SHOWCASE

Open College of the Arts

 2010 No. 5

Success by degrees

Often there is an urge to travel to get your next great shot. Training your gaze will enable you to identify new perspectives in mundane situations.
Apple Store, © Michael Freeman.

More students than ever are studying degrees in photography with OCA.
Read more about us and our students inside.

Inside
Who’s who at OCA student: OCA student: OCA tutor:
OCA Judith Bach Dewald Botha Robert Enoch
The Freeman
View 2 3 4&5 6&7
 Showcase Who’s who at OCA
is published by the Open College of
the Arts.
Jade Lees
Open College of the Arts
Jade has been with the OCA since April 2007. She is a
The Michael Young Arts Centre, member of the academic services team and project manages
Redbrook Business Park the formal assessment events. As well as working at the OCA,
Wilthorpe Road, Barnsley S75 1JN
Jade is currently in her first year of studying a criminology and
Telephone: 01226 730495 sociology degree at Sheffield Hallam University.
Email: enquiries@oca-uk.com
Web: www.oca-uk.com Jade enjoys shopping, socialising and going to the gym.
Registered charity no: 327446
Company limited by guarantee no:
2125674
Dee Whitmore
OCA welcomes contributions to Dee joined the Open College of the Arts in October 2007 as part of the finance team.
Showcase but reserves the right
However, it was soon realised that her natural charm (read cheek!) could be better employed
to edit materials at its discretion.
Views and opinions expressed in in the marketing department. She is now Head of Fulfilment
Showcase are not necessarily those and Marketing services, line manager for the Student Service
of OCA, nor does the inclusion of team, Showcase editor and the H & S manager. Dee is currently
an item, insert or advertisement
studying for her Professional Certificate in Marketing and is a
constitute a recommendation.
firm believer in life long learning.
To amend your contact details or to
give feedback – please contact Dee Dee enjoys motorcycling, archaeology, weight training, reading
Whitmore, Marketing and Events, (historical faction and sword & sorcery fiction) and has recently
on 01226 704364 or
discovered the joy and empowerment in Belly Dancing.
email: deewhitmore@oca-uk.com

The Freeman View

The Open College of the Arts has had a long-running
relationship with the photographer and author Michael
Freeman; since the OCA’s Art of Photography course was
first opened to enrolments 20 years ago. This relationship
took another step forward with the launch last year of
thefreemanview.com – Michael’s blog, produced by OCA.
The site was launched with a view to, as Michael puts it
“present a view of photography by photographers, which may
sound obvious enough, but in a world where photography
has become a near-universal activity, its meaning has become
somewhat scrambled.”

The Freeman View has grown rapidly in popularity over the

course of the past year, thanks to an enthralling succession of
Michael’s observations, techniques and one-to-one interviews
with photographers around the world. You can find the blog
at www.thefreemanview.com - we look forward to reading
your comments!

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Student: Judith Bach

How’s it look!
I am fifty six years old, married with grown
up children and grandchildren. I work
full time as an office manager in a busy
NHS GP surgery. I have always enjoyed
photography but with the purchase of
my first digital SLR camera became eager
to learn more than the basics. Hence I
enrolled with the Open College of the
Arts and have been studying with them
for nearly two years. I completed The Art
of Photography level one course last year
and have just commenced on my second
course: People and Place.

The flexibility offered by the college fits

perfectly into my sometimes hectic lifestyle. How’s it look? by Judith Bach
The tutor support and coursework are my first course I found myself looking at my surroundings with a
invaluable, they provide the perfect framework to progress further. different eye, and tried to incorporate this into my photography.
The college has an ethos that age should not be an obstacle to ‘Strong’ is an image taken as part of my first assignment, I
further education, a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. I hope wanted the light and facial expression of my model to add to
to eventually gain a Creative Arts degree, and feel gaining new the menacing tone. I chose a female as traditional gender roles
knowledge should be a lifelong process. As I progressed through are rapidly changing in our society and wanted to reflect on this.
‘How’s it look?’ is an image taken as part of
a project creating a photographic narrative,
very much influenced by Martin Parr’s style
of photography, and submitted as part of
my final assessment.

Working through the course work you are

encouraged to look at other photographers
work and how they create their personal
style, which is something the courses aim
to help you achieve. The OCA website has
forums and enables contact with other
students and an opportunity to view and
comment on their portfolios. I have so much
more to learn and with the help of the Open
College hope to continue for a long time
with my studies.
Strong by Judith Bach
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 Student: Dewald Botha
Learning to question
everything
Growing up in South Africa, around age nine, a compact 110
Kodak Pocket Instamatic was my very first camera. Many cameras,
and many countries later, I’m now shooting for my second course
at OCA with a Canon EOS400D.
Five years ago I jumped for a career change, and left four years
in the UK behind to become an English teacher. Three years
ago, I moved to China, and another wonderful world of culture
and colour opened itself, but something still hindered me from
capturing what I saw.
The DPP course made me question every aspect of ‘what’, ‘why’
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and ‘how’ I did things, and helped me to work out a new path
towards capturing and processing what I see through the view
finder. Now I learn to see everyday life in a new way: colours,
textures, form, light, shadows and so much more.
I was travelling in Laos recently, and walked past a temple where
novice monks were laughing and shouting, washing bright orange
robes. The moment (and colour and light) was just perfect.
I recently finished a challenging project on a self-chosen theme –
neon lights – and captured a Chinese sign that processed nicely
into monochrome. Experimenting on an image to make it yours,
like a shopping street scene I captured over Christmas, becomes
second nature in the learning process. The possibilities become
endless.

The best thing about studying in a flexible way, is there are other
students just ahead, already finished, or just behind you, in the
same courses. You may not meet other students face to face, but
on the active online forums we support each other with advice and
ideas, and even the little friendly push now and then.

One of the main reasons I chose OCA was that your nationality and
location has no importance, and I wanted a recognised qualification
from a UK institution.

Doing the distance learning course at OCA is for sure a case of

‘what you put in, you will get out’, but once you start questioning
your ways and thoughts, it’s almost impossible to stop exploring.
Radial Neon High Contrast - opposite page
I see myself finishing the degree, and getting into freelance travel,
Mono and Colour Walking Street - Top
food and documentary photography, exploring less travelled places Lao Robes - Above
throughout the world.
All images © Dewald Botha, OCA
Photography student

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 Tutor: Robert Enoch
Life through a lens
Robert Enoch, OCA tutor talks to Gareth Dent
about his work, his development and teaching
GD: Robert, what intrigues me is the range of your work. Your
film work is clearly social documentary yet your photographic
work is sometimes abstract. What are the underlying links that
you see?
RE: Well the first thing to say is that I didn’t have a traditional
photographic training. I came to it through studying fine art and
then going to film school in Prague. Art school was a creative
playground in many ways. I started painting with light, using
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my figure in the early photographs. But I needed to confront
subject matter more directly and so I went on to make ‘Search’
photographs using a documentary approach. This started with a
dream-like series of pictures of the areas of my youth (schools and
homes) and then developed into a flowing scroll of images look-
ing at the meaning and interconnectedness of objects. I didn’t
set out to make social documentaries; the church asked me to
make a video about poverty in Hemel, and I documented people’s
experience of poverty.
GD: Hertfordshire is not exactly a location one associates with
poverty...
RE: Poverty is everywhere and it’s often hidden. What is shock-
ing is how easily someone can become homeless. With this film,
I just tried to let people speak for themselves, no voice over, no
‘presenter’. Film allows you to explore not just people’s problems,
but how they make sense of their lives. How they find meaning in
their lives, and that for me is the link. Art for me is a big journey
– it’s not about making a career – it’s about finding meaning in
life and in this sense it’s often spiritual. Every artist has to make
art that does what he or she needs it to do. It’s probably the most
liberated form of endeavour.
GD: How do you think studying at Art School influenced your
photography?
RE: Art School was important because it gave me the opportunity
for broad experimentation – understanding techniques and forms.
I was very interested in the interface between photography, film
and painting. Every photo I made then was less than 1/30th of
a second - I loved the energy and mystery of longer exposures. I
was always trying to pierce the void. And it was this psychological
density that characterizes my early work.
GD: And your more recent work?
RE: I have worked with painted negatives, using a colour dark-
room. I paint on acetate and then enlarge the negative. I’m in-
terested in the idea of the mark/trace - the simplest evidence
of one’s existence - almost as if one could take a single daub of
Cezanne’s brush. Often I make art with only a few clues to the
possible meaning of the idea. You have to be prepared to take
leaps of faith with creativity, that’s the adventure of art really.
Realizing ideas is realizing the self. But of course, the self is never
alone, that’s the nature of art – the bridge between the deepest
part of the artist with the deepest part of other people.
GD: And advice to OCA photography students?
RE: One of the crucial things they need to learn as students is that
in order to find your own voice you need to be able to make pho-
tographs that mean something to you on a level which is beyond
the photogenic – beauty is something you have to feel deeply. You
have to ask yourself, what do I really love and find the means to
express it. If you do that the technical skills will come. You need
to enjoy it – photograph things that you love not things that you
think will make a “good photograph”. Look at Nan Goldin’s work,
there’s a boldness, an honesty to it. That’s the good thing about
the Art of Photography course, it helps you learn how to see. One
of the best things for me is seeing students develop, it is the major
satisfaction in being a tutor.
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 Photography
workshops
Photography Workshops in partnership with City and Islington College
The OCA is pleased to announce that City and Islington College are running three photography workshops in
London later this year which have been designed to complement OCA photography courses.

Creative Studio Photography (2 days, 15 and 16 April 2010)

This workshop will be of particular interest to students on or considering the course Art of Photography and will
give students an in-depth experience of use of studio lighting for creative still life subjects.

London Location & Architecture (4 days, 26-29 July 2010)

This workshop will be of particular interest to students on or considering the courses People and Place and Pho-
tography 2: Landscape and will give students an in-depth experience of using a variety of camera formats and
tilt-shift lenses.

Studio Portraiture (4 days, 2-5 August 2010)

This course will be of interest to a wide range of OCA photography students. It will provide an opportunity to
develop portraiture skills using a full scale studio and studio flash.

The standard price for City and Islington Photography Workshops is £300 for two days and £600 for four days,
but we have negotiated a discount for OCA students of £50 on the two day course and £100 on the four day
courses. The college is conveniently located just north of central London. It may be possible to rent student ac-
commodation for the summer courses.

For further information and an enrolment form please email Terry Sims at City and Islington College direct.

(Terry.Sims@candi.ac.uk)

for more details

call 0800 731 2116
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