Just discovered we have a double page feature in this month's Bar magazine - Project Nightclub, Norwich
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Double page spread in Bar Magazine - May
Just discovered we have a double page feature in this month's Bar magazine - Project Nightclub, Norwich
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Spaghetti Project is complete!
At last I have finally finished the project and the book has gone to print. For a preview, please take a look below:
Yours,
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Yours,
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Tuesday 5 April 2011
GS Magazine - March Issue
Just received the March issue of GS magazine and we are please to see that we have achieved the front cover this issue along with an extensive article about Project Nightclub, Norwich. Many thanks to the team at GS and to Matt Rawlinson for his input.
Images copyright - Richard Southall
Text /Copy copyright - GS Magazine
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Turner's Restaurant - Butlins, Bognor Regis
A most enjoyable shoot at Butlins, Bognor. Many thanks to Brian Turner and his restaurant team. Good luck with the opening this week.
Images - Copyright - Richard Southall
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Monday 4 April 2011
Photography Courses - Student Contact Time
This has so far proved to be a difficult subject to approach with many students reticent about discussing the difficulties they are encountering on their respective courses for fear that it could endanger their final grades. The initial results from the first set of respondents has shown a very mixed picture in regards to contact time and final year content. Two courses in particular were highly praised by the students for the course content and support they received from their lecturers however most were extremely damming towards their courses' content.
The HND courses on average demonstrated a higher level of student contact with on average 7-8 hours a week in the final year whereas a typical 3rd year student receives between 4-5 hours a week.
However 3 course respondents noted that they only received 30 minutes contact a week in their 3rd year with hardly any visiting lecturers or workshops available.
Content of these contact hours is also proving to be major area of concern for the majority of the respondents. Most expressed the following areas of concern:
- lack of detailed feedback (both formative and summative)
- poor/weak course structure (little relevance to industry)
- aims and objectives of the modules were poorly explained with marking criteria varying markedly between individual lecturers on the same course.
- lack of business studies within the course
- more contact with industry practitioners
The majority of the respondents were in year group sizes of between 30-60 and half the students had been informed that their institution were planning to raise fees to new students in the next academic year to between £7,200 - £9,000.
Upon questioning several of the students on commercial based courses as to specific areas relating to photo business studies, several worrying points came to light:
- Several of the students were not even aware of the AOP/BIPP existence and those that did were uncertain as to their role within industry.
- only one unit was usually taught on the course in relation to business studies and this would usually be in the third/final year when study was largely self-directed.
- Those that had already undertaken this module were largely unaware of the following - image licencing, usage fees, difference of between estimates/quotations, sources of finance, business start-up support groups, contents of a balanced business plan, correct usage of model release forms. Most had a reasonable grasp of copyright laws and applications.
- Little or no advice on marketing and sales strategies
- 50% of respondents had seen a copy of 'Beyond the Lens' but only half of these regularly used it within their studies.
- No student had been given advice on budgeting, calculation of dayrates and margins on sales of other consumables. The stock answer they seemed to have received when they inquired was 'ring your potential competitors' and 'then charge 30% less than them because you have only just started out'.
Non of the respondents questioned had been given the opportunity to join a professional trade body or knew about student membership to the AOP. Most were also extremely concerned about their job prospects and were deferring their entry into industry by another year usually by undertaking an 'MA' upon completion on their degree course.
Over the next few weeks, I intend delve deeper into the professional studies element of higher level photo courses to discover their strengths and weakness and how this could impact on new entrants to our industry.
NB
Please do not ask for specific course/institution details as I promised the respondents full anonymity in regards to their responses. 23 students responded from 8 institutions.
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
The HND courses on average demonstrated a higher level of student contact with on average 7-8 hours a week in the final year whereas a typical 3rd year student receives between 4-5 hours a week.
However 3 course respondents noted that they only received 30 minutes contact a week in their 3rd year with hardly any visiting lecturers or workshops available.
Content of these contact hours is also proving to be major area of concern for the majority of the respondents. Most expressed the following areas of concern:
- lack of detailed feedback (both formative and summative)
- poor/weak course structure (little relevance to industry)
- aims and objectives of the modules were poorly explained with marking criteria varying markedly between individual lecturers on the same course.
- lack of business studies within the course
- more contact with industry practitioners
The majority of the respondents were in year group sizes of between 30-60 and half the students had been informed that their institution were planning to raise fees to new students in the next academic year to between £7,200 - £9,000.
Upon questioning several of the students on commercial based courses as to specific areas relating to photo business studies, several worrying points came to light:
- Several of the students were not even aware of the AOP/BIPP existence and those that did were uncertain as to their role within industry.
- only one unit was usually taught on the course in relation to business studies and this would usually be in the third/final year when study was largely self-directed.
- Those that had already undertaken this module were largely unaware of the following - image licencing, usage fees, difference of between estimates/quotations, sources of finance, business start-up support groups, contents of a balanced business plan, correct usage of model release forms. Most had a reasonable grasp of copyright laws and applications.
- Little or no advice on marketing and sales strategies
- 50% of respondents had seen a copy of 'Beyond the Lens' but only half of these regularly used it within their studies.
- No student had been given advice on budgeting, calculation of dayrates and margins on sales of other consumables. The stock answer they seemed to have received when they inquired was 'ring your potential competitors' and 'then charge 30% less than them because you have only just started out'.
Non of the respondents questioned had been given the opportunity to join a professional trade body or knew about student membership to the AOP. Most were also extremely concerned about their job prospects and were deferring their entry into industry by another year usually by undertaking an 'MA' upon completion on their degree course.
Over the next few weeks, I intend delve deeper into the professional studies element of higher level photo courses to discover their strengths and weakness and how this could impact on new entrants to our industry.
NB
Please do not ask for specific course/institution details as I promised the respondents full anonymity in regards to their responses. 23 students responded from 8 institutions.
Richard
www.emphasis.biz
www.richardsouthall.co.uk
Friday 1 April 2011
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