Photography students head to De Montfort University

Hills Road Photography students were invited by Mark Kasumovic, the programme leader for the Photography BA programme at De Montfort University, to attend a fully funded exciting day of talks and workshops.

This included an introduction to studying photography at university level, short talks by 2nd and 3rd years students on the course, a tour of the facilities, and a choice of workshops to take part in the afternoon.

Students had six options to choose from, from which they could pick two. Each covered a different area of photography. These were the tasks that were given:

• Studio to Print – A professional photographic workflow where you will work together to dream up a creative shoot for a client...And they need it fast!
• Creative Portraiture - Photograph each other using an experimental backdrop with colour, gels and dramatic lighting.
• Sound Design – Start from scratch and score a short-moving image film in a studio setting, learning how impactful sound can be.
• Video Studio – Green screen and the magic of cinema – transport yourselves to another world and learn a green screen workflow.
• Fine Art Workshop – Learn about the sculpture studios and facilities at DMU from a current student.
• Large Format Photography - Learn about the analogue history of photography while taking some images on a historic camera and processing them in the darkroom

At the end of the day, the students were shown their group work in a short presentation. Everyone was very impressed with what these 36 Y12 and Y13 students were able to achieve in such a short space of time!

Students were able to come away with a clearer idea of what University study looks and feels like, including how much support is available. Lots of ideas and techniques were explored during this day out, including the relationship between moving image, the spoken word and sound, that can be taken back into the classroom and discussed in more detail.

Tuuli Parker, the Subject Leader for Photography, commented that after the experience she “will be adding a green screen to our shopping list for sure”.

Thank you to De Montfort University and Mark for your hospitality! Our students and staff had a fantastic day out and learnt so much during this process.