Final Major Project Photography Exhibition

All our learners are required by the awarding qualification bodies to produce an end of year exhibition of photographic work. This year they have all excelled and the following images represent the images exhibited.

University of Arts London Level 3 in photography, year 1 & 2 featured alongside our BTEC Higher National Diploma Level 4/5, year 1 & 2. All students have worked so hard in their studies and produced exceptional quality in their final selections showcased.

The works explore a variety of photographic genre’s featuring both analogue and digital processes. Informed by historical and contemporary practitioners in photography culminating in an engaging and insightful presentation of work.

 

Photography Students | Plastic Free Southport Action Day

Damien Moore MP visited Ainsdale beach last Friday for his regular Plastic Free Southport Action Day and was joined by local constituents and around 60 students from Southport College, including our Higher National Diploma in Photography students, collecting more than 40 full bags of discarded plastic waste.

Every year 13 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean, causing significant damage to marine life and spoiling coastal landscapes like Southport. Items like plastic drinking straws and stirrers, condiments in plastic sachets and throwaway coffee cups with plastic lids were all picked up on Ainsdale beach on Friday.

Damien spoke with the group after the event and explained that these plastic items were avoidable and can easily be replaced with recyclable, refillable or multiple-use items.

Southport College brought students from the Science, Art and Photography departments to highlight the issues around plastic waste. Students then took all the plastic waste back to the college, where they cleaned the items and made them into pieces of art to highlight the effects it was having in the environment in Southport.

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Commenting, Damien Moore MP said:

‘I was delighted that both the older and younger generation came together to rid plastic from Southport’s beaches, I found it encouraging that we have all come together to recognise that single use plastic is not sustainable.’

‘It would only take small changes to eliminate and replace these kinds of single-use plastics and reduce the negative environmental impact, and this was the message I was trying to put across last Friday. Recently, the government announced “The 25 Year Environment Plan” the plans aim is to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than it was found, this is something I whole-heatedly support.’

‘I would also like to thank Southport College and the 60 students who attended to help with the beach clean, it was encouraging that the younger generation took a keen interest in cleaning up Southport’s beaches and highlighting the use of single use plastic.’

Southport Football Club Collaboration

Our ‘Higher National Diploma’ students were invited to photography our local football team, Southport FC, against Tranmere Rovers in the Liverpool CFA Senior Cup quarter finals.

The weather was a challenge with drizzly rain most of the evening and it was a was floodlit. This posed its own challenges with exposure as most sport images require a very fast shutter speed to freeze the action. Our photographers handled these circumstances in their stride and produced great shots on the night with and our team winning 1-0 and progressing to the semi-final.

On behalf of the lecturing staff I would like to thank the club for the opportunity and hope that we can collaborate more in the future.

Club background:

Southport Football club is a professional football club based in North West England and currently play in the National League.  Their home matches are at Haig Avenue and they are known by their nickname “the Sandgrounders”.

Photography Guest Speaker | Ryan Williams

Ryan Williams visited our photography department to give a presentation and inspirational talk to our photography level 3 students. He was a student at Southport College 9 years ago and was keen to share his experiences and support our students progression.

He showcased his photographic work, talked about life at university and the development of his own business. He presented an inspirational talk of which enthused the students and impressed staff. He displayed albums of his photographic works and conducted portfolio reviews with our 2^nd year students.

When studying at Southport College he first studied Art & Design before progressing onto Creative Media alongside his ‘A’ level photography during his main core programme of study. This love of photography developed from that point on. Ryan now runs a successful wedding, event, lifestyle and corporate photography business in Liverpool. His passion was evident throughout his talk, he also mentioned the hard times during his education at university where he really struggled with written work but persevered and gained a first class degree.

When talking about his business he candidly recounted asking family members if they knew of anybody getting married, family, friends or colleagues from work. He said that starting out he had offer his services at a heavily reduced price to build a good strong portfolio of work, to gain experience and become confident with increasing prices. He still believes that offering a full day of photography for an affordable price is good for his business model and last year he completed his 58 wedding in one year with projections for the next two years looking as busy if not busier.

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We would like to thank Ryan for giving up his free time to come back and talk to students and look forward to seeing him again in the New Year when he will be giving a lecture to our Higher National Diploma Photography students.

Photography Student Success in the Royal Academy of Arts Competition

We are thrilled with the success of our photography student Dan Hill for securing a winning entry in the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Online 2018 Exhibition.

To have his work judged by international industry professionals, practicing artists and subsequently be featured in such a prestigious organisations showcase of outstanding work is an incredible achievement. Congratulations Dan.

Use the link below to see the images.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/a-level-online-2018

Selected from over 2,000 submissions, the A-level Summer Exhibition Online is a showcase of the UK’s young artistic talent.

This year, over 1,400 aspiring artists attending sixth form colleges or schools submitted their work to the A-level Summer Exhibition Online 2018 to be judged by our expert panel: Royal Academician Mali Morris, curator Desirée de Chair, and RA Schools student Hamish Pearch.

Having work chosen to appear in the A-level Summer Exhibition Online is a great achievement for young artists; many will go on to develop their talents at art school and in their careers. Students from all over the UK enter their works and the exhibition showcases a rich variety of styles and media: from drawing and video to sculpture and prints, painting and photography.

Held to coincide with the world’s largest open-entry exhibition, the Summer Exhibition, this online equivalent for artists aged 16–18 signals an exciting future for art in this country. Be among the first to discover these artists now.

Mali Morris RA, judge for the A-Level Summer Exhibition Online 2018, said:

“Our thanks to every student who entered – all contributed to the excitement of this project. We were amazed by the strength of the shortlisted works, by their energy, inventiveness and sense of exploration. Every kind of feeling was here, from tenderness to rage, solemnity to hilarity, in a wide range of materials and processes. We discovered that some works related visually, others by theme; the exhibition and gallery titles [All Eyes On Me, and At Ease; Smile, We’re Watching; Squids] are borrowed from the artists – they seemed to suit, and we liked the ring of them. Congratulations to all the students and their teachers, and cheers to the schools that believe that art is still a vital subject.”

 

Photography Guest Speaker | Damien Demolder | Photographer, Journalist, Educator

Damien Demolder visited the photography students over 2 days this week to deliver a workshop based on understanding light & exposure coupled with street photography followed by a talk about the photographic industry. He was accompanied by Roy Bridgewood,  a Panasonic representative who kindly loaned a variety of equipment to the students to use during the workshop activity referring to key features that can be used to aid a photographer getting close to the subject whilst remaining invisible.

Selecting Panasonic equipment to use on the workshop.

Out on location with Damien learning during the workshop.

Damien is a photographer, journalist and photographic equipment expert, speaker, judge and educator. He has worked in the photographic publishing industry since 1997, including 15 years at the world’s only weekly photo magazine, Amateur Photographer, where he was editor. He writes for regularly for DP Review, and British Journal of Photography magazine as well as occasionally for other UK and international photographic magazines and websites.

He is a brand, marketing and technology advisor for camera manufacturers, providing consultancy services for market development, effective sales, brand positioning and particularly for reaching consumers. He assists with photographic product development, retail strategies and direct connection with the end user. Demonstrating products that he loves to use is a key skill, as is presenting on photographic technique and technical matters.

Damien uses a wide range of equipment, from wooden plate cameras to the latest DSLRs, and is a great fan of the emerging compact system camera, and all products that make good photography more accessible to more people.

Although he specialises in street photography, he also shoots portraits, landscapes, architecture, natural macro and occasionally even wildlife and weddings.

Photographic Media:  Amateur Photographer magazine, British Journal of Photography, Digital Photographer, DP Review, DSLR Photography, N-Photo, Photo Plus, Pixel, Professional Photographer, RPS Journal, Shoot magazine, TechRadar

National Media:  The Saturday Times, The Mail On Saturday, Metro, The Evening Standard

Competitions Judged: Hasselblad Masters 2018, Chair of Judges for the Open, National and Youth categories of 2017 Sony World Photo Awards, Take a View (Landscape Photographer of the Year),  International Garden Photographer of the Year, Amateur Photographer of the Year, British Heart Foundation Red Heart competition, The Thames Festival.

Books: Advanced Photography: Shooting Skills, Essential Software Techniques

Lecturer Ed Badley | Online Exhibition with HELD Collective

by Ed Badley This series looks at how we interact with the spaces we live in and the architectural interfaces we traverse everyday. The spaces we inhabit influence how we feel and how we act. We can perceive the vastness of a landscape by moving through it, but with architecture, the structure becomes the […]

via PEOPLE AND SPACES —

Art & Design Students Visit Prague

Last week, 29 art & design students visited Prague on an educational trip to the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic. Prague is the 14th largest city in the European Union and also the historical capital of Bohemia. Braving temperatures of -15 degrees we all wrapped up well with thermals and several layers of clothing!

Prague has a rich history and is home to a number of famous cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence and destruction of 20th-century Europe. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, and Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, the Jewish Quarter, Petřín hill and Vyšehrad. Since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The city has more than ten major museums, along with numerous theatres, galleries, and other historical exhibits. During our visit we took the students to several art galleries and photography exhibitions and found time for a river cruise. From our hotel on the outskirts of the city we found our way around using the underground and tram system that connects the whole of Prague and occasionally had to use Google Maps to ensure we did not get lost!

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Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul and Rome and I would highly recommend it, maybe we will go back in the future.

Studio Photography | Photographing Products

As a student photographer the thought of getting started with studio photography can seem a scary prospect – with the lights and various equipment that comes with the territory. Earlier in the academic year our students had an introduction to our photographic studio and experimented with different attachments and lighting styles when photographing portraiture, an area of photography that also improves their communication skills.

The workshop this week dealt with photographing products and how advertising photographers must bring out the very best in the products they photography to satisfy their clients needs. The workshop aim was to gradually build up the lighting so that students could see what each light was doing independently. It also dealt with troubleshooting when photographing reflective surfaces such as glass and how patient a still life or product photographer needs to be.

Studio photography gives students the ability to control a shoot. With practice and an understanding of light they can decide which studio accessories they want to use and where to place them to achieve the best results.

Experimental Photography | Traditional & Digital

Our Level 3 Year 2 photography students have been using analogue and digital techniques to explore creative processes within the theme of experimental photography.

Over recent years photographers have witnessed unprecedented changes with the growth and the domination of digital media. Film photography in commercial terms is seldom used nowadays, however, there is a renewed passion and enthusiasm for film with photographers collaborating between the two mediums that has lead to exciting new avenues for photography as an art form.

Our students have used a combination of alternative darkroom techniques and new digital manipulations to create their work responding to assignments based on the theme of ‘New Realities’ and ‘Fantastic & Strange’. Experimentation and exploring alternative techniques have enabled them to push their creativity. The project is less about the exploration of composition or framing but rather a showcase of the process of production within photography itself using a diverse range of techniques to produce a varied range of final images.

Traditional responses involved the technique of ‘silver drips’ were only certain areas of the print are developed using brushes; sandwich printing were two negatives are printed together to produce a multiple image and in-camera double exposures.

With the digital series below, students expressed their creativity using both in-camera techniques and Photoshop manipulations. As students, it is important for them to understand the history of analogue photography and the unique qualities that it can offer alongside the digital practice.