This module offers you the opportunity to explore and investigate, through an intensive engagement with the medium, the pictorial elements available to photographers in the effective communication of observations about the world around us. It encourages you to engage with photographic practices that place the emphasis on 'making' rather than 'taking' photographs. The module asks that you consider the structures of the photograph that John Szarkowski developed in his iconic book The Photographer's Eye and developed further in the book Looking at Photographs. To quote from The Photographer's Eye: "This book is an investigation of what photographs look like, and of why they look that way. It is concerned with photographic style and with photographic tradition: with the sense of possibilities that a photographer today takes to his work".

It builds also conceptually upon the framework of 'description' and 'interpretation' from the semester one Visual Communication module, by providing a wider framework of understanding through the additional methodologies of 'evaluation' and 'theory'. You will learn how to develop the photographic picture, by considering and practising your use of framing, awareness of light and your picture-making skills in general. You will consider more fully the practice and techniques of digital printing skills in the production of a final body of work.

Portfolio and Reflective Assignment 70% / Essay 30%

You will present for assessment three pieces of work, which will include:
1. A Portfolio of digital photographic prints.
(Learning Outcomes 1,2,3,4).
Combined with a written Reflective Assignment evidencing context and evaluation of your work.
(Learning Outcomes 1,2,3).
2. An essay length 2,000 words. References and quotations not included in the word count.
(Learning Outcome 5).


Please refer to the Award Handbook for a full description and rationale for assessment methods.

Scheduled Learning Activities
Lectures
Group Production Meetings (Feedback)
Group Discussion (Feedback)
Oral Presentation (Feedback)
Technical Skills Modulettes as appropriate
The Guest Speaker Programme

Guided Independent Study
Independent Photographic Practise and Visual Experimentation
Independent Reading and Research

1. THINK CREATIVELY ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHIC FRAMING AND PICTURE CONSTRUCTION. Analysis

2. DEMONSTRATE AN AWARENESS OF THE QUALITIES OF LIGHT AND THE ABILITY TO USE THOSE QUALITIES IN PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES EFFECTIVELY. Visual Analysis

3. CONTROL EXPOSURE AND PRINTING TO MORE PRECISE ENDS. Communication

4. USE DIGITAL SLR CAMERAS TO AN INTERMEDIATE STANDARD. Learning

5. WRITE A WELL-RESEARCHED ESSAY ON A KEY ASPECT OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PRACTICE SUPPORTED BY PROPERLY REFERENCED EVIDENCE. Knowledge & Understanding

6. USE THE CONVENTIONS OF ACADEMIC WRITING TO PRESENT INFORMATION IN THE FORM OF AN ESSAY EVALUATING HOW INDIVIDUALS HAVE MADE A CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Communication, Reflection

Specialist photographic equipment
Specialist digital printing facilities
Lecture theatre and tutorial rooms
Thompson Library
Lynda.com
Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment will support this module where relevant.
Word-processing facilities
Internet access

Clarke, G (1997). The Photograph. Oxford University Press
Hill, P (2007). Approaching Photography. Photographer's Institute Press
Szarkowski, J (2007). The Photographer's Eye. The Museum of Modern Art
Szarkowski, J (1973). Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art. New York: Museum of Modern Art

Specialist Periodicals in Library:
AG, Amateur Photographer, American Photo, Aperture, British Journal of Photography (BJP), Camera Austria, Ei8ht (Foto8), Exposure, History of Photography, Image (AOP Magazine), Next Level, Photographer (BIPP Magazine), Photoworks, Portfolio (Back issues only no longer published), Visual Studies.

This module offers you the opportunity to explore and investigate, through an intensive engagement with the medium, the pictorial elements available to photographers in the effective communication of observations about the world around us. It encourages you to engage with photographic practices that place the emphasis on 'making' rather than 'taking' photographs. The module asks that you consider the structures of the photograph that John Szarkowski developed in his iconic book The Photographer's Eye and developed further in the book Looking at Photographs. To quote from The Photographer's Eye: "This book is an investigation of what photographs look like, and of why they look that way. It is concerned with photographic style and with photographic tradition: with the sense of possibilities that a photographer today takes to his work".

It builds also conceptually upon the framework of 'description' and 'interpretation' from the semester one Visual Communication module, by providing a wider framework of understanding through the additional methodologies of 'evaluation' and 'theory'. You will learn how to develop the photographic picture, by considering and practising your use of framing, awareness of light and your picture-making skills in general. You will consider more fully the practice and techniques of digital printing skills in the production of a final body of work.