As part of my Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) award from Arts Council England, I have recently taken two short courses at University of the Arts, London (UAL): Portrait Photography with Peter Cattrell and Photojournalism with Teri Pengilley.
My aim in this period of development is work on my storytelling to take on more documentary photography work and I felt that having some time out to work exclusively in these areas would help me to do this, as well as feeding into other areas of my practice, such as my more commercial work.
Both courses were intense, pushed me outside of my comfort zone (having to be in front of the camera and having to ask total strangers for portraits, both things I am guilty of tending to avoid), took me back to basics, taught me new skills and gave me the time to just try things out to see what happens. They inspired me, increased my skills and made me see more clearly what I’m capable of and what I want to do.
Below I’ve included a few portraits taken on the portrait photography course and I’ve put together a post featuring the photo story I made on the photojournalism course, which you can see here.
I really enjoyed taking these courses and feel they have done me and my work the world of good. Huge thanks to my tutors and fellow students for teaching me so much and of course the Arts Council England for giving me the means to do it.
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Find out more about Arts Council England at https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
