Professional Practice - Introduction

A beginning to a new academic year (the final one) and a new set of challenges and hurdles to face. The start to this year is filled with excitement, trepidation (the dreaded dissertation) and a touch of sadness (the beginning of the end).

There are two assignments for this semester, Professional Practice and the 8000 word Dissertation. The Professional Practice element has been designed to challenge the student to make decisions on the direction of their photographic practice. This is based on experiences to date and the direction the student is drawn to. Students are to undertake research, trends and forecasts into their chosen photographic discipline along with investigating in depth knowledge of working practices in their chosen field.

For this assignment I want to further explore original and alternative processes. However, you have to be mindful of the task set by the lecturing staff. In combination of exploring new working practices the aim of the assignment is to enter nationally and internationally accredited photographic competitions. This can be a bit of a minefield with a platitude of competitions from varying providers include a range of categories. So one of the first challenges is to sort the wheat from the chaff and identify the competitions best suited to your working practice. The next obstacle is to analyse the requirement from an external brief and find innovative ways to create a reaction from the judging panel. This is easier said than done!

So why have I chosen silver based and alternative processes? This is two fold. First and foremost is the fact that I'm drawn to the considered methodical approach of these disciplines, along with the tactile nature of these processes, actually creating a physical image. I'm also keen not to follow the trend into digital image capture, to stand out from an over subscribed market place. Secondly in my dissertation I am writing about the ways an audience views analogue and digital images. This task also requires cross reference between the two assignments.