This thursdays session

For this thursdays session we will be looking at an overview of the whole blogs and the labelling of them as regards the units that have been chosen to do. This is to ensure that all work being produced is being clearly labelled as this forms the whole basis of taking ownership and the self tracking of the units that you have chosen to do.

By doing this you will be able to see the areas where there are gaps or indeed you may of completed certain criteria in sufficient depth. This will help show whether you have over or under produced in the unit criteria. In this way you can then target any areas that need more to improve the grade from pass to merit , or from merit to distinction.

The following 6 weeks left should be clearly time managed to make sure that both themes have been researched and developed in equal measure. Often people leave the second theme with not enough time to finish it thoroughly and in equal depth to the first theme.

Also we need to look at starting any units that are being studied alongside your theme work. For example some students are covering unit 211 which looks at all aspects of digital workflow and final output devices and methodology. Enough time has to be allocated for this unit as well to cover it in enough detail.

Can you all make sure that you have all your unit paperwork with you to allow tracking and accurate labelling to take place this thursday.

Alongside that later in the session we will be doing more photoshop work on the images that you selected for post production last week. This is a very important session which I need everybody to attend please.

Photoshop

Can you all bring in all of your shortlisted images and we will have a photoshop session where we will look at the most appropriate methods for each of your work. The digital workflow of your images will concentrate on only being applied to your best images, any that don't make the grade will initiate a reshoot.

We will not be spending time on images that quite frankly aren't your best work as this is often the most common mistake in digital photography. Good images which strongly link to your research will be considered.

Feedback / Student Voice

Can you make sure that you leave comments on this site as to this course and any possible improvements that you feel ought to be made. Any problems or concerns you can voice here about anything to do with the course. This is your student voice as regards what's right and wrong so I can address any issues. Your input is valid as it can lead to direct improvements to the curriculum and how its delivered.

It is very important that any of my students on this course know that they can make a difference to how and what they learn to improve this course for all concerned and future prospective students.

Welcome back...

I just wanted to let everyone know that they will need to bring all of your images to the next session so we can get an idea of how much photography has been done up to this point.

A short list of around 40 images from each theme needs to be available to see, this is so we are not spending time sifting through hundreds of images in class as this takes up too much time.
In doing this you will be able to see where the gaps are within your work and attend to them.

Also we need to get all of the blogs up to date. I am seeing a lot people commenting on each others work, when you do this can you make sure that you use the 'critical vocabulary' to articulate what you mean as this will lend more weight to your comments and thus aid the other person to really understand what it is exactly you like. Rather than just saying thats a good image or I really like that one!

Can I also stress that all blogs need to be labelled up to date now please, this is a vital process in understanding where you are within the course and will assist in time management of the rest of the course.

From the images selected we can then sort the correct images to put through photoshop. I will be going through an introduction to photoshop in the coming weeks , but we must be sure that the images are of the correct quality to be post produced. If they aren't we must allow time for any reshoots to take place.

Reminder....

                                         

Can I remind everyone that there are two other things going on in the background. Can everyone who has work produced on a City and Guilds course look at the competition for 2011 as the deadline for entries will be here before we know it. There is blog about it with a link on this site.

www.cityandguilds.com/photographygallery

Also the National Forest theme where you can submit some of your work , or fit your theme / photography into the area covered by the National Forest. The deadline for this is by the end of the course and there will be opportunities to get certain work or images into an exhibition / marketing material if chosen. This will happen later in the year.

http://www.nationalforest.org/

College Break

The college will be closed from April 11th until 26th April. Also we are closed for the 'Royal Wedding' on 29th April. (Bank holiday on the 25th April included).

Take stock...

After this weeks session we have the easter break, its over this period that great effort has to be made to eat as much chocolate as possible. Also its a time for consolidation of where you are within the course. Take a moment to sit down and sift through the assignment paper and your units paperwork. Look at the work that you have done, has it been labelled properly, what criteria does each blog meet, what extra can you add to some of your blogs to really raise the level of your achievement and aim for a higher grade.

Look at the amount of research you have done, is it enough, have you enough images to go with each photographer that you have looked at? Are you taking enough photographs yourself, if not why?

Have you got both themes underway, are you spinning both plates ? Have you done a lot for one and not the other, if so attend to the weakest one now and come back to the other one.

Plan out what you going to do over the up and coming weeks. To help this process you now need to sort out all your best images into folders of your top 40, from this we can then start to sort out which images can go towards your final 10 for each theme.

We can talk this through during the next session so you can enjoy easter and have a blog and photography work up to date and in place for after the break.