Lacking confidence in myself

I have been struggling with Exercise 5 in part one of the Progressing with Digital Photography, the exercise where you have to read the essay 'Understanding a Photograph' by John Berger.  I've read one or two other blogs but have failed to get much sense from this essay at all.

I was trying to describe my dilemma to a friend that I bump into occasionally and she gave me a real boost to my confidence when she told me that in her opinion I was as able as the next person and was able to work on my own ideas.  She thought I was a person who was very capable and if I was finding the essay critique difficult to understand then that was what I had to say.  Talk about giving me a real boost to say the least, I have real confidence to carry on with this exercise after I have written up the second assignment on creating a book cover.

Thank you Margaret.

Devon December meet up

Finally met up with other OCA students based in the south west. Six of us met at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter this morning. Four artists and two photographers sat in the cafe and put the world to rights. Turned out we had several tutors in common and good to hear that two had met each other at a Bristol meet. Picture to follow.

And here it is:

From left to right - Elaine, Dorothy, Maggie, Jennifer, Teresa and Julie

Good to know that there are others in the same boat as me, struggling to finish assignments and hit those deadlines.

Working on Assignment 2

Whilst I'm working on the exercises for Project 2 I've read ahead to the assignment for this section and am putting together thoughts to complete it. I've always been interested in design work and this assignment - design a book cover - has really grabbed my interest.

When I read all the way through it I realised that I had started off on the wrong tack. I have decided to feature the book "Far From the Madding Crowd" but to pull the design into the 21st century rather than use an old fashioned design.  Then I reread the instructions and it tells you to take your own photographs and this would be difficult as the book is set well in the past.  I know there are set ups depicting how life was then but it's more a question of time rather than place.  I've fallen behind on my assignment completion date and I want to get it finished as near to the end of November rather than let it stray into December and get caught up in the Christmas rush.

I've chosen this book because I know the book so well.  It's been one of my favourites for many years and I could see myself living life in those times so well. Now all I have to do is visualise how I want the cover to look and I'm away.  To see my progress check out the link above for assignment 2.

Completed Assignment 1 at last

I've cleared my diary and gone out and finished taking all the images that I need for assignment 1 in this module. Just putting the finishing touches to file specifications and it will be on its way to my tutor.

Crowds at Lyme Regis - even in September

I didn't think it would be so hard to do such a simple assignment but I'm a bit nervous to submit it as this is my first assignment with a new tutor and we have yet to find common ground.  Here goes!

It's so easy to be distracted

The summer of 2012 has been a very busy one for everyone with the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics and Paralympics taking place so it has been very easy to be distracted from working on my next module.

I've completed the level one modules and my Digital Photographic Practice is now ready to be posted of for external assessment next week for the November assessment. It can only go in a specific window and this opens on September 15th, so it's good to go then.

I have been working on the first assignment of my level two module which is called 'Your own neighbourhood' and I could easily just rummage through the thousands of pictures that I have taken since we moved her in 2009 to complete it. But, having lived here for 3 years I'm beginning to see cracks in the idyllic town we now call home and I want to include some of the problems that are here..

New Level, new blog

Well, I received my new module materials and now all I have to do is take the first step and start reading.