20.05.10
Photography degree at Uni: Worth it?
Nick Sargeant is the assistant rector and head of photography at the University of Gloucestershire. It’s a university with a good reputation for producing successful professional photographers in all genres. He puts forward a strong case for photographic further education. Do you agree with him?
It’s that time of year again: students are applying for universities, attending interviews and hoping that they and their portfolios will make enough of an impression to get them on to their course of choice. Photography is among the most popular subjects, competition for entry is high and it has found its place as a serious area for study – and not before time.
For over a century, photography in Britain was portrayed as a trade, requiring little more than mechanistic training in the use of equipment. By the 1950s the main organisation teaching the subject was still the RAF, but still setting
many like Don McCullin and David Bailey on the right path. Twenty years ago there were still only about 15 photography HNDs and a handful of degree courses. Today there are about 100 courses, the two-year foundation degrees (FdA), three-year BA (Hons) programmes and one-year degree ‘top-ups’ delivered from 50 universities and colleges.
So why do students apply for photography courses? Well, like all of us, they have been bitten by the bug. Applicants in the majority still come straight from A levels, BTECs or Foundation Diplomas, but there are also those who want to make a career change or who have finally found an opportunity to pursue their passion. The passion for photography is important, for there are no guaranteed jobs. In the current climate, graduates really do have to acquire a range of transferable skills. We should enable students to think for themselves, to foster cross-fertilisation of ideas and encourage creativity. Students need to be equipped to adapt to marketplace changes and to seek
out and be responsive to career opportunities. If any students have a view of photography as a relatively ‘soft’ subject when they arrive, they will be quickly disabused of this notion. There is a lot to absorb in a short space of time. They will have to successfully complete contextual studies, professional practice and a range of critical studies, but the majority of their programme will be practical work. One of our former students reflected that the best part of his course was probably the ‘theory’ and his final dissertation.
A little surprising perhaps, but he reasoned that he would not have achieved or even sought any of that side of his learning if he hadn’t taken a photography degree. Each course has its own identity and students are savvy when it comes to selecting the course and institution that feels right for them. A three-year degree programme will usually require a volume of practical work in the first year that incrementally introduces a range of technical skills. On the completion of a body of work, students usually have a critique session where everyone presents their work to staff and the rest of their group. By necessity, this rapidly develops individual critical and communication skills. In the first two years, students are directed through a series of projects to try out as many formats of cameras, types of film, lighting, software and digital capture as appropriate. This is the time to experiment and have some fun (pinhole cameras and homemade emulsions are proving popular again). Students are also encouraged to work with others from cognate courses such as advertising or graphic design. The opportunity to appreciate and use each other’s expertise to create a joint solution emulates industry practice, and is a good way to start building that address book of useful names.
We require students to take work placements, not always with a photographer; it may be at a retouching house, with a newspaper, a magazine, or even a gallery or agent. What is important is that the students learn the value of networking and get an idea of the realities of the industry. Lecturers call on their contacts and former students to contribute a lecture, portfolio reviews, or some more regular part-time teaching. Visitors from picture agencies, picture editors, assistants and a range of photographers are stimulating and a great way to keep everyone up to speed.
The digital revolution has made a great impact on the industry and courses must keep up with the continued developments. Increasingly, we see students arrive with their own digital equipment expecting their courses to supply high-end print facilities. Each year is proving a different challenge. It is not easy to finance new equipment annually. The Hasselblads and 5 x 4s seemed to go on forever, whereas new digital equipment and software is perceived as being out of date within a year once superseded by the next update.
Perhaps not surprisingly, students have hardly used film or even seen the range of formats of stills film cameras until they start a course. Across a number of institutions, I have recently seen students shooting on film and scanning to produce digital prints. They have used digital to get accurate exposures, just like an earlier generation used Polaroid, before shooting 12 pictures. They liked the discipline that the expensive film imposed on them. I guess that they will return to digital capture, but the discipline that they have learned must be good practice. One student told me that he liked film for portraits because the sitter couldn’t ask to see the image during the session. It made for a more relaxed approach. Things go around – I recall a group of students asking Terence Donovan why he didn’t shoot Polaroids and getting pretty much the same answer.
There has been a rise in interest in the photojournalism courses, which is reassuring given that we thought this might be a genre in decline, but there continues to be an appetite for studying the subject, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Knowing their way around the Mac and Creative Suite is pretty much a necessity, particularly if students are going straight into assisting, but who would have guessed that Final Cut Pro would eventually be part of our syllabus? That was something we left to the video course, but now we have high definition on even the cheap digital cameras. One of our former students Ruth Hogbern went to assist Nick Knight, who is no slouch when it comes to exploring new techniques. She worked on his fashion film projects and is now making a name for herself as a film maker.
So the moving image is our next challenge. High-definition movie is included in the stills cameras that we are now buying for students and is impossible to ignore. This runs full circle. We may be teaching photography, but that’s a small title for a big subject. We are educating students, not training them. They need to know how to use equipment, but that’s quickly dealt with; what they do with it is the most important thing. Giving students the opportunity to realise their potential should be the core of learning and makes university or college the best way of preparing for a career in the creative industries.
Each week we host a live online debate via our website. We recently posed the question: ‘Are we training too many professional photographers?’ Below are some of the comments from that debate:
[Comment from Phil L] “When I did my degree (as a mature student), it was clear that the college concerned was very keen to have as many students on a course as possible, irrespective of whether there was space in the industry.”
[Comment from Dave] “Interesting point to debate. I agree with Phil: universities are not thinking about whether people will get jobs after graduating. A photography degree is worth what these days? Everyone is a photographer!”
[Comment from Guest] “I agree, there are many higher education courses that have been introduced over the last few years which include an element of photography. It is the attitude, experience and skills of the individual combined with their qualifications in photography which make them a professional.”
[Comment from Joe Partridge] “The way this debate is heading, we will be asking for the licensing of photographers next. The only qualification anyone needs is their portfolio. Whether they went to college, night school or read some books; all they need is a portfolio of good pictures.”
[Comment from Guest] “If you look at the great photographers of the past, not all of them have qualifications; most of them picked up a camera and the rest is based on experience and people skills.”
[Comment from Ian Bursill] “Why do you need qualifications to become a pro photographer? Surely, if you can provide excellent coverage, excellent product and top customer service, that makes your clients happy. That is the only qualification that matters...”
[Comment from Cathal] “I think the qualifications are very easy to obtain. When I finished my degree, I was a very long way from becoming a professional. Of the 25 students I graduated with in 2001, only four of us became pro photographers – this despite it costing an average of £12,000 to complete the course, and we all got certified by the BIPP.”
[Comment from Alex Bailey] “Over the years I have had many students and young photographers on work experience. It is frightening how shallow their knowledge is. Personally, I think media and photography courses are sexy! Train less, train better and involve the photo industry – work placements for all!”
[Comment from Guest] “I think the expectations are unrealistic. I taught in higher education and most of my students believed they would be fashion photographers without much hard work just because of a piece of paper. They all believe they will get the top job because they have the qualification.”
[Comment from Paul Cotney] “I work with my local college to have a second-year student come on work placement one day a week. Their career expectations are shocking.”
[Comment from Iain] “I see universities teaching students dark room work – that’s not training, it’s time wasting.”
[Comment from Ross] “I am a photography student and you need not worry: the standard of most students’ work is pretty poor.”
[Comment from Scott Irwin] “I am in my second year at university and I can say I have not had much training on the business side.”
[Comment from Guest] “I agree with all of this: the courses are an easy option and they provide money for the universities rather than producing excellent photographers.”
[Comment from Cathal] “If the students and amateurs knew how hard it really is, and how unlikely they are to succeed, I think it would do them and the industry a lot of good.”
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