I'm a student again....it's 16 years since i've been one of those!

NOCN Photography (Digital) Human Form/Portraits Stage 3

I arrived a few minutes early, not really sure what to expect. I followed my nose to the studio and found it quite easily, there were a few there already, all very quiet obviously feeling a little like me, a bit nervous and a little out of place.

still I went in trying not to be too inward, there were two people already in there working, one guy in glasses at a pc he seemed a little flustered, I thought he was our tutor for a while! Then there was another, younger than me, by quite a bit, packing a way a portfolio, struggling with zip. "Student"... I thought..."hhmm, he seems young, ok now I feel old and out of place!”
They both left.
As the minutes ticked by more people arrived until there was about 10 of us.
The tutor, a woman called Kit, dark hair, glasses, came in and started to talk to us, I felt as if she had already said half her sentence in her head before she came in as it didn't seem much of an introduction. She had the air of an artist, by which I mean disorganised! She introduced herself as a photographer and a ceramicist. Once we got settled which seemed to take forever (over an hour) it all appeared calmer and I felt much better.

we spoke about enrolment student cards were acquired, we did a Biometric test to see what sort of a learner we all were…I ended up in the Pragmatist column (person who is oriented toward the success or failure of a particular line of action, thought, etc.; a practical person.) Seems about right!

It turns out that the course is run so that if you would like to take it a little further then you can by opting for level 3 instead of 2, not much different really you just need to submit more theory, so I thought I’m here I may as well do the higher one.

A quick tour of the place, fire exits, library, canteen….coffee nice one, we all had a bit of a chat everyone seems cool nice and chilled out.

Back in the studio and we looked through a slide show of old portrait photos from when the medium was new right up to present day. There were some fantastic images from Isombard Kingdom Brunel to Mick Jagger. My favourite stuff had be the more candid shots and one artist in particular Dorothea Lange and her photos from the American Depression in the 1930’s, she was asked to produce these images to raise awareness by the American government, I have to do some work on a famous artist that produced work in a style that appeals so im choosing her.

All in all... a great start.