Shaw & Shaw

This blog post is about a talk that I recently attended from a photographic duo called Shaw & Shaw, a couple that have photographed for many years. The due were very interesting, their work was totally beautiful and they came across as really nice people. Below are some notes that I too during their talk. These photographers were very influential and they were a breath of fresh air to the usual people talking about how hard the industry is, I have real drive now!

• Been photographing together for 12 years.
• Very positive about the freelance photographic industry, which is a change.
• They work for advertising agencies a lot. 
• They said something really interesting and influential. "You can decide where you will end up, you are in control".
• Hard work pays off.
• He assisted at Photolink (Manchester) at the beginning of his photographic career.
• They have worked a lot with The Observer magazine.
• Product photography is a great way to learn about lighting. 
• They talked a lot about lighting, this is obvious within their work that this is a major point of theirs.
• Sometimes use an olympus trip, so do I!!
• Cube Gallery (Portland Street, Manchester).
• Make sure people know about you, network!!
• Siobhan Squire is their photo agent.
• They are great for editing down series of images, similar to Bernd and Hilla Becher in their very specific edits.

http://www.shawandshaw.co.uk/#welcome

Below are some examples of their beautiful work!

Dr David Spendlove (Manchester University) Teacher Training Talk

Today I attended a talk given by Dr David Spendlove from Manchester University, focussing on possible path ways to take after graduation. It was very aimed towards applying for the course that he runs at Manchester University which he boasted was a unique and different way of going about a PCGE.

The course was in fact a design & technology based course and the majority of the people who attended the session were mainly graphics and design students. The presentation answered some of the questions that have arisen throughout my research into this possible route into teaching, I wanted to know about certain areas and how I would need to go about certain things in order to become a teacher. The course that his university offered was primarily aimed at developing postgrad students to teach in secondary schools, I wasn't aware that this is the sector that this PGCE was aimed at so that was useful to find out.

Dr Spendlove then went on to say that although after successful completion many newly qualified teachers then go on to teach in secondary school, the qualification does in fact enable you to teach at most other levels including primary and further education (FE)... Further education in colleges and sixth form was the area that I was initially interested in. One thing that stood out to me from the presentation is that he mentioned there isn't many jobs available in the FE sector and that not many colleges tend to have a purely photography course, although some may have other digital media courses. This really brought me back down to reality and it made me think about the possibility of teaching at secondary schools, something that also interests me now that I have more information about it.

From the feedback that he had been given from successful graduated of the course, it seemed apparent that the course is very intense with over 50% of the time being in actual school, learning and teaching first hand. This is defiantly something that would interest me, I believe that the best way of becoming a successful teacher would be to gain first hand experience. 

This leads me on to schools direct which is an alternative pathway that the government have introduced that allows post-grads to spend even more time in schools, whilst learning a majority of the skills needed through being in a handful of schools and observing and helping out as well as teaching. Schools direct is unique in another way in that for example, if a college is in need of a maths teacher, the school college would ask the university to train and develop a post-grad who has studied in the subject of maths, this way when the post-grad has finished his teacher training he will have a job lined up at the college teaching his subject of maths. 

One thing that I believe would be of great importance when applying for a PGCE is experience, through speaking to many people who are currently doing a PGCE and from Dr Spendloves talk, it seems a necessity to have vast experience with working in schools. To gain this experience, I would need to communicate with a handful of schools in order to gain entry and be able to observe in schools. This would give me valuable hours of experience whilst also giving me an insight into seeing if certain subject areas would be suitable for myself and my interests. Having maintained contact with my old schools and colleges over the years, I am sure that I would be able to gain experience through those schools.

 Overall, the talk was of great benefit for myself, I was able to feel positive that teaching is a realistic path for myself after I graduate. I will continue to research into this area of development further.

PDP Progression

Below is my PDP, this is currently in development and it is obvious to see that I intend to add more goals into the table. I am finding it a challenge to develop each goal but it is a good challenge and I feel myself pushing. I have also found this module to be more about myself and how I want to progress, I am enjoying setting and achieving goals so far. I will continue to develop this PDP until I fill in all of the things that I think that I need to work on.

Tent Talk

I recently took great inspiration during a talk from a collective called Tent. The below bullet points show my notes that I took during the talk. David Oates was the representative for this collective and he was a really interesting guy with loads of knowledge on photography and cool quirky stuff like book stores and events. He also told me some great photographers, some of their names are below for future reference. Another thing that he knew a lot of was free spaces/ cheap buildings that people (Us) could exhibit at. A really interesting session, I hope to keep in contact with David in the rest of the Tent members.

• Jamie Hawkesworth.
• Theo Simpson.
• Letha Projects.
• Copeland Book Market.
• tentmcr.co.uk
• Site gallery.
• Luke Stevenson.
• Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool).
• Village book store (Leeds).
• /tentmcr facebook name
• Melk (Oslo).
• Twenty Twenty Two Manchester.
• Levenshulme Gallery Space.
• tent@gmail.com their email address.
• Belfast Exposed.
• Tom Lovelace.
• Panona Tram Stop (Near wearhouse).
• Jason Evans (Fashion based).