Placement Diary III

This week with my placement has been interesting. With the graphics groups that I am working with I am very much in the swing of working with students on a one on one basis and students are listening to what I am saying and hopefully they are getting something from what I am saying. 

WIth the photography group that I am helping out with it is a different story. Unfortunately the teacher with the group that I come in with is still off sick and a feel their is less of a structure with what I am doing with students, at the moment with them starting on ideas with their exams I am trying to engage with them in terms of the ideas that they are doing (although have received a bit of a cold shoulder). What I did manage to do today is to bring in some books of mine to show a student the work of contemporary photographers, and look at the potential of photography and showing that this kind of research is more useful that flicker. With this a general interest in a topic became much more focused in terms of an idea and a project. So doing some good here. 

Next week I have planned to stay on longer on a thursday with a AS group to engage with these guys who apparently have some more enthusiasm for photography, and can be more useful to engage with. 

MA

Yesterday whilst in a digital workshop I decided I really want to do an MA in Photography and carry on my studies. Mainly for the simple reason I just want to carry on learning and understanding this subject that I absolutely love. Lots of people say (generally speaking) that doing an MA is just an excuse not to find a job and that you don't know what you want to do. But for me that is not true I find education an incredible experience that is challenging, rewarding and allows me to keep on improving in what I do. 

Thus taking action I am now investigating steps in order to progress onto the MA course at UCA. The reason why I want to stay in Farnham is purely down to this being one of the few (or the only) two year full time course. I find doing such an intensive course in a year a challenge that I may struggle with, and time has a habit of flying by. Although with living expenses it may work out cheaper, thats not what doing the course is about. It's about me continue to keep on studying for the fact that I love doing it. I know that I still will have to find work when I finish, but I will have an added qualification on top of my degree that makes me more employable, (especially from a teaching perspective). 

Right then finding funding is important then ...

Placement Diary II

So far I feel my placement is going well at Farnham college. Currently with the Graphics groups I am with I feel focused in my mentoring of what they are doing at the moment in terms of giving advice with what they need to do. There is definatly a sense of enjoyment and talking to Steve i feel he is there to help me if required, and feel that he does trust me with what I am doing. 

In terms of the photography group that I am with I have only just started the lessons with. The first lesson was rather a weird one for several reasons. One being the normal teacher with that group is off for bereavement, secondly it being the last lesson before half term week (this week) and half the students are not there and finally it being the end of the project and students are much focused on what they are doing. What I felt I did achieve is to start talking to students and finding out what they are interested in. 

Overall am happy with the ways things are going

Focusing on the Future Now

Now that my Professional Futures Unit has started at Uni I can now properly focus on the things I need to do in order to aim for a creative photography career! 

In terms of assessment requirements what I need to do is;

• Career Proposal
• C.V.
• Portfolio directed towards my career
• Portfolio on fotofolios (our uni portfolio online community) 
• Placement with 500-1000 word report

Right now taking action

firstly the simple things (or are they?) 

Proposal  - can do earlier this week

C.V. and cover letter  - can do this week

fotofolios - can open account this week and start looking at work next

Placement have begun, however I feel it would be nice in order to widen my horizons to look at other placements. Publishing seems an ever appealing, as for my last project I really enjoyed (despite the hard work) making my book. On top of that I received a high grade on my last project and lots of praise for it. Therefore I feel that I should look for placements that I can do for a short period of time during easter (whilst Farnham College won't be open, and won't be doing that placement) 

Now the hard part my portfolio. Looking back at my own work I'm currently in a state of confusion as to what this portfolio will contain. My degree is in two halves and in terms of what I consider in place in this will contain nothing from the first half as I'm not really proud of this projects and they don't show anything to really show off. In terms of the 2nd half of my second year their is something but this will need to be reshot. And then their is my 3rd year consisting of my last project and the one I'm about to do. I'm very much worried that this won't be good and diverse enough. 

Hmm..... things to consider

Placement

Since teaching seems to be the thing for me to do, I have now begun a placement at Farnham College primarily mentoring/helping out with Graphics but also doing a photography lesson on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. 

So far after two lessons it seems to be going well, in my assistance at the moment I am just going through peoples workbooks and checking off requirements on a list and things they need to improve. After a fairly nervous start I feel that my confidence is growing and things are going well, working on a one to one basis. Generally feedback is positive, so all going well. Thursday I will be beginning with a photography lesson, so should be good to help out in an area that I know more about. 

exhausting weekend

as I have been off uni, I have been somewhat restricted in starting new coursework, so as shifts were up for grabs at work I took them -  extra money didn't hurt everyone. however worked so much that by sunday night I was knackered, with a shift to do the next morning (today). 

on top of this I received the sad news that my auntie dezra has died, after her battle with cancer. this has certainly been a moment of reflection and a has certainly made me pause. So this weekend has been somewhat of an exhausting one. 

on the plus side today, focusing back to my degree, I have finally managed to hand in my Dissertation and I got a seriously high mark for my independent study project. 78!!! Amazing! 

best wishes 

Helen x

Looking around

After yet another day of snow, and uni being closed I have spent half the day at work (currently have a part time job at Starbucks), for the sole reason of boredom. In terms of the future I have been using searching throught the careers website, in order to just get a feeling of what potential jobs could be out there for me when I finish uni in June. 

So far I have left feeling more confused than where I was yesterday, and creative work is few and far between. The prospect of publishing seems appealing, althought my skills and knowledge in this area is probably somewhat weaker than to someone who has done a course in this area, and my prospects seem very slim. Another creative profession that keeps poping up is Web design, something I havn't really done properly, before. Last year I did manage to build something very basic with dreamweaver and get it online for a group project in 2nd year, but quite frankly I'm rather embarassed by it. (Thankyou to Maxiie and the lovely librarian at uni who helped me to do it) I find the whole field really elisit with the amount of jargon that surrounds the field, without getting into the whole tags issue. This is actually something I'm quite desperate to learn properly and hopefully uni will help us out with this, just out of self promotion. 

Oh christ! what skills do I have to get a job?! 

Right then...

... what do I want to do. 

for those who don't know me I thought I'd better tell you more about myself and what I want to do. 

Basically at the moment I am a 3rd year Photography student studing at UCA Farnham. This past year I have really enjoyed getting back into my degree after a year off. And the last six months I have loved, purely down to creative freedom and doing something I want to do. This I know will not allways be the case, but I find myself forever clutching education and I know for certain that I don't want to leave. An MA is something that I definatly want to do, but funds arn't really there. So the MA will have to be put on hold. 

Being a photographer is my top proirity. Ultimatly what I want to do is make the work I want to make, and get paid for it. This is really the dream and I have to be pracitical and the chances of being successful at this are slim, but I won't give up on this. So the shorterm plan at the moment is the enter my work into competition and hopefully I will get noticed by the right people. 

 

I find the prospect of teaching is very appealing. I love learning and improving myself through education, and I feel that with a teaching position not only will I be teaching others but I will be a challenging job that will keep me on my toes and allow me to keep researching and learning myself. 

However I am keeping my options open at the moment, and continually looking around a potentially what else I could do. Other jobs that are appealing is the work in Galleries, Picture Libraries, working freelance, basically anything creative. This has been the bulk of my search at the moment to see what else I could do. In short Plan B. 

Best Wishes

Helen x

Hello to all

Hello to all,

My name is Helen Goodin, and I am now a blogger!

Currently in my life and am reaching the final sprint with my uni degree and the prospect of a job and more importantly a career have never felt more important. Or should that be the other way round in these times of recession. Therefore I have been inspired partly from reading other peoples blogs (as uni has be closed because of the snow) but also for myself in order to try and keep track of what I really want to do, and how on earth I am going to find a job that I actually want to do. 

At the moment with uni, we are at the semester change over and should have started today with my final units, but alas Snow has decened on the streets of Farnham thus will be postponed to I imagine sometime next week. Therefore my time has been spent looking around on various job wesbites, such as Monster, Job Centre Plus, Prospects e.t.c, and preparing for these next two units of my degree that will need to be done. And of course writing this blog. 

Best Wishes 

Helen x