So, Semester One at UEM has finally come to an end. Overall and in hindsight, I found that the two photography classes I took were helpful in practicing and advancing my technical skills and I took advantage where possible to develop the tasks set into my own personal projects and to build my portfolio. However, I did find it quite frustrating how basic the academic side of things were, in terms of creating concepts and writing about the work set. This was a huge change for me in comparison to my Coventry University photography course where it is very heavily academic and theoretical. I knew not to expect too much, but I thought the classes might still have been a bit more thought-provoking than they have been. However, this has challenged me as an independent photographer to be able to motivate myself more to conduct, develop and carry out my own photography projects without any consultations or feedback from mentors or tutors. Not only this, but to have the time to manage my social media and practice the photography I’ve been interested in from the beginning but not necessarily been able to do such as fashion and portraiture. This in particular, has been a very helpful and useful learning curve for me as I feel it has helped prepare me for graduation when I will no longer have the help of my university tutors and will have to pursue my work totally alone. In consequence of this, helping me to develop for later in my photography career.
Some of the work I created throughout these photography projects I am proud of (as I have showcased in previous blog posts) and are now on my photography website. Additionally, as I mentioned, where possible, I developed the briefs set for the technical tasks into my own conceptual projects. Here is a list of some below with the links to the photos and concept on my photography website:
Introduction to Photography class:
Sequential and Narrative Photography task – I created the project ‘Growing, Losing, Regaining’, focusing on representing the transitional journey of a young male adult from youth to adulthood and the consequences of the complications this brings. Visit it here at: https://hollyhoultonphotog.wixsite.com/mysite-2/growing-losing-regaining
Here are a few photos from the project:
Specialised Photography class: Street Photography task – I created the project ‘12 Streets of Madrid’, focusing on capturing the vibrant street art of Madrid and creating a permanent platform for it. This was a personal project I planned on doing anyway whilst I was here, so decided to use this opportunity to execute it. Visit it here at: https://hollyhoultonphotog.wixsite.com/mysite-2/12-streets-of-madrid
Here are a few photos from the project:
One technical class in particular that I found really helpful was actually one of the last ones I did of the semester. It was learning how to develop black and white 35mm film in the darkroom. I have only been taught how to do this once before when I was in sixth form. Therefore, I found it really useful to be taught again as a refresher and because the facilities at the university are totally free to use so it means I will be able to develop my film for free! This is a great skill to have for the future too in terms of freelancing as a photographer and if I ever work for any company or client that need film developing.
For this class, I took some photos of the street art in Madrid with some people included in them too. This was acting as research for my ‘12 Streets of Madrid’ project but I decided against using them in the final imagery as they were not as strong visually. Unfortunately, as you can see below, the scanning equipment at the university for negatives does not produce very high quality images – but the process of developing them still went well!
To conclude, although some of the briefs for the tasks I did not like or enjoy doing, they were often technically challenging or pushed me to practice my photography skills. I am glad I did them as I have got quite a few photography projects out of them which I am proud of and the lack of academia has given me more free time to pursue other photography interests for my career such as making a new website, doing my own independent projects/shoots and developing ideas for my final year back in Coventry.
I begin my new class soon for the second semester and am looking forward to seeing what tasks it brings.