Photography - The No Photos Thread

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

I was going to post in the main photography thread but thought this would be better split out...

I can see that there are many talented photographers on the board - are any of you professionals? If so, how did you get into it and are you glad you did?

Has anyone done a serious photography course - at university, for instance. If so, are you glad you did, has it helped you?

[Languid]

I could have LBIPP after my name if I wanted so I guess that makes me a professional.
The thing is photography is such a broad field it really depends on why you want to get into it. If you have a specific area of photography to focus on (see what I did there) and you know what you want to specialise in when you leave Uni, then i think doing a course could be worth while. Most students where I studied didn't have that planned and like me spent most of their time experimenting with their creativity. Even though I got my PQE it hasn't helped much but that is really because of my choice to do an entire portfolio based on Orwellian analogies and German expressionism from the 1920s. Making a living out of that style of photography isn't so easy no matter how much artistic merit there is.
There are loads of professional wedding photographers and photographers that work for agencies etc that dont have any photographic qualifications and are successful from just being cunts with digital SLRs. I don't really have the personality for the sort of work they do though and what I really want is some sense of job security.

Currently I'm looking for more technical job roles related to photography and my qualifications are still helping me. I will always be glad I did the courses, I learnt lots and met many interesting people but if I knew a bit more about the real world I think I would have done a bachelor of science in photography rather than arts even though I still love photography as an art.
Getting on a course can be very easy indeed. Last year a friend of mine got on a Photography HND in a college with a good reputation with just his GCSEs and a portfolio of 20 photos that he did in a couple of weeks. Some Colleges just need to fill the classes and need your fees.
I don't know if that helps at all but as I said before It depends on what area of photography you want to get into.

[mook]

Interesting stuff Languid.

Any chance you can post some of your photos up? I'm a reet nosy fucker when it comes to pictures. New, or different stuff to the shit I shoot always intrigues me.

[Languid]

Interesting stuff Languid.

Any chance you can post some of your photos up? I'm a reet nosy fucker when it comes to pictures. New, or different stuff to the shit I shoot always intrigues me.

Sure just added something to the other thread

[Emma Raducanu]

I am thinking of trying to get a diploma in photography via an online course.

[Viero_Berlotti]

The digital age has changed photography and made it less of a specialist discipline, 'photographers' have to have more diverse digital and design skills these days to survive. In 20 years time 'photographers' won't exist, and chemical photography will be the quaint preserve of the craftsperson.

It pains me to say it, and the purists out there will hate me for saying it, but photography is 'easier' now then it ever has been. Its fast becoming a redundant skill. Hence there aren't as many jobs in 'photography' as an industry.

[sproggy]

It pains me to say it, and the purists out there will hate me for saying it, but photography is 'easier' now then it ever has been.

I agree, the technical aspect is 'easier' but you still need an eye for a picture and be able to visualise an image.  I can't go anywhere these days without seeing happy snappers, clicking away merrily whilst their new DSLR calculates exposure, aperture, shutter speed and white balance for them, I find it diffucult to see any skill involved in that type of photography.

Here's a B&W film shot I took recently, it took around an hour and a half of dicking about to get the lighting just right, then another couple of hours to develop and scan the negatives.  You could argue that the same shot could have been done in a few minutes with a digital camera and photoshop, but it would not look or feeel the same.



For me, film remains the mainstay of art photography and I reckon it's going to stay for a long time to come and is still an important factor in any 'serious' photography course.  Kodak recently released a new colour film and fuji continue to invest in new emulsions and films.

[rudi]

Yeah, I think there's a future for film. Photography didn't see off painting, after all...

[mook]

Yeah, I think there's a future for film.

I think the digital age has the possibility to encourage more people to use film. I think many amateur photographers, who started off with point and shoot digitals and then progressed to dSLRs are tempted to try film now, using the (comparatively cheap) experience that shooting in manual on a dSLR has given them. Whereas starting off on your own with a film SLR would probably put a lot of people off.

[Milo]

I'm currently doing a course on Landscape Photography for which we have to do some kind of final project for. This involves 8-10 final photos on a chosen theme. In a flash of (possibly misguided) inspiration I decided to do it as a numerical sequence from one to 10 and have been trying to think of more ideas now. I'm not above using puns for some too so was wondering if anyone had any other ideas.

For One I will probably do some very clear landscape with some prominent point in it, I don't anticipate problems finding one of these.
Two is likely to become 'To' and feature some kind of path leading somewhere.
Four will be on a local golf course (FORE!)
Seven will be the river Severn
Nine (NEIN) - something that says NO. The view through a large, fortified and barbed wire fencey thing.
For Ten I hope to find somewhere with a strong X-type arrangement that I can pass off as Roman Numerals. By the same token, V might be findable for five.

Another of the numbers will likely be a big set of railway lines of the required number (loads of them around here)

Struggling with the others though so if anyone has any ideas that'd be grand.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

That sounds like a fun project Milo. Are you studying full time or is this just a little course?

1. Big solitary pointy building
2. An outside lavatory
3. Something triangular
4. Golf course
5. Five pointed star of some kind
6. Puddles of sick on the pavement of a provincial town centre on a Saturday night
7. River Severn
8. Restaurant
9. NO!
10. X

[Milo]

Not sure I like the idea of puddles of sick but the rest give me something to go on.

It's just for a little course with an arts centre in Cardiff. Leads to some kind of certificate though.

[sproggy]

6 = sticks. 

As in 4, 5, 6 pick up sticks.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

Bingo?

1 Kelly's Eye / On its Own / At the Beginning / Start the Game / Number one, just begun
2 One Little Duck
3 Cup of Tea / One Little Flea / My little Fly / Dixie Lee
4 Knock at the Door
5 Man Alive / Jack's alive
6 Just a Click / chopsticks
7 Lucky for Some / hope in heaven
8 One Fat Lady / The Garden Gate
9 Doctor's Orders ("Number 9 pill")
10 Gordon's Den (forename of current prime minister) / Big Ben / cock and hen / Downing Street

[Milo]

Hehe, I quite like those.

[Languid]

It's just for a little course with an arts centre in Cardiff. Leads to some kind of certificate though.

Is that the one in the ffotogallery per chance?

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

Hehe, I quite like those.

I quite like them myself, I may do a project of my own in competition with yours!

[Milo]

Is that the one in the ffotogallery per chance?

It... it is indeed. How spooky.

[Languid]

It... it is indeed. How spooky.

never heard of it.

Thats clearly a lie. I have heard of it because I got started at Llanover Hall arts centre also in Cardiff and they do a good City and Guilds course there now. I think there are many things you can learn from doing an evening class that you don't get from doing a full-time college course because the tutors are usually pros and can tell you a thing or two about the business side of things.

[Milo]

Ah, I see, I see.

Aye, the people doing the courses do seem fairly clued up. Generally it's kinda technical/artistic rather than business but I expect they would know about the business side too if anyone took an interest.