Conclusion

All images for People & Place can be found here.

Although I have thoroughly enjoyed this course, I have learned a valuable lesson in trying to complete two courses side by side. My initial view was that the two courses fit nicely together, Context & Narrative being more theory based and People and Place more practical. This was my first mistake; although I was thoroughly enjoying the research involved in my other course for which the learning helped with this one, three units in, I was advised not to continue onto the degree due to a lack of research on my blog. I had been researching photographers relevant to the project in hand but written work uploaded to my blog was severely lacking.

Lesson learned, I set to writing up all the photographers I had researched and more. I found that this really helped me to delve deeper into what I liked and disliked and why, helping me to move forward with a more informed approach.

Photographically, I feel that I started this course well. Two years on, I am still pleased with my first assignment, which is more than I can say for some of the work I have done since. The difference is, I was firmly within my comfort zone, photographing my sister in and around her home using natural light. Under the circumstances, it was easy to put together a selection of good images.

I enjoyed the challenges faced in next two units, images from both of these being taken during holidays giving me the chance to relax and really think about what I wanted to photograph. Overthinking a comment from my tutor about taking more photographs of the front of people led to a disastrous decision for unit four. I have taken many photographs of the front of people and could have approached the challenge in so many ways; asking shopkeepers to take a moment out of their day for the sake of my coursework not only took me out of my comfort zone but also didn’t actually fit the brief.

Picking myself up, my rethink of the unit was a real turning point for me. I had initially photographed Brighton as I thought that Hull was boring and unphotogenic; how wrong I was. Not only did this unit help my photography, it has also helped me to appreciate my city, something I intend to photograph a lot more in the future. Big thanks to my tutor for the encouragement in climbing that hill. 

My last assignment, photographing autism was a culmination of all I have learned in all three level one courses, from colour and light, through people and place and a concerted attempt at photographing the unseen. Searching for ways to photograph an invisible disability was a challenge that I really relished; it is a skill that I aim to improve on as I move onto through the higher levels of the Photography degree.