Finished!
Can’t quite believe that it’s done. Research for the final 3 projects all typed, filed, contacts printed, analyses made, costings costed, evaluations evaluated. Two years work almost over!
The very last set of Projects goes in for final assessment tomorrow. Then there’s just the nice part left: final processing to get the colourspace right, and then printing and taking the show photographs to my favourite framer. All will be over by the week of 9th June. It’s hard to believe it’s almost done.
The photograph here is the one chosen for the front of my new book. More on that soon, including photos showing what a fabulous quality hardcover it is, and there’s a small version, cheap(er) to come .
Sleep, now.
Over the next few days, now that we have the time, there’s going to be a new server hosting the websites, which will definitely speed things up and stop all those erratic outages we’ve been experiencing. And new domains for this and the professional site too. We’re going for thephotographypages.co.uk. What d’you think?
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Twenty things to look forward to after final hand-in
It’s that time of year. A sizeable proportion of twentysomethings and a few older people who really should know better, are approaching the last days of a university degree or similar. It’s exam time for some, and for others, for artists, photographers, musicians, the completion of projects, the final realisation of ideas, the showcasing of skills, whatever that means.
So, what to expect?
1. A feeling of intense relief followed by one of mild elation.
Possibly the need to drink large quantities of alcohol in celebration, with or without dinner. Maybe not altogether a good idea, but this will most certainly be happening in your own near vicinity. Heaton, Elswick, Bournville and Erdington will resound with the joyful laughter of escapee undergraduates on a final binge before the final binge of all: the graduation party.
2. an overwhelming sense of achievement.
Possibly. Possibly not. What if it all feels like a huge waste of time and money? Nah, not possible.
3. facing the elephant in the room
Whatever, it might be a hippo or a tiger. A photography degree?!?! WTF was that all about?
4. building a working darkroom
Yes, that suddenly becomes a rather realistic and achievable goal. And all the bits of knowledge built up over the months of mistakes and frustration are suddenly pointedly pertinent. A red light is good for printing black and white but of course it’s no good for loading sheet film, is it? A working darkroom will have to be a place where it’s possible to load dark slide cases, so it’ll have to be more light-tight than for mere printing. Yes, things like that.
5. downloading extraneous photodross to ebay
The piece of glass that came in a box with the filters - it’s an enlarger lens! And those flat things with rulers down the sides - they’re darkroom easels, and you don’t need them in all sizes, a small and a big one will do just fine. Spend any Thursday with a decent bottle of wine or a bar of Green and Blacks and list everything with immaculately accurate descriptions, for 10 days, auction to end the Sunday week. It’s a quiet time anyway, for photography gear on Ebay, and prices aren’t what they were. If you’ve the storage space it might be worth hanging on to a surplus F5 or SB, but otherwise, clear it out.
6. taking photos for just fun
Get the lomo back from the nephew, or borrow a focus-free pola, a fisheye, an APS or a half-frame camera. All those damn-fool crazy things that can’t be done by pros. Enjoy it, take snapshots, make double exposures and frame shifts. get them processed in the supermarket, get little prints, hang them up with bulldog clips, photojojojoy.
7. sleep and sleep and sleep
8. no more that creepy guy stuff
Photography has always been a bit of a haven for the creepy guy, as the Americans call him. Upskirt or downblouse, gropey fondly guy, or the sniggery type who can’t stop playing pocket snooker. Phew. No more of those, finally and at last. They do say that the industry is full of creepy guy, but there seems absolutely no reason why the colleges who do all the training for the industry should be full of them. Not every chef’s a sweary Gordon Ramsey. Shouldn’t the photography education biz be trying to get rid of creepy guy? Or maybe it’s just that the last vestiges of the breed hang around corridors and darkrooms lusting over the teenage and turning-twenty women who are the majority in photography schools now.
9. graduating
The palaver involving waiting around for hours in a black drapey effort that smells strongly of dry cleaning fluid and pulls the top button of your shirt into the deep recess of your epiglottis? Yes, that one. This time, graduation is at Newcastle Civic Centre, a truly gorgeous building which photographs very well. One unexpected benefit. Plus there’ll be an opportunity to make some jumping photographs in the lovely grounds afterwards. Twenty-somethings in graduation gowns, jumping. Got to be done!
10. doing other things without feeling guilty
For two years, anything else - going to Sligo, baking chocolate cake, planting daffodil bulbs - has been accompanied by more than mild feelings that really, one should be doing that piece of research, should be finishing that essay, should be scanning those negs. The process of enduring compulsory education is fraught with should and oughts. No more: should will again be expunged from the vocabulary.
11. following up connections
There have been an awful lot of really top-notch connections made that there just hasn’t been time to follow up. Photographers met, those not yet aencountered, but appreciated from afar, and photographs loved and galleries to visit and shows to see. All that awaits.
12. knowing stuff
Sharing the knowledge is really something to look forward to. Formally or informally, there’s an awful lot that’s been learned along the way. As the sign says - Ask Me. There’s a list forming, but answers will be given, most gladly.
13. the book projects
Tying up the loose ends of projects half started, and books that are to come. Can’t wait.
14. holidaying/gardening/decorating/
Insert customised pleasure here. Just getting a couple of coats of paint on the door of the shed will be fun.
15. discovering what the next thing will be
Ah. Endings always bring new beginnings.
16. consolidation
Gathering all this knowledge, these new and growing skills, and seeing how they hold up to real use in the wild. It’s like testing the brakes on a new bike. How well does it all really work?
17. looking at other people’s photographs without thinking of them as research material
Every photograph has provided inspiration - even cheesy product shots from magazines have taken on a whole new dimension. What’s the light like? Where’s it coming from? Can you see the photoshop joins?
18. replying to an inbox full of messages
Lots and lots of replies are owed, are outstanding, and grateful thanks to everyone who’s still waiting, and even bigger thanks to those who’ve given up long ago. You are not forgotten, it will all happen. June, maybe.
19. talking with people about themselves without looking them over as portrait material
Not sure this is going to stop any time soon, mind. The next project is going to be portraits, made properly.
20. sleep, in the short term, lots of it.
Needed repeating.
Good luck and warm wishes to everyone who’s in the final throes. It won’t be the end of the world if you don’t finish, you know that. But by now, you might just as well.
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Passionate Rights Grab rules changed!
Remember this? The One North East competition for students that promised to take all the entrants’ copyright (not just the winners) including all moral rights to their work in perpetuity and all over the universe?
We wrote to One North East and the competition’s sponsors setting out our case and asking for our photographs back. That’s Stuart Busby, Craig Stephenson, Michael Flowdy, Louise Henesy, Emily Wardhaugh and Holly Miller, 6 of the 10 students from Newcastle College who were coerced encouraged by their tutor to enter the competition.
The really good news is that the rules have now been changed! Pro-Imaging, the group of professionals who campaign on behalf of photographers’ rights report that:
One NorthEast no longer seek to claim copyright, nor waiving of moral rights.
One NorthEast no longer claim unsuccessful students submissions other than a license permission to display submissions on the competition website. All images will be credited.
For the winning image the student will be invited to license their submission to One NorthEast for use in the Regional Image Campaign, such license appropriately time limited. and with a condition that the student will not use the submission in a way that could harm the reputation of the region.
We’re delighted, it’s a great result, and shows what can be done to educate even powerful organisations like the Regional Development Agency. We’re extremely grateful to Pro Imaging for their support. Campaigns like this ensure that creators of the photographs on the huge panels below on the walkways into Newcastle Airport, will be paid for their work, just like the people who pasted them onto the wall.
And although we have yet to deal with the issue of why the College was so keen to promote the competition amongst its students (when no other photography courses took part), of course it means that we are all…
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