• audit summer task/presentations and discuss
• intro… expectations / blog / outline of year
• what is photography – discuss & group work

Welcome to the course!

During your first lessons you will be expected to submit and display your summer task and informally present it to your group. As a group we will discuss the merits and limitations of your work and it will be assessed soon and you will receive feedback too. 

(If you have not completed a Summer Task as a new recruit…then you have until Monday 13th September to complete the task appropriately.)

We will also discuss your thoughts and feelings / knowledge and understanding of…

Photography’s function(s)

Photography as an art-form

Photography as a science

The difference between the study of photography and the practice of photography

Henri Cartier-Bresson once said…”Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst”

What do you think Cartier-Bresson meant by this…? Discuss

Demonstrating a critical and contextual understanding of photography can be tricky, especially if the subject is relatively new to you in Year 12. The following activities have been designed to encourage you to reflect on what you know already about photography. Hopefully, some of the prompts will encourage you to further develop your understanding of photography through additional pondering and research.

In small groups, discuss the following questions. One person in the group should be responsible for making notes capturing the main ideas of the discussion:

• Why do people take/make photographs?
• Why is photography important?
• What skills do you need to be a good photographer?
• How many different kinds of photography can you think of?
• How does photography help us see the world?
• Can photographic images be trusted?
• What are the similarities and differences between photography and other types of visual art?
• When would it not be OK to take a photograph?
• How do you know when you’ve made a good photograph?
• Are photographers also artists?
• Where is the best place to see photographs?
• What kind of photography interests you most?
• What confuses or frustrates you about photography?

Watch this short film in which the photographer Henry Wessel discusses his practice. Make some brief notes. What does he help us to understand about photography?

Now compare with this example…

https://photoworks.org.uk/watch-artist-film-with-silvia-rosi/

Keep hold of your notes or capture them on your phone as you will be creating a blog over the next couple of weeks using your findings and thoughts.