by Chris Francis devnicely.co.uk

 I’m writing this on the train, returning from delivering a teacher session at The Photographers’ Gallery. The focus was on exhibiting student work and hopefully it proved a valuable evening for all who came along.
 
Alongside Jon Nicholls, PhotoPedagogy partner in crime, and Phil Scott, Director of Art at Brampton Academy, we shared a wide range of examples of various exploits – from Jon’s adventures with The Thomas Tallis Centre for Contemporary Art (previously known as a garden shed), to some insights into that camera, along with a whole range of other mischief. In particular it was great to hear about Phil’s various strategies for developing school displays and exhibition spaces, and how he encourages his students to experiment and share in playful ways.
 
You can see our presentation below, developed collaboratively in Google Slides:

The session was split into two sections with occasional breaks for prompted discussions. Part 1 was mostly sharing examples of practice; Part 2 was to be a practical activity responding to Gregory Crewdson’s Cathedral of the Pines exhibition that was on in the gallery.
 
With this in mind, earlier in the day - prior to dashing for the train from Bournemouth to London - I left my Year 13 students with a little challenge.  My hope was that if they came good it might provide some inspiration. Thankfully they didn’t disappoint.

Year 13 students have been working on their Text Exchange project and so their last few lessons have been centered on developing literacy skills. It seemed timely to shake things up a bit. I set them a challenge to create an installation in an afternoon, reflecting on the Text Exchange project so far and, importantly, to share a video of their efforts by 6.00pm - to inspire a room full of teachers, no less. I think the suggestion that their UCAS statement could mention they’ve shown work in The Photographers’ Gallery might have also helped. (That’s okay, right?). Anyhow, they delivered on time and I nervously pressed play to watch their efforts for the first time alongside everyone else.

Here’s what they came up with:

So the bar had been set and instructions were delivered to those in attendance: Produce a pop-up exhibition, using a limited range of materials – paper, mostly, or whatever else was to hand (mobile phones, bodies, anything) – in response to The Cathedral of the Pines.
 
It is such a treat to work with creative teachers.

The responses were unpredictable, diverse and thought provoking. There was a Crewdsonesque figure, contorted and illuminated behind a doorway; a paper hut glowing from beneath a table; a pencil-forest with beautifully cast shadows; a table-top, sparsely furnished with a mobile phone on looping audio.  This was all remarkably powerful.

As each group shared their outcomes there was a moment when the room collectively tuned in to that particular frequency unique to creative experiences - when everything stills and art weaves its magic. Perhaps the low lights and a glass of wine may have helped, but hey, no matter. Good things were happening here.
 
Hopefully all those who came along at the end of busy days also felt the same. Jon and I would like to say thanks to everyone who attended, Year 13 students at St Peter’s, Phil Scott, and especially to Janice McLaren, Head of Education at The Photographers’ Gallery, for organising everything and being such a positive presence throughout.  We'd certainly love to hear if any of the ideas shared prove useful in other classrooms. CF

This is a guest blog post by filmmaker Maria Hanlon.  Maria recently produced 'Parky" a short documentary following the life of a Brighton-based street artist. Below she reflects on her journey from A level to present day, and how photography has given her the confidence to seek out new stories.

I loved my first trip to Brighton so much that I moved there later that year to study Media and English Literature at Brighton University. I remember one of the first projects I undertook was called ‘Confessions’, the seed of the idea had been planted in my first trip to Brighton. Similarly, I asked strangers a very personal question - this time it was, “Do you have a confession to make?”. I asked 50 people to write down their confession on a white piece of card and hang up their ‘dirty laundry’ on a washing line I’d constructed in a studio. Again, the camera brought comfort and people felt at ease confessing their hidden secret.

 That summer, I went to Berlin to visit family. I took my camera and spent an afternoon in Neukolln, at a market. I took a notebook and asked “Why are you here?” to the people I passed. The results were such a success, I decided to send my work to a local online magazine called ‘Neukoellner.net’, and it was published in the form of a two-part series on their website’s homepage.
 
After returning to England, my dissertation was getting closer. I knew I wanted to focus on the theory that the camera is a psychoanalytic stimulant, but this time I wanted to take it a step further. Instead of asking strangers, I wanted to ask the people closest to me - my family.
 
I realised that I had never sat down one-on-one with any of my family members to ask them important questions like, “what are your aspirations for life?” and “what’s your happiest memory?”. Without the camera, these questions could have easily been dismissed or laughed at, with everyday distractions stealing the focus. But with just me, the subject and a camera, it created honest answers that had never been shared before.

Before graduating, I sent my university work to a local film company who annually choose one student a year from the University of Brighton to complete an internship with them. That year, I was the lucky recipient and as part of my internship, I was able to make my recent short documentary, ‘Parky’.  Parky follows the life of a Brighton-based street artist as he develops and hones his creative talents. It was a huge change working in a professional company while also making a documentary, but I enjoyed it so much that I stayed on for a year after my internship as a full-time member of staff.
 
Today I’m working as a freelance filmmaker and am currently in the final stages of making a documentary about a woman with cerebral palsy who is a brilliant boxer. Other projects include a music video soon to be shot in Brighton, alongside video content for a new app. Every day is different, but I feel privileged to be able to share each story – and I hope there are many more to come.

Inspired by the recent exhibition 'In My View' at The Photographers' Gallery, where invited specialists shared their thoughts on a chosen photograph, Jon and I have decided to initiate a new collaborative project between our Year 13 students. We are calling it 'Text Exchange'. It's a simple idea, but we're hoping it will prove a useful way of developing research and  literacy skills.

Here is the plan:

• Year 13 students (mine at St Peter's School, Bournemouth, Jon's at Thomas Tallis, London) choose one photograph by an artist/photographer relevant to their Personal Study interests.
• They then write a short accompanying text - approximately 250 words - incorporating information about the image with personal insights and analysis. (These texts will be developed in class through teacher and peer discussion, the emphasis being on writing in an insightful and stimulating way).
• The selected images are exchanged between schools - but not the texts - with each student receiving the choice of another, accompanied only with the artist/photographer name and title of the image.
• The students then repeat the research and writing exercise, developing a second text for their given image.
• Once both texts are complete all responses will then be shared in simultaneous pop-up exhibitions (in each of our departments), side-by-side with the relevant photographs.

Jon and I have both completed short texts as examples and these are shared below. I've also added them as downloadable PDFs to our  'Photography Writing' resources. I'm often on the look out for examples of writing as lesson starters - something snappy to get brains warmed up - so my hope is that we can build up a good selection from both teachers and students. We'd love you to have a go too - why not use the comment boxes below.

Which photograph would you choose?

Chance. All photographs rely on this, more or less. And when Bruce Davidson burrowed into the New York subway in the early 1980s, “a dangerous place, full of nervous tension”, he could sense the opportunities: “Anything was possible. I could photograph a beast or I could photograph a beauty.”
 
And this shot is a beauty, albeit with the capacity to haunt. Especially if you were a young child in 1980, as I was when the photograph was taken. For this was the era of Thriller and An American Werewolf in London (running amock in the underground, as I recall). So the warning signs were clear: The undead will arise and advance in chiaroscuroed technicolour. Or Kodachrome 64, as was the film choice of Davidson.
 
Of course all photographs present us with ghosts, eventually. But Death’s hand is rarely so busily at play. Here we have the smoker in the top left corner; that touch on the shoulder will surely see him off. And then there’s the contorted commuter, crumpled and lifeless from Death’s not-so-merry tune. And finally the unseeing eye fixes upon us. A wink. Death strikes a chord and Davidson presses the shutter. The accordion exhales and the deal is done: the music we’ll never hear, for the picture she’ll never see.

This seems like an impossible choice but I've selected a 1969 photograph by Garry Winogrand of a Los Angeles pavement. Winogrand was one of the first photographers who fascinated me. The word "tough" is often used to describe this particular brand of street photography - the images are hard won, authentic, uncompromising and, often, awkward.

There's a kind of machismo at work - the hunter prowling the streets, waiting to shoot his next victim - but I was also drawn to the sensitivity, complexity and humanity of the work. I also love what Winogrand says about photography, that he took photographs to see what the world looked like photographed. He articulates the difference between the world seen with our eyes and what it looks like framed and flattened by the camera.
 
This picture is a typically wide angled section of a street, the lens sucking in a variety of protagonists, including the three graces, all illuminated by an almost miraculous late afternoon light that casts shadows connecting the photographer to his subjects. I really get a sense of Winogrand's excitement in witnessing the scene, a moment of stunning beauty in the midst of the everyday. I once knew someone who owned a print of this image and I used to stare at it on his walls whenever I visited. When he moved house the picture went missing (temporarily). It turned out the removal company smashed the glass in the frame and it took a while to mend and relocate. It seems an appropriately violent and dramatic incident for this strange, mesmerising and unforgettable picture.

For further reference and support:
Preparing for the new A level Personal Study
Photography Literacy
Photography writing

By Chris Francis