Straightjacket
I have been behind my blog entries this week in particular because I did hesitate whether to write this entry or not. But I am looking at this blog as my online diary and ‘document’ of my year as a photojournalism student, so I need and want to be upfront and consistent. And I have been very open and full of praise of this course and my new life so far. So it is time to voice some concerns as well.
This term is utterly frustrating. This term feels like a straightjacket. The ‘elephant project’ is at best very limiting in our ability to pursue interesting (personal) projects and in a sense I feel we have gone back a step with the last term offering much more individual freedom to pursue your own interesting story ideas. At worst, the ‘elephant project’ is just plain uninteresting and has been done a few times before and by a few other colleges. All we will end up doing will disappear off in some dusty archive.
In addition, there are a few pockets of unrelated research, e.g. the Middle East seminar, where none of us will end up doing our main project. So it becomes a bit difficult to motivate yourself to do the required research with the rigour that I would expect from myself to be able to stand up for the end result. And maybe the time would be better spent researching our main projects which after all will be our ‘business card’ to the real world and ultimately determine also the college’s standing in the photojournalistic world.
I appreciate that there needs to be a fair amount of academic rigour and research backing up what we photograph and do, but there should be obvious limits to it. We spend a lot of time in the library researching various aspects while we should be out there shooting and creating (marketable) photo essays.
What is more, some of the lectures are just not up to scratch to equip us with the necessary tools to work in a very demanding environment.
Talking to my fellow students, I sense that some of these points are shared.
It is time for me to get rid of the straightjacket and photograph more what is closer to my heart and increase the level and degree of personal freedom again… After all, that was the reason to leave my previous life.
This term is utterly frustrating. This term feels like a straightjacket. The ‘elephant project’ is at best very limiting in our ability to pursue interesting (personal) projects and in a sense I feel we have gone back a step with the last term offering much more individual freedom to pursue your own interesting story ideas. At worst, the ‘elephant project’ is just plain uninteresting and has been done a few times before and by a few other colleges. All we will end up doing will disappear off in some dusty archive.
In addition, there are a few pockets of unrelated research, e.g. the Middle East seminar, where none of us will end up doing our main project. So it becomes a bit difficult to motivate yourself to do the required research with the rigour that I would expect from myself to be able to stand up for the end result. And maybe the time would be better spent researching our main projects which after all will be our ‘business card’ to the real world and ultimately determine also the college’s standing in the photojournalistic world.
I appreciate that there needs to be a fair amount of academic rigour and research backing up what we photograph and do, but there should be obvious limits to it. We spend a lot of time in the library researching various aspects while we should be out there shooting and creating (marketable) photo essays.
What is more, some of the lectures are just not up to scratch to equip us with the necessary tools to work in a very demanding environment.
Talking to my fellow students, I sense that some of these points are shared.
It is time for me to get rid of the straightjacket and photograph more what is closer to my heart and increase the level and degree of personal freedom again… After all, that was the reason to leave my previous life.
posted by rupert beagle at 2:27 pm
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