or other well known artists, in order to incorporate their style in to the students way of painting. Rob
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I don't think there is anything wrong with taking inspiration from an artist and using it within ones own work.
We see it often enough in music and films so it's understandable that this happens with all aspects of art.
If anything I blame the BBC because they haven't done this girl any favours.
 
feek said:
Darran, I think you should keep your knowledge but throw that ropey old Canon out the window.:lol: Rob
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Rob, one day you will sell that toy Nikon and come over from the darkside :D
 
feek said:
Hi Feeb,
I think that her degree is relevant to this discussion- Hashcake has found a photographer who has worked as an intern at a major broadcasting company and has had her work showcased on its website for millions to see. The point is that she was able to do this due to her being a photography graduate. Rob
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agreed - but her having a degree has nothing to do with her being a good or bad photographer, thats all about her

to clarify, my work has greatly improved since starting my degree, i have made best use possible out of the equipment, studios and projects made avaliable to me. There are others in my class who i see much less improvement from but that is simply because they do not try as hard.

Yes it is fact that many companies, particularly broadcasting companies like the bbc will only hire people with degrees (with a very few exceptions) and this is really in detriment to them, as many people who gain degrees dont really get it, as we can see

but the fact is, you do a degree and you can show that you have worked with different cameras, lighting kits, situations and environments, you have problem solving skills and the ability to work in a team, this is all stuff an employer needs to know, and is evident when you have done a three-year degree

i think artistic ability should be more important of course, but this relentless 'student bashing' that goes on is silly, as i said in my previous post, the fact that this girl has a degree is no more relevant than the next rubbish wedding photographer NOT having one
 
feeb said:
Yes it is fact that many companies, particularly broadcasting companies like the bbc will only hire people with degrees (with a very few exceptions) and this is really in detriment to them
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We had someone at work a few years ago with an electronics degree. One day he asked me which way round to wire up an LED. This is something fairly basic which some primary school kids will know.

I told him to work it out for himself.


Steve.
 
Steve Smith said:
We had someone at work a few years ago with an electronics degree. One day he asked me which way round to wire up an LED. This is something fairly basic which some primary school kids will know.

I told him to work it out for himself.


Steve.
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they have pictures on :O

and a short leg and everything
 
I get a feeling that the photos are intentionally "bad", especially when Martin Parr and Tom Wood are cited as her inspirations.
 
This is part of the reason i quit Architecture, there are WAYYYYYY too much Bulls*** going on. A crap photo is a crap photo in my eyes, but it makes me angry when some people write a few paragraphs with some well chosen words and all of the sudden it's a piece of art.

Sorry, i look at those and they are no better than what i see on facebook everyday.
 
Raymond Lin said:
This is part of the reason i quit Architecture, there are WAYYYYYY too much Bulls*** going on. A crap photo is a crap photo in my eyes, but it makes me angry when some people write a few paragraphs with some well chosen words and all of the sudden it's a piece of art.

Sorry, i look at those and they are no better than what i see on facebook everyday.
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my friend did pull an A in every coursework for art A level with his skillfull writings
 
Darran you seemed to have opened a can of worms. :popcorn:. Rob
 
I'm not sure what the problem is, these pictures are no worse than anything Martin Parr produces. He's managed to fool everyone into thinking his images are worthy of purchasing. Good luck to anyone who can part a fool with their money, just wish I could do it.
 
david1701 said:
my friend did pull an A in every coursework for art A level with his skillfull writings
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I have seen a student turn up at a architecture mid term crit with a few piece of paper pin to a board, a mess. We all thought, he's about to get torn apart for not doing his work. TBH, its lazy, it's no work on display, or very little, its merely some sketches. Compared to some of the others who clearly put loads of hours and days into it. Then said student stands in front and did his presentation, and he is a smooth talker, and he knows how to try to draw the attention away from the crap drawings in front of the teacher and try and concentrate on his idea only. And the tutors were lapping it up, i could not believe my eyes.

He simply talked himself out of a fail into like a C, by pure BS technique.

A piece of work should speak to you without the author standing next to it and ram those explanations into your ears.

But hey, that's art right.
 
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treeman said:
I'm not sure what the problem is, these pictures are no worse than anything Martin Parr produces. He's managed to fool everyone into thinking his images are worthy of purchasing. Good luck to anyone who can part a fool with their money, just wish I could do it.
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:plusone:
 
:plusone:
Raymond Lin said:
I have seen a student turn up at a architecture mid term crit with a few piece of paper pin to a board, a mess. We all thought, he's about to get torn apart for not doing his work. TBH, its lazy, it's no work on display, or very little, its merely some sketches. Compared to some of the others who clearly put lods of hours and days into it. Then said student stands in front and did his presentation, and he is a smooth talker, and he knows how to try to draw the attention away from the crap drawings in front of the teacher and try and concentrate on his idea only. And the tutors were lapping it up, i could not believe my eyes.

He simply talked himself out of a fail into like a C, by pure BS technique.

A piece of work should speak to you without the author standing next to it and ram those explanations into your ears.

But hey, that's art right.
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:plusone:
 
Bad framing, OOF no ambient etc.....

I really didnt realised there was a market/something like that could be classed as 'photographic art'
 
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treeman said:
I'm not sure what the problem is, these pictures are no worse than anything Martin Parr produces. He's managed to fool everyone into thinking his images are worthy of purchasing. Good luck to anyone who can part a fool with their money, just wish I could do it.
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Oh dear, not a Parr fan then? I think some of his work is superb, far better than the usual over saturated sunsets/rises and predictable lead in lines that seems to garner so much favour from the average photographer. The photos shown are in no way like Parr's work.
 
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Martin Parr, though not my cup of tea personally, has a really good eye for composition, his pictures can be damn amusing at times (though you have to sift through the rubbish to find a diamond) but he at least has clear compositional ideas and some sort of thought to his pictures

This woman displays none of that initative from what i can see, and i fail to see how her work can be related to MParr's
 
I have E-Mailed Ms Crawford to see if she will explain the reasons behind her work and given her the link to this thread. Rob
 
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