Confirmation Email

Evaluation of my work experience

I did my work experience at a secondary school (The Folkestone Academy Glassworks) within the sixth form department, focusing on mainly the photography students, but also helping and guiding the art, graphics and textiles students when the wanted my help/advice.  I was there for 10 days 9.00am-3.15pm. I really enjoyed my time there, the 10 days went really fast and would have loved to stay there longer.  I chose to do work experience at a secondary school as when I finish university I would like to be a teacher teaching photography. The work experience was really useful in my opinion and defiantly was worthwhile doing. It made me see what it was like being a teacher and whether I would like it or not. I can defiantly see myself being a teacher in the future I have the patience and understanding of it all. Whilst on work experience I got to teach and support the students, I didn’t think they would pay much attention to me or even listen to what I had to say, as to them I’m not much older than them and I’m not a teacher. However, this wasn’t the case and they took in what I had to say and most of them always asked for my advice and help in a situation, they felt my time useful there and worthwhile. Not only did I help the students, but I also helped the teachers there improve their department by making it better and easier for them. Both the students and the other members of staff gained from me being there and learnt something new that they didn’t necessarily know before. I learnt a lot whilst I was there, I learnt how to mark students work and the process of it all, and look through there work and give them feedback and advice on what to do next with their project. I learnt how to give them advice and support they needed, I learnt how to plan lessons for the students that I thought was beneficial for them. The main part of what I learnt from being there was that I defiantly know I want to be a teacher in the future.  Whilst I was at work experience I mainly was there to support the students, I planned workshops to do with them, and I gave them advice and how to improve on their work. Most the students gained from me being there and have a better understanding of certain things. For example, the process they should be doing when it comes to their work, how to use Lightroom, how to set up the studio correctly and what camera settings they should be having their cameras set to. Most the students were lacking at these things and I think me being there has made them improve on these things. I didn’t just help the students though, I helped the department by coming up with an idea to help the issues with cameras and equipment being stolen. I created a sheet for them and the students to follow by, this should them help them with the issue and if anything does get lost or stolen they know who had it last. I tidied up the department and made suggestions on how they can improve, I changed all the camera settings so they were set at the right format for the student to work with and so their pictures come out a better quality. I looked through their darkroom stuff they recently order and gave my opinion on it all and what else they need to get before getting the student to start using it. Overall I am really happy with my choice of work experience, it has beneficial for me, and I have now got a better understanding of it all and made me want to be a teacher even more. It has inspired me, and I have enjoyed teaching the students and given them the knowledge I have to help them and make their work better.

Day 10 (04/05/18)

 

Today is my last day of work experience. I have had a good two weeks here, it has gone really fast. Today as it is the last day before the student has the exams. I will be around for any help and support they need, and any advice they want regarding their exams. I was I the same situation they are in now, so I have experience in what the are going through. There wasn’t much to do as they are all focusing on their work ready for their exam Tuesday. I did, however, go round and ask the students if there were any materials they needed for their exam. Only a couple of students needed materials for their exam, most the other student’s work was computer based. Even though today was quiet I enjoyed being around for the students to ask me questions and being able to give my advise and support. I think they found it useful.

Day 9 (03/05/18)

Today I started the day by helping a student with taking photos of her graphics work. She had made a t-shirt and wanted it to photograph it using a model. So I helped her set up the studio to how she wanted the lighting, I then set up the camera to the right camera settings for her. I then got her to take the photos with me being around for help and guidance. I helped with how she should have the model standing/posing and adjusted the models clothing so it would look best it can be for the photo. This shoot was successful and the photos come out really good considering she doesn’t do photography. She found my help useful and was happy with how all the pictures turned out.

Next, I sat in lessons and was around for students ask for my help. The students are quite independent and are stressing out as they have their exams coming up next week, so they like to be left alone.

The student I helped out in the morning went through all the photos from the shoot and now wanted my help to edit them, so I guided her through this process. I then sat with her for the rest of the day and gave her my help and guidance with what she is doing for her project.

 

Day 8 (02/05/18)

Today I started the day by given the graphics student advice and help with their work. They have their exam coming up so we got them to write everything they need today and what days they plan on doing things, just so they have an idea and are organised when it comes to the exam. The next lesson was photography where I showed a student how to work in the style of an artist she was looking at. She was looking into an artist where they cut away and places objects on top of their work, the student was working in the same way so I showed her how to do this. She first printed the image out on normal A4 paper, but the paper kept ripping so I suggested for her to print out on thicker paper to make it easier for her. This worked a lot better and ended up with two different design which both looked really cool. I have place pictures of her work below.

The student I was working with yesterday came back from taking photos, so I got him to sit next to me so I can keep an eye on what he is doing and to help and guided him through his work. He got a lot done and made progress in his work. He finally is working in the style of the artist that he’s been looking at.

Once the photography class was over I went through a box with all the film and darkroom stuff in it. The school wants to set up the facilities so the students can work and develop film. I looked through all the chemicals etc that they ordered. Most of it looked fine but I emailed John Sullivan to double check and see he opinions on things. He told me all about the different pieces they have and said it was fine, just to take the school through some bits before they start using them. John Papworth then took me up to look at the enlarger to get my opinion and what he needs to add. There were parts missing and told him what he needs to get for it to work properly for the students. I also gave him a chart to use when it comes to developing the film. I have placed pictures below of all the equipment they bought and how I helped.

 

 

Day 7 (01/05/18)

Today I only had a photography lesson, which me and the teacher teaching, went round each individual student and went through their work and their targets that were given to them. We asked what they are doing and how they are going to meet their targets given, and how to possibly make their work better to get better grades.  This went well and all the students seemed to be doing what they were supposed to be doing. We both gave ideas on what students could do to improve even more and what they should possibly do next. One student is far behind and doesn’t seem to be doing much, but he seems to listen to me and does do what I tell him to do and if I sit next to him and guide him through his work he does loads of work in within in a lesson. I told him to plan a shoot in London as he could get loads of images from going up there that links to all the artists that he has put in his sketchbook.

For the rest of the day, I planned what needed improving within the department and suggested what they could do to give students more ways of experimenting.

Overall today went well and I’m glad students are listening to what I have to say and are doing what I tell them to do.

Day 6 (30/04/18)

Today was a quiet day due to not many students being in because of the weather. So I didn’t get to do much. Because of the free time and not doing anything I did some of my work for my university. I still was available for the students to come and speak to, and for them to ask me questions. Towards the end of the day, I did an experiment for one of the photography student, who is looking into the artist Debbie Smyth, who uses string to create an image. The student is currently using wood and nails to recreate it. However, is finding the nails are too big and keep falling out. I suggested using foam board with small pins. I did an experiment to show the student. I did this by using the foam board and pins to see if it would turn out any better than using wood. It worked perfectly, it was more secure and looked a lot neater as the pins were smaller. It was also a lot easier to work with as you could put the pins in closer together.

Day 5 (27/04/18)

Today was a busy day and was filled with different lessons all day. I started the day in the art room helping the students, as this was an hour and a half lesson, I asked John Papworth what he would like for me to do with the photography students today. We came to an agreement that the student’s Lightroom skills needed improvement and should know why they need to use it more, and how it can be beneficial to them. So I planned a workshop to do with them using Lightroom. Whilst I was waiting for the photography students to have their lesson as it was towards the end of the day, I tidied up the camera cupboard and changed all the camera settings so they were on the right camera settings for the students. I changed them so the camera shot in RAW and JPEG as some of the computers at the school can’t handle the RAW files. I also changed it so the colour space was set to Adobe rather an SRGB. Once I did that and had lunch it was then the photography students lesson. John got them all settled in and to open Lightroom ready. When the students were all here, I then began, I started taking them through Lightroom with all the different adjustments they can do. I showed them three different types of images, one image was oversaturated, one was black and white, and one where it was overexposed. I chose these three images as they can see that they don’t have to necessary delete the image, they can edit an image in Lightroom in so many different ways. I also showed them they can save presets on Lightroom. This was because some of the students are taken ages to edit a shoot and tend to edit them all in the same way. This should then speed them up and enable them to get more work done. Once I showed them the basics, I saved the three images to the shared area for the students to work with. I told them to open the three images on Lightroom and play around to see if they can make them look any better. This lesson was only and 45min lesson so they didn’t have much time. But I walked around and helped any students that got stuck and needed my help. The students have done really well and all found it useful. The next lesson was graphics, for this John Papworth took me through the marking process and explained it all to me. He then got some students over one by one and got me to look through their work and mark it on how it currently is. He also told give and set feedback on what is going well and what could be improved. This was interesting to learn and a good way to see how they mark the students work. Overall this has been a productive day and went really well. I have learnt new things and taught the students new things. This week has gone really fast and I have enjoyed each second of it. I am looking forward to next week as well.

Day 4 (26/4/18)

Today I didn’t start until 10.30am. This was due to the teacher not having a lesson till that time. I started the day sitting in with both year 12 graphics and year 12 photography. These two lessons coincide with each other and are in the same room. I focused more on the photography students, and went round any students I didn’t get a chance to work with the other day. I helped one boy out that was stuck on where to go next with his project. He wants to focus his project on work people and what they use to work with, so close-ups of there tools etc. I suggested looking at artists that take photos of work people specifically, just to show the examiner that he has thought about different ideas for his project and different ways to photograph it, not just focusing on one thing and having one idea. I showed him some work of people I knew who do a similar thing to what he’s planning on doing. This helped him a lot and said he now has an idea on where to go next with his project. Next, John Papworth asked me to look at this one student work focusing on water as he knew I experiment with that at some point. I showed her the images I did, she wanted to know how I did the shoot with flowers in ice cubes, so I explained how I did it and how she should do it. I also gave her ideas on what to do next and advice on her current work.

Whilst looking around I noticed the students were stuck on editing their photos in Photoshop, so I suggested to john that I take them through editing photos on Lightroom and this will be better and quicker for them, as they can save presets for editing their images. He agreed this was a good idea and to take them through the process tomorrow with them.

For the rest of the day, I looked around the art and textiles students work. I gave them ideas and tips for them to use. The textiles students exam is coming up so gave them tip and advice on that because I was in their shoes a few years ago. One thing the teachers want the art and textiles students to do is to photograph the process of their work and know how to take good pictures of their final pieces etc. So I went round to the students one by one with a camera and showed and explained why they should photograph each stage of their work and how to do it in the best possible way. I explained to them that showing the examiner the process makes them understand their work better and that they may possibly get better grades by doing this. I showed and explained how they should photograph their final pieces and to show as much detail as possible. The student took all this on board and I even made them have a go at taking photos themselves.

Synthesise of my understanding of my own work.

• What topics interest you, both visual and contextual? and why?

The topics that interest me visually and contextually are ones that I have never done before or that I have come across. I like learning about new things and learning new techniques. I like a challenge and to experiment with my work to get the best possible outcome. My work is at it best when I’m combing new research and techniques into works I have learnt before. One topic inarticulacy that interests me the most is looking into artists that use film, and experimenting with it in ways of using it and developing it. I like the process that happens when using film, I like the rawness of film and the grain it has to the quality of the image. I like that you have to make every shot you take count and not knowing how it turns out until you develop it.

• What particular themes arise from or are dealt with in your work?

Some particular themes that arise from or are dealt with in my work are documentary and mixed media. Most my work is documentary based it always tends to document something. I also seem to always come back and used mixed media by laying images together. All the work I produce is made by a different alternative photographic process. For example salt printing, cyanotypes, black and white and coloured film. I like to experiment and learn new techniques. I like sticking to the formal elements of photography, by focusing on colour, aperture of my images and exploring different techniques and differences between them all.

• What is the link between your theoretical work and choice of research and your practice?

As spoken about throughout within the previous questions, the themes that connect my practice together is documentary and mixed media. The elements that tie my work together when it comes to an idea is the research into the idea, there is always a strong link between that and the final piece that I produce. I translate that idea into a finished piece by combing the research I do to link into my own practice. The research I do always helps me produce my work further and give me new ideas on what to do with the project. When it comes to the theoretical research I use the books that Francis might recommend to me and what he might show us in our lectures. I also go into further research by finding books using the library, to widen my research and ideas on what to produce.

• What approaches do you take to developing your work (consider both practical elements and contextual), in other words what stages do you tend to go through to develop, realise and communicate ideas? Is there a pattern to your process?

When it comes to developing my work, the approaches I take are researching into what my chosen theme is, researching artists that link to my theme, then researching artist within the style I want to work with. I then explore and experiment in similar ways to the artists I have looked at, and maybe even combing some artists together. I then combine the work that I have experiment with, with my own style until I get the outcome that I am happy with. I like my work to look unique and different, so I develop it and play around with the process until I’m happy with the overall outcome. I’d rather develop and explore different ideas for my work and have loads of ideas I can work with, rather than having one final idea that may not be the best. In my opinion, developing the woradverticsing k you create in different ways shows myself and viewers that the final outcome is at the best it can possibly be. I enjoy the approaches I take when it comes to developing my work, it means I am learning to things all the time, both practical and contextual.

• If you were to assess your approach in both areas, what do you feel works and what doesn’t? and where do you see the need for development?

If I was to assess my approach to my work, I feel that how much I research I do towards the development of my work is strong, and really well, there’s always strong links to my artists and my work. There are clear concepts and ideas and you can clearly see them throughout my work. However, one thing that I think I can do to improve is time management, I have loads of ideas when it comes to development but sometimes I don’t necessarily get time to physically do them.

• Where does your work sit in terms of genre and the creative industries? Think about the strengths of your working practices as well as interest – and whether these fit? And why

In terms of genre and the creative industries, my work sits mainly within the documentation genre. The work that I produce documents a certain topic whether this being myself, religion, or even the environment. This is changing all the time to fit into the creative industry and to suit me and what I like. Looking back at some of my old work you could say my work also sits under advertising. My images were very editorial based and could definitely be used in/for magazines, books, websites and other forms of media.

• Where do you see your career heading?

I see my career heading into teaching, I enjoy teaching others and showing people different techniques they haven’t learnt before. I think not having a style to my work and being able to explore all element of photography, helps me with going into teaching. I will have an open mind when marking and looking at other peoples work, and it won’t be bias opinion, as I will understand different peoples styles. I will be able to teach them all different techniques and give them my honest opinion on their work. Doing work experience at a school has shown me I could possibly be a teacher. The students engaged with me and liked all the different ideas I gave them.

Day 3 (25/04/18)

At the begging of the day today, I sat in with the graphics class. I showed John Papworth the powerpoint I created for the workshop today and he really liked it and agreed with me about the students lacking in their studio skills. I started to set up the studio so it was ready for the workshop for photography students later on. Below I have placed images of the set up I created in the studio.

 

Whilst setting the studio up, a student came to me 1 on 1 and asked how to set the studio up with using flash. I showed her how to do this, she didn’t realise how easy it was to set up. When the photography students came in I didn’t end up doing the workshop as there were students who needed to use the studio, so I am going to do the workshop another day. There were a few students that weren’t in the other day so I went through their work and gave them ideas on what they can do. One girl wanted help to shoot in a film noir style so I told her ways in which she can do this, and gave her three different way she can do this. She took them on board and is planning to do a shoot in the next couple of days. Another student I spoke to was struggling on where to go next, so I ask what he liked doing and what was his style, he told me and I gave him loads of artists to look at which might give him an idea on what root to take with his project.

One student is focusing on shadows and silhouettes and showed me what he is interested in doing. I had an idea for him to used sun-sensitive paper, and placing objects on top of it to create silhouettes. I tested this out before showing him what he could possibly do as some development and show different techniques in his work. He seemed up for the idea but was busy doing a shoot so wanted to do it another day. Below are pictures of the test sheets I experimented with. On the left-hand side is the one I left under the UV bed for 5 minutes, and on the right-hand side is the one I left under the UV bed for 2 minutes.

Day 2 (24/04/18)

At the beginning of today, I had a year 13 photography class. For this class, I sat down with the students and went through their work individually, I managed to give them advice on what to do next and what other artists they can look at. I manage to give them at least two other artists to look at. The year 13s are currently looking into their exam question, some of them have chosen to do the exam question with silhouettes, and are looking at doing photoshoots with casting shadows over people and film noir. As they are keen on doing this I said I will do a workshop in the studio with them playing around with shadows and lighting. I told them to bring in props that they can use for the shoot. Looking at some of the other people work I noticed that they are lacking their knowledge in the studio, and their images aren’t as good as they can be. They are using the wrong settings on their camera and they are taking the image of how they want it to look rather than having it better quality and editing it they way they want after. One girl, in particular, did a shoot in the studio but made her settings so her images were dull and hand really cool colour tones them. This made the images lose its detail and made some parts of the image really dark. I suggested she reshoot and maybe experiment with different light and flash, I offered to help her and to show her how to set up the studio properly.

For the rest of the day, I planned some workshops to do with the students, this was due to the teacher I shadow has to go to the other site to teach on this day. I have placed a link to the powerpoint I created below. Even though for most the day I was on my own I felt it was still constructive as I planned to do workshops for the students that I haven’t done before. I enjoyed planning for this and look forward to the actual workshop itself.

lighting in the studio

 

Day 1 (23/04/18)

Today I didn’t start until 10.30, as the teacher I am with had a meeting. I started the day by looking through some of the year 12 photography students InDesign workbook. I made note of what they can do and what could be improved. When looking through the work I have noticed the students had a lot of spelling mistakes and their grammar was pretty poor. Looking through their work more, they don’t have a lot of artist research and it’s mainly all from Pinterest. They need help with annotating their work, they are either writing to much and taking up a lot of there time in just writing or they aren’t writing enough and the pages are looking bare. They also have loads of images from Pinterest and not enough images of their own. They don’t have a flow to there work and their work seems to have jumps where they are looking at something new. From looking at their work, I will maybe give ways on how the students can annotate their work better and what they should be writing and what they shouldn’t. I could show them layout designs and show them a better way of formatting their work.

The next lesson was then graphics which I looked around at students work and gave them advice and help on what to do and where to go. Once I looked around all the students work, I then looked around the photography department and gave suggestions on what could be improved. The head of photography John Papworth said he had trouble with students not handing the cameras back in, and stealing some of the camera accessories. He showed me what the process was for students to take the cameras out. I then suggested a way which might help him and involves the students signing out the cameras before they were allowed to take them. He was keen on this idea and thought it was really good, he asked me to design a sheet for them to fill out which I have placed bellow.

He was happy with this and is putting it to use straight away. The next lesson I had was art. Where I again looked through the students work and gave them advice. There was one boy who particularly was struggling, he was doing a drawing in the style of an artist, but because he wasn’t looking at the artists work while doing it, so didn’t look like the artists work at all, I told him this and suggested that it might be a good idea to start again and maybe use a different image. He was up for this and straightway done it. Whilst looking through he work it reminded me of a couple of artist that he could use and work with, he likes all of the artist i suggested as said he was going to look into them and research into them more.

This then took me up to the end of the day, overall the day went pretty well, I think I fitted in pretty well and the students adjusted to me well and were happy to talk to me. I think I gave them good advice and helped them with their work. I also helped the photography department with their issue with the cameras.

Timetable for the next 2 weeks

Below is a picture of the timetable I will be following for the next 2 weeks of work experience. I will start at 9.00am and finish at 3.15pm every day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays where I have a gap, I will plan workshops for the students to help them with there work and also design posters to help them remember camera setting etc for in the studio. The rest of the time I will be in the classroom with the students. I am sitting in photography year 12 and 13, graphics year 12 and 13 and art. I will be looking through their work and given advice and my opinion on their work so far.

Emailing the work placement

On this page, I have placed evidence of the emails sent and received from the work placement. I have emailed the Folkestone academy vice priceable of the glasswork (Simon Himbury) to ask for 10 days work experience with them. I emailed him twice and didn’t hear anything back so I went into the school and asked to talk to him. He was happy to have me for work experience, he just had to double check with the head of art/photography. He emailed back in a couple of and said it was all okay. Below are the conversations I had with him regarding the paperwork and etc. I also had 3 meetings with him going through all the paperwork and what I will be doing whilst on my work experience with them. I can’t wait to start I’m really looking forward to it. I will be starting on the 23rd of April and be finishing on the 4th of May.

Email 1

Email 2

Email 3

Email 4

Email 5

Research into work experinace

When researching and looking into work experience, I first wanted to work with a freelancer photographer. However, when given it some thought I decided against the idea, as I wouldn’t be doing much and that’s not what to do when I leave university. As I want to be a teacher when I leave university teaching photography, I thought it was a good idea to do work experience at a school within the photography/art department. This will give me experience in working within a school and teaching students and give me an idea what it will be like to be a teacher. Once I was happy with my decision I then started emailing around to find a work placement.