Ideas for Successful Photography Short Course
Course description
Course overview
Tacilitated by an award-winning photographer, this course is designed to recalibrate your photography practice. Each step involves taking, looking, thinking, writing and discussing photographs.
We will embrace and utilise other art-forms to stimulate ideas and develop unified concepts. You will gain insight as to where your ideas for photographs come from and what you're trying to achieve and leave with a new portfolio that is at once different and similar to anything you have produced before.
You will develop a critical sensibility of your own work and that of others. The course includes a visit to a London gallery with a talk by an expert curator. You will leave with a course portfolio of work that is revelatory of your skills and ideas. Work will be hosted on Instagram.
Who this course is for
This course is suitable for anyone interested in photography, with open creative minds, and wishing to upskill and practice lateral thinking. Whether you are a seasoned professional or a beginner, this course is designed to develop and stimulate your ideas and critical thought.
Key information
Topics covered
- Present your own current portfolio or any recent work
- Key questions will be asked: Was the taking of the photograph planned, accidental or intuitive? What is there of you in the frame?
- Define differences between taking and making photographs through course presentations, exercises and criticism
Learning outcomes
- Develop a greater awareness of how your personality is reflected in genres such as portraiture, landscape abstract, studio and street photography
- Be better prepared to plan and submit work for longer courses, competitions and editorial work
- Digital badge and certificate of attendance
Materials
- Camera (This can be anything from a mobile phone to a digital SLR)
- Cable to connect the camera to a Mac computer
- USB memory stick (We will be producing work every day and discussing it with the group)
- Selection of your own work and a photograph by someone else that inspired you
Tutor
Mark Aitken
Mark Aitken is an award-winning documentary practitioner of film, photography, radio, written and spoken word, sound, animation and installation. He's currently completing mixed-media works in Lapland about loss, memory and transformative renewal.
Key past works include 'Neighbourhood of Infinity' about confinement and freedom, the multi-award winning 'Dead when I got here' about a Mexican psychiatric hospital run by its own patients; 'Forest of Crocodiles' about a fearful white South African rural community; 'Until when you die' tracing a Vietnamese refugee's journey home and 'This was Forever' about the loss of a community allotment in London. His photo series 'Sanctum Ephemeral' won the UK National Open Art 2017 and Portrait of Britain 2017 and is permanently installed on-site in London.
Mark was a Kone Arts Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies and taught film practice at Goldsmiths for 11 years. He ran a non-profit company that produced over 40 films. Mark holds a PhD by Publication entitled 'Emotional truths in documentary making' from Goldsmiths.
For more information about Mark Aitken's education and work, please visit www.markaitken.org and https://polkadotsonraindrops.jimdofree.com
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