This is my long awaited second part of one of my blogs about Northbrook College and the BA (Hons) courses that I could if I wish apply for. In this blog post I thought I would spend a moment to talk about a degree run at West Durrington campus called Contemporary Photographic Arts.
On Friday 4th November I left class early to attend an open day with David in Fine Art. After this I thought it would be a good idea to wait around for half an hour and go and look at this photography degree. I thought that I should check out what Northbrook had to offer because if it felt right it meant that I would not have to spend as much money moving away from home.
I was a little disappointed to find out that I was the only person in the open day talk who had actually turned up. Nevertheless It meant that I could talk informally on a one to one basis with Paul Grivell, the course tutor. This meant the course talk was a lot less time than the previous. When I stepped in the room I realised I had been there before and then remembered last year I went to the same talk because I wasn't really sure which course to choose here at the college.
From Paul skipping through the slideshow, the overview of the course seemed to be bringing critical theory and contemporary photographic practice together in order to challenge and question photography as a whole. I thought this sounded quite interested and I was given a leaflet with all the basic course information. Here I found that the Photographic degree would be very broad, working with digital and analogue techniques using photography and moving image meant there would be a wide range of forms to play with.
The course had been split into three years and covered much of the same outline as the Fine Art degree. The first year would be a lot of research and written presentations as well as an exploratory stage at the beginning of the year. This meant that in the first month you would be able to play around and document findings from using various mediums. The theme would be set and you would wok from it. For the second year you would advance on these skills and ending the year you would showcase your work in a public exhibition or space. A few examples were shown on the slideshow of people hiring out a shop window to create a 24 hour exhibition; others did the same with a car parking space. In the final year students were expected to know what area they wanted to work and things start to become more specific. All work and exhibition space was up to you, the student could set their own theme based upon their genre of work.
Paul talked about his own individual work and I thought this was good. If I was going to do a degree in a subject I want to see that the tutors themselves have a passion for the subject, as well as having interests outside of just teaching. At the end of the three years I was told that many of the undergraduates went to be free lance or pursue within their medium as well as some completing a masters. The entry requirements were stated as 160 UCAS points. I thought this was possibly quite low, nevertheless It meant that because of being educated in the same college I could quite easily get onto this course. This was an option.
To conclude this Photographic Art degree, I would say that It was a great course in general. The facilities were actually quite a lot better than I originally thought they would be. I underestimated this course so much that much of the equipment and studio space was actaully better than other university visits I have been to. I loved the fact that only a hand few of students could get onto this course; a maximum of 15. This was great news in my eyes because it would mean that you would get a lot more support and acknowledgement from tutors, instead of being one in the sea compared to being one of 300 in Brighton. The only downside that I had with this course nevertheless was that I didn't think it was in the prime location. If this course would have been in london or a big city I would certainly go for it. I also felt that even though I loved the teaching staff at Northbrook College I felt It would be time to move on from Worthing. This could be a safe or a last resort if I do not have a fourth or fifth choice on my UCAS application.
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