Phew! And relax.

It's been another long, hard and exciting year with seemingly very little time to take care of non urgent business. Now the summer holidays have arrived, we can take stock, reflect and do a bit of much needed housekeeping at PhotoPedagogy Towers.

You may have noticed that the website is getting a slight facelift. Here are some of the changes we've made:

• The homepage is more visual with (a lot) less text. A grid of hyperlinked images highlights particular resources on the site.
• For those wishing to know a bit more about PhotoPedagogy, the old homepage is now an About page and sits underneath the new Home page with an invitation to Contribute to the site.
• The Threshold Concepts now have their own place in the menu and are, hopefully, easier to find and use.
• Some of the older Resources have been retired. If you really miss something, let us know and we'll reinstate it.
• The Lesson Plans have now been subdivided into KS3/4 and Post 16. We've removed reference to GCSE and A-level, since students and teachers of other courses (such as BTECs) in this country and abroad might also find the resources useful. These pages also look a bit different.

Finally, we've  sorted out some of the less obvious, niggling design details, such as colour consistency, across the site. As always, the website is a work in progress.

​Thanks to everyone who has contacted us over the last two days, whilst we were moving stuff around, to ask about the location of missing pages or dead links. If only we were professional web designers we'd have made all the changes without you even noticing, but we're not. Hopefully, most things are back where you might expect them to be now. If you spot anything weird or missing, please let us know!

In other news, we've had some really exciting discussions with various friends in the photography world outside schools in the last few weeks. Here's a short summary of those conversations:

The folks at pic.london have been in touch and we're hoping to support them with a workshop at their next big photography event sometime in 2019.

We have begun planning our next 2 day CPD session for Tate Exchange, working closely with Autograph ABP and The Photographers' Gallery. As soon as we have confirmed dates and details, you'll be the first to know but, at the moment, the plan is to hold an event similar to last year's during the first two days of the February half term (18 and 19 February 2019).

We've been invited by Photoworks to run a session for teachers at this year's Brighton Photography Biennial. This will take place on Saturday 29 September, the opening weekend of the event. Here are the details in case you're interested in getting involved:

We're really excited about all these opportunities to meet colleagues, share ideas and discuss the state of play in photography education. We hope you like the changes to the website.

​We'd like to thank everyone for your support this year and wish you a very happy summer holiday. We look forward to working with you again in September!

Best wishes,
​Jon & Chris

It's been a few days now since #classphoto2018 ended and we're in the process of reflecting on what happened, what we learned and what might be next for the PhotoPedagogy family. What follows is a brief summary of events, complete with associated resources and presentations, plus some thoughts about professional development, Threshold Concepts and the endless utility of hole punching devices.

The broad theme for the first day was portraiture. We'd set out the space like a classroom, with island tables, the beginnings of a wall display, and a screen for digital projections. A stack of our newspapers welcomed those arriving, some introductory food for thought as participants recognised familiar faces and made new acquaintances. Simon Baker, Tate's first ever Curator of Photography, welcomed colleagues and described Tate's particular attitude to the collection and display of photography. Under the stewardship of Simon and his team, photography at Tate Modern has never been so well represented. We were in the perfect location for what promised to be an exciting two days. So then, time to begin...
 
Following a run-through of the day's itinerary, setting out our hopes for this newly formed class, we floated some provocations about the nature of classrooms (and teachers' influence in shaping their ethos).

"How might the taking of a group photograph introduce a key concept - a big idea?" With Threshold Concepts #1, #7 and #10 particularly in mind, colleagues were invited to discuss their preferred starting points with new photography groups. They were then tasked to create their own group portraits, either in the style of a known artist/photographer or in response to a particular image or genre of photography.

This quick introductory task was designed to promote sharing and reflection on those first lessons with a new group - when the sense of anticipation is high, and that challenging decision of where to begin offers so many possibilities. As anticipated (this was a room full of creative teachers after all) the results were rich and diverse. A range of 'big ideas' were promoted: themes such as truth, objectivity and representation emerged alongside those relating to abstraction and allegory. But still, no time to waste! Groups were moved to action quickly, resulting images were printed or shared digitally. Our Day#1 display wall and #classphoto2018 feeds were up and running.

Class Photo Day#1 Introductory slides

Portraiture, in its many guises, can offer rich possibilities within the classroom, not least with its potential to encourage students to step beyond their comfort zones. Prior to this event a quick survey had highlighted the desire for a wide range of ideas applicable to the classroom. With this in mind we devised a rolling slideshow for display, see below, 20 practical ideas linked with relevant PhotoPedagogy lesson plans and Threshold Concepts.

20 project ideas relating to 'Portraiture'

We were delighted to introduce Marysa Dowling to lead our first workshop. Marysa's practice is rooted within portraiture and concerned with human behaviour, identity, communication, exchange and interaction. Her workshop was thoughtfully designed to promote collaboration within groups, inviting participants to enter (exploit, intervene, experiment...)  within the gallery spaces, producing portraits in response to the provocation, 'Conceal. Reveal'.

Marysa Dowling, introductory slides for 'Conceal Reveal' workshop

Art and photography teachers rarely need a second invitation for creative mischief - everyone responded with great enthusiasm. We were only a couple of hours in and our experimental classroom was already taking shape, in both spirit and appearance.

The resulting responses were once again added to our growing display wall. Here we were keen to demonstrate that classroom spaces can evolve and be adapted quickly - that displays can be organic, collaborative works in progress rather than simply static, finished presentations.

It was a deliberately pacy start to Day #1, and so lunchtime, served in our classroom space, was a welcome opportunity to catch a breath and share experiences. That said, there remained the option of a lunch time task, which many participants bravely undertook. Outlined in the introductory presentation (above), colleagues were invited to engage with a member of the public (someone observing a photograph within the gallery) and initiate a conversation to result in a collaborative portrait. No rest for the ambitious!

Ali Eisa is a gifted communicator; an artist, educator and representative of Autograph ABP, a charity that works internationally in photography and film, cultural identity, race, representation and human rights. His session provided a platform for profound discussion and playful interaction: a series of activities aimed at bringing to prominence a 'Missing Chapter' of photography history. Using Autograph ABP's remarkable archive of images - from Victorian studio and 'Cartes de Visite' images to more recent documentary work - Ali's jam-packed session was perfectly pitched for photography teachers. Simply put, following an introductory presentation and the distribution of a wide range of images, Ali proposed 3 key tasks:

• Interview the Image - an opportunity to promote oracy and literacy skills by devising interview questions for the subject of a historical image (and then, with a partner, using role-play to respond on behalf of the subject matter). This was followed by the creating of a 'conversation between two images' - an opportunity to imagine a discussion that might take place across times, cultures and identities.
• Image 8 Series - a curatorial exercise where an image is provided and a title is to be collaboratively devised. Following this a set of 7 other images are revealed and the titling re-considered, with new titles and captions then developed.
• Appropriating Portraits - practical experiments - cutting, puncturing, layering, collaging, combining etc. - exploring how the appearances and potential meanings of an image might be playfully manipulated.
  

A selection of images from the Autograph ABP workshop

Following a sharing of outcomes from Ali's workshop, it was time for super talented young photographer Elliott Wilcox to lead a practical session on lighting techniques. With the skill of a professional accustomed to thinking on his feet, Elliott quickly set about converting the space to incorporate 5 unique lighting workstations: manipulated lighting; continuous lighting; over/off camera flash; 'daylight positive'; and 'daylight negative'. Elliott began with an introduction to his own personal and professional practices. He spoke passionately about the affordances of light,  using a wide range of examples to explain and unpick various set-ups. A quick demonstration followed and then it was over to participants to dive-in and have a go. As with all previous sessions they enjoyed this immensely, the development of technical expertise a perfect compliment to the previous sessions.

Day #1 ended with the completion of some obligatory evaluation forms, a fond farewell to those leaving us and an invitation to the majority remaining to meet later that evening at a local restaurant for some social time. The PhotoPedagogy team then set about changing the room around ready for Day #2.

We had conceived of the second day of Class Photo as an opportunity for attendees to experiment a little more with the materiality of the medium, thinking about photography's relationship to abstraction. We had moved the furniture to the edge of the space and laid out some intriguing materials and equipment - small light boxes, scalpels, cutting mats, sellotape, hole punchers and 35mm colour slides. The lights were off when colleagues arrived and the chairs were arranged in a semi circle. An abstract projection from an OHP illuminated the end display wall, stretching across the ceiling, and a pair of slide projections appeared, slightly overlapped, on one concrete side wall. The atmosphere was deliberately subdued and colleagues chatted quietly over their morning refreshments.

After welcoming new attendees to Day #2, we began with two particular Threshold Concepts, #5 and #7. Brief mention was made of the knowledge that is bound up in the arts, photography being no exception. We talked about photo literacy, wondering about the importance of photography's reliance on the whole body (rather than just the eyes or brain) and the need to deliberately undermine students' tacit understanding of photographs as 'natural' or copies of reality. Photographs rely on context for their meaning and all photographs, we contend, are abstractions, more or less.

We wondered about the relationship between those photographs that we encounter in our everyday lives and those we might see in a gallery. We launched into a practical task that prompted colleagues to physically manipulate found photographs printed on acetate. Cutting up and reconfiguring photographs unites a range of skills and knowledge - visual and physical acumen - photo literacy in practice. We used the OHP to project fragments onto the walls of our 'classroom' and made translucent collages on nearby windows. Photographs of these collages incorporated the cityscape beyond and colleagues were encouraged to consider issues of framing and focus.

Like Day #1, we suggested a couple of related lunchtime activities:

1. Select one or two prints from the pile available. Re-photograph these images at least three times in various locations. Consider various way of abstracting the image including the way that light falls on its surface.
2. Select one of the Tate postcards with punched holes or punch a hole in a found image. Use this as an aperture through which to photograph aspects of the gallery. Experiment with focus, framing and point of view.

These opening activities were directly inspired by the practice of artist Anna Lucas and the workshops she constructed for Tate's Summer School, 2016.

We used the flat screen display to share a looped slideshow of student images with an emphasis on various levels of abstraction. This was designed to provide a subliminal set of provocations and possibilities throughout the day.

In thinking about Day #2 we decided to devote a longer period of time to making. We hoped that this would give colleagues (most of whom had been in attendance on Day #1) a chance to share their experiences whilst being engaged in a hands-on activity. We invited artist Dafna Talmor to lead a workshop based on her practice. Dafna spoke about her joint interest in making photographic art and teaching, about her complex relationship to the genre and history of landscape photography and about the process of constructing images.

Following a brief talk, Dafna explained that we would be appropriating found 35mm slides (purchased cheaply on eBay) to construct new images. She gave a brief demo, a warning about health and safety and a reminder about looking after the space together. We'd lost a couple of tables, donating them to others on the floor, so there wasn't much elbow room. We encouraged colleagues to take care of each other, work patiently, share the resources and continue to develop ideas from the morning session and suggested lunchtime activities as necessary. This included taking time out to visit works on display in the galleries.

The subdued lighting and working on a small scale resulted in a relatively quiet, calm atmosphere. Slowly, colleagues got up from their light boxes and began projecting their newly constructed slides on the wall. It was lovely to witness their reactions -  a mixture of surprise and delight - as the tiny, experimental transparencies were transformed, through projection and an increase in scale, to coherent compositions. Projections were occasionally overlapped, creating a single composite image and occasional mechanical failures were tolerated with patience and good humour. A natural process of development and refinement was common. We had purchased empty hinged slide mounts, enabling the easy removal of the transparencies. This meant that colleagues were able to construct a new image from several slide fragments, project this on the wall, and then adjust as necessary before re-projecting.

Dafna's workshop ended after lunch with a sharing of the outcomes, projected on the wall. The slide projector didn't behave quite as we would have liked so apologies to those people whose work was not shared. However, there was plenty of evidence that colleagues had used a wide range of techniques and processes to create images which were by turns surreal, melancholy, poetic and ravishingly beautiful. At Thomas Tallis School we have enjoyed two visits from Dafna and attempted a similar workshop with students in Years 10 to 13. It takes a bit of organising - getting hold of slide projectors, slides, slide mounts, light boxes and prodigious amounts of sellotape - but, these are relatively easy to purchase online. Dafna offered to send participants a list of contemporary artists whose practice embraces photography. Here it is:

Aliki Braine, Chris McCaw, Vicki Fornieles, Bindi Vora, Steffi Klenz, Sarah Tulloch, Alexandra Letheridge, Tom Lovelace, Alexandra Hughes, Felicity Hammond, Alix Marie, Liz Nielsen, Emma Wieslander, Catherine Yass, Stephen Gill, Nico Krijno, Antony Cairns, Julie Cockburn, Maurizio Anzeri, Bruno V. Roels, Amy Friend, Curtis Mann, John Chiara, Esther Teichmann.

Katie Reynolds, the curator of the schools and young people's programme at The Photographers' Gallery, led the second afternoon workshop. She began with a brief description of the gallery's history and education programme before introducing the work of Batia Suter, a nominee for this year's Deutsche Börse Prize. Katie shared a copy of Suter's 'Parallel Encyclopedia #2', an "image-led sequence of subjective associations offering visual dialogues and new categorisations" that explores "the iconification of images by placing images in new and varying contexts exposing the possibilities of visual editing. Suter's artistic approach is personal and intuitive, selecting a large number of images, which ultimately present how images affect and manipulate meaning, depending on where and how they are placed." The theme of Katie's workshop was curation and she began by reminding colleagues of Threshold Concept #7: "Photographs are not fixed in meaning; context is everything." Colleagues worked in teams to select, sequence, expand and then title a group of photographs. At each stage, the images were rotated around the groups so that each team was required to work with images chosen by others. The final stage of the challenge involved displaying the images in an unusual location, considering their wider physical context and how they were installed. "They could be on the floor, wall, table – does one image conceal part of another? Where is the title in relation to the images? What does this do to our reading?"

Day #2 ended with a heartfelt thank you to all our amazing colleagues and contributors and to the Post 16 students from St. Peter's and Thomas Tallis Schools who provided such amazing support. ​

We're delighted with the feedback we have received so far, all of it positive. Colleagues welcomed the opportunity to meet other photography teachers with varying levels of experience, share ideas and offer support. Tate Modern provided a stimulating environment and the Southwark Room at Tate Exchange was an appropriate space in which to experiment with the idea of a photography classroom. All of the guest presenters were praised for their expertise and ability to engage and challenge participants in equal measure. We were delighted that each new workshop leader was able to make explicit links to ideas and concepts shared previously. This gave real coherence to both days, deepening connections and drawing colleagues back naturally to the relevant underlying Threshold Concepts. We are immensely grateful to all our contributing artists and arts education professionals for their creativity, knowledge and generosity. 

​Colleagues recognised that they had been encouraged to leave their comfort zones and experiment with new ideas, processes and ways of working. They commented on the use of space and the 'classroom' set up, welcoming the opportunity to see things from a student's perspective and considering ways in which their own classrooms could be different - "It doesn't have to be as it's always been." 

One of our key aims for the event was to further cement the bonds that have developed online, via the PhotoPedagogy website and NSEAD Facebook pages, so that we can continue to form a community of practitioners. It was pleasing that many attendees seemed keen to maintain contact with one another, offering to contribute to the website and even get involved in helping to plan future events. We are excited to see what happens when folks get back to school and attempt to put some of what they have experienced and learned over these two days into practice with students. Watch this space!

We'd really appreciate any thoughts you may have about the two days so please feel free to comment below and don't forget to get in touch if you want to share something with others on the website.

Thank you.

​Jon & Chris

PS
​All of the photographs taken by us or our students over the two days can be viewed on Flickr.
You might also be interested in viewing the collection of images on Instagram using the #classphoto2018 tag.
The #classphoto2018 tag can also be used to read a series of tweets related to the event.

After months of consulting, thinking, planning and collaborating our Tate Exchange project for 2018 is just round the corner - the 12th and 13th of February to be precise. Following last year's student centred activities in the main Tate Exchange space, this year's focus is a dedicated team of photography teacher colleagues who are joining us from the four corners of the land to experience some fun and games in the PhotoPedagogy playground.

We are excited and a little apprehensive. This is our first CPD adventure and we've been working hard to ensure that folks get value for money. Here's how the two days are shaping up:

The Tate Exchange theme this year is production.​ What is produced in a photography classroom? What is seen and unseen? Who are the workers, what materials do they use and who profits from their labour? To what extent are photography classrooms spaces of agency and empowerment? In an age of measurement, how can photography teachers re-connect with a sense of purpose and provide a good education, in all senses of the word?

We are delighted to be working with amazing professionals from the world of photography. Marysa Dowling, Dafna Talmor and Elliott Wilcox are all practising photographers who are also gifted communicators. Ali Eisa and Katie Reynolds work in the education departments of pioneering public galleries and are passionate about photography education. We are also delighted that Simon Baker from Tate will be joining us on Monday morning to welcome participants to Tate Exchange. We are very grateful for the fantastic support of these individuals and the Tate Exchange team. It is a real privilege to be working in such an amazing building and alongside so much great photography on display.

By Chris Francis

On This Date In Photography is a remarkable blog written by Dr. James McArdle, artist and self-declared recovering academic - a retired Associate Professor from Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.  As the title suggests, each daily blog post takes the day's date as a starting point for offering rich servings from photography history. More than this though - and of particular relevance to A level students and teachers (with reference to the Personal Study) - is the manner in which James makes imaginative connections across times, places and personalities, many posts connecting rich historical research with contemporary references and concerns.

We were delighted when James agreed to share some insights into this wonderful resource.

My reason for writing the blog was initially because I wanted to prepare material for a book and a survey of historical and contemporary photography. I had to choose a topic for the blog which would expose me to new material. I chose to write daily posts because that forces me to keep writing regularly, and actually, I find that makes writing easier, to have that expectation. 
 
I decided to base the research and writing on one simple rule - it has to be something that happened or is happening on that date. That is what presents me with the possibilities for the day.

I go every day to a number of sources. Alan Griffiths’ Luminous Lint is excellent and provides, amongst many other resources, a calendar of photographic happenings. It is a subscription-funded American site however and this leads me to another principle I have adopted for the blog. American photography has been given plenty of exposure and as a photography student in the 1970s everyone looked to the USA. Since I am interested in stuff I don’t know about I don’t write on American photographers except where they are unknown, though of course I do mention them in posts for comparison since everyone knows them and they provide a common talking point.
 
Andrew Eskind and Greg Drake still edit http://photographydatabase.org based on 30 years of research compiled for American publisher of photography books G.K. Hall. It has expanded to include photographers world-wide. I find any resource needs double-checking, and that process of course is not wasted time - you just find out more.
 
David Lowe, Photography Specialist at the New York Public Library, compiles Photographers’ Identities Catalog (PIC) which has a global map interface that is idiosyncratic but actually very helpful once you get used to it.

If I am lucky there may be two or more photographers who were born or died on the day, a significant photo taken or an exhibition that all relate to each other in some useful way that triggers ideas that I would not have thought of otherwise - I am only too happy to be directed by coincidence since the accident of date is just that (unless you believe in astrology), and sometimes the ball just drops into place in this "calendric roulette”. It’s fun.

The best way to get the writing flowing is to get hold of images by the photographer. Like most photographers I respond to visual stimulus and I find it easy just to get words down by imagining myself taking their pictures myself…that’s stuff we know about. That allows me an entree into the thinking behind the work.
 
Then I research the biographies of the photographers which leads to discovering how they fit into history, including the political, social and technological environments of their country or city. I am eager to find statements by them about their work which I tag in my posts. Then, and only after I have formed and am comfortable with my own ideas, will I look at academic essays, online books, newspaper articles or critiques of the photographer or exhibition. I may quote them or summarise them, acknowledging the source, but because a blog is not an academic exercise, I don’t include a bibliography or footnotes, but I include links where I can.
 
At this point I have bits and pieces of writing that need to come together into a coherent whole. The theme of the post may only become apparent at this stage as the pieces are shuffled and come together. A little editing is needed then to look after tense and syntax. It is a matter then of writing the concluding paragraph. and after that an introduction that will fit into the character limit in Twitter..necessarily a very short, pithy statement with a picture that will find some interested readers; and even just that process of distillation will make me go back and revise or add ideas. A blog post is never set in stone. 
 
Inevitably, once I read the post as  it appears online, I may see mistakes and have to go back in and make corrections, and since this is an intense process, I have to be prepared for new information about the subject to pop up (since I am now sensitised to it), or for other ideas to form in the night or under the shower next morning. 
 
The pressure of writing the next day’s post comes along and I start all over again.

Photographs influence me most; that is where my ideas come from, so photobooks come first for me. It was formative for me to have in the house, as I grew up in the 1950s, the sumptuous slip-covered Moments Preserved by Irving Penn (Simon and Schuster, 1960), The Family of Man (MoMA, 1954), The World Is Young by Wayne Miller and Een liefdesgeschiedenis in Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Love on the Left Bank) by Ed van were Elsken (1956). Since then the world has filled with photobooks, a bewildering but ever-tempting feast of them.
 
The first photography book I read in depth (and still read and consult) was Aaron Scharf’s Art and Photography - my mother gave it to me for my seventeenth birthday in 1968, the year it came out. It was his PhD at the Courtauld Insitute and must be one of the earliest of research at that level; meticulous. It’s illustrations were all monochrome in that edition. It was a lucid, convincing account of the way art and photography interacted - and made it clear that photography could be art. 
 
I loathed Sontag’s On Photography for her supercilious pontificating, and that came out while I was a photography student and led to furious rows with other students who had been told it was God’s Word. Max Kozloff’s writing is clear and to the point, and I recommend in particular his 'Contention Between Two Critics About a Disagreeable Beauty' on Joel-Peter Witkin in his The Privileged Eye: Essays on Photography, University of New Mexico Press, 1987 for a demonstration of incisive critical writing.
 
A helpful history of photography is Nouvelle histoire de la photographie by Michel Frizot (Bordas, 1995), available in a fairly good English translation, which gives a world-view of the medium not found in others which tend to be more US-centric. More recent and both very readable are Charlotte Cotton’s The photograph as contemporary art (Thames & Hudson, 2004) which is thematic in a thought-provoking way and thus still relevant; and  Photography : a critical introduction edited by Liz Wells, Fifth edition (Routledge, 2015) which contains essays by various writers organised chronologically and thematically. Really there is so much online, such as 1000Words (to which I’ve contributed) and American Suburb X, and countless blogs, that we are spoilt for choice.

I like the way these statements distil characteristics of photography to make sustaining concepts. They are necessarily generalisations, of course, but helpful in debating the essence of photography because their expression in your Threshold Concepts is deliberately and helpfully provocative. I’d take issue with #4 and #6 but defend #1 #8 and #9 with my blood! All of them are the kind of thoughts that inspire my writing and especially my own provocations expressed compactly as tweets (@JamesmMcArdle). Each is a thread I have been following in my teaching, and now in writing, and with them I feel a connection to what you are doing at photopedagogy.com

 Back in April we asked for your advice about your ideal CPD event. Since then we've deliberated, cogitated and digested, based on your detailed feedback, and have devised our next event at Tate Exchange especially for you.

Class Photo: Lessons in Photography is specifically designed for teachers of photography and asks the question, "How might we create a photography classroom over two days at Tate Exchange?" We invite you to join us for creative professional development as the focus between student, teacher, artist and visitor is playfully blurred, and a photography classroom is exposed like never before.

This CPD event is for those who want to debate the important issues in our subject, improve their own practice, collaborate on the production of new ideas and embrace a spirit of experimentation and play. Participants can sign up for one or two days of stimulating workshops, activities and discussions taking inspiration from the amazing collection of photographs on display at Tate Modern. We will have contributions from visiting practitioners and experts including The Photographers’ Gallery and Autograph ABP. We're working hard on putting the finishing touches to the programme but we think you'll enjoy the combination of activities, range of resources and quality of contributors. We'll send out details as soon as we have them all confirmed.

We realise it's half term and some of you may struggle to persuade your schools to help you out with the costs. We have tried really hard to make the event as cost effective as possible. We are certainly not making a profit and will need to some fundraising ourselves. We've tried to achieve quality and affordability.

We have a limited number of places up for grabs and priority will be given to those wishing to sign up for both days. All the details are available on our event page. To purchase a two day ticket just select 12 Feb and 'Two day ticket'. Tickets are available from Friday morning 3 November so don't miss out!

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

It's been an extraordinary year (and I'm not referring to Brexit, the Orange One or the phenomenal phoenix JC). Now that I've taken a couple of breaths and gained some much-needed perspective on the academic year just ended, I realise that 2016-17 was marked by some amazing interactions with professional practitioners.

Allow me to re-cap...

The year began for me with Tate's Summer School where Anna Lucas, Alex Schady and Billy Leslie expertly supported our explorations of the relationship between still and moving images, working with objects, performance, time and space. I've written about experience here and here so I won't labour the point. However, this experience has positively influenced my practice in the classroom in numerous ways. Interestingly, none of the above artists would consider themselves photographers and yet their engagement with light and lens-based media is central to their practice.

Emboldened by my experience at Summer School and keen to get a practitioner into school to work alongside the students, I arranged a workshop in October for Year 11 and 13 with Dafna Talmor. Dafna's practice involves cutting up negatives of landscapes and piecing them back together before making colour enlargements she refers to as 'Constructed'. She has a wonderfully calm demeanour combined with a quiet intensity that both classes found mesmerising. For the workshop, Dafna brought along salvaged 35mm slides and we managed to purchase some cheap A4 light boxes and a couple of old slide projectors. Even the most seemingly disaffected members of the Year 11 class were fully engaged and productive during the workshop. The process of working on such a small scale, with a slide, scalpel and sellotape, embracing chance and then seeing the resulting image projected large on the classroom wall, was magical. Luckily, Dafna then had a show at Photofusion in Brixton in April 2017, so I took my Year 9 group to see it. Dafna gave them a guided tour and answered their questions. We then visited Tate Modern to see both The Radical Eye and Wolfgang Tillmans shows (totally free thanks to the Tate's new bursary scheme). 

But I've got ahead of myself a bit there. Rewind to December 2016 when the marvellous Nick Waplington came to talk to our A-level photographers. One of the things I love about Instagram is the way it makes contacting artists and photographers so straightforward and immediate. Nick responded to a message from my colleague Dianne and agreed to pop into school one afternoon. I hope he doesn't mind me saying that he came for the price of a parking space and a cup of tea! Very generous given the current funding situation in schools.

Nick gave a really engaging talk, beginning with his work as a student in the school darkroom. His passion, independence, commitment and humour made a real impression on the students. He even left us a personal copy of his challenging book 'Settlement'. His advice to aspiring photographers was fascinating - take photographs of what you know and love, regardless of whether it's fashionable, because in the future what looks mundane and ordinary today will assume the status of cultural history. Nick's own practice embraces a wide range of photography genres. Each project appears different to the next. He is interested in everything and sees no reason why his work should not reflect that. He also paints and keeps sketchbooks. This was a really refreshing insight for the students, a model of how being an artist/photographer is a state of mind rather than a particular brand of image-making.

​January brought a workshop for Year 9 and 10 with the amazing Wandering Bears collective. Again, Dianne came up trumps with the contact, following a workshop she attended at The Photographers' Gallery. She asked them to attempt to repeat their 'Inside Out, Upside Down' activity with our Year 9 and 10 classes, something they'd not done before in a school setting. The idea is simple: students attempt to re-create several contemporary photographic compositions using a variety of intriguing props - fruit, bricks, plastic cups etc.

Each student then received their responses printed out on stickers so they could attach them to the pages of a specially designed booklet. The three Wandering Bears were friendly, modest, stylish, encouraging, enterprising chaps - the perfect role models for our young photographers. They made the whole business of photography (and living the precarious life of a professional artist) seem like a whole lot of fun and not something you had to do on your own. They challenged the clichéd image of a lonely, tortured artist starving in a garret.

February was our PhotoPedagogy intervention at Tate Exchange. Simon Baker wrote a fantastic introduction to our newspaper and we received submissions from Dafna Talmor, Tom Oldham, Marysa Dowling, Daniel Donnelly, Mimi Mollica and Gregory Crewdson.  Although we didn't get to work with her directly, Marysa paid a visit and the always supportive Tom Oldham popped in to lend words of encouragement. Chris has written about Tom's fantastic visit to St. Peter's on his blog. Tom also came along to our appearance at Offprint London in May. Our Post 16 photography students were brilliant, leading activities and looking for all the world like Tate Modern was their natural stomping ground. We were very proud teachers.

Offprint was bonkers - a full-on weekend-long photobook festival in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern where we told our story, sold a few zines and chatted to photobook artists and publishers from all over the world. I spotted Nick Waplington signing his latest book, we bumped into the effervescent Mimi Mollica and had a brief chat with David Campany. As always, our students put in a shift and we had a great time. Hopefully, we'll be doing it again next year.

In June I was contacted by the lovely Victoria Batt who had contributed to Tate Exchange, who I follow on Instagram, who came along to Offprint for a chat and who had just completed an MA in photography at Central Saint Martins. Her Tate Exchange project had involved a performance featuring a dress made of Selfies so it was the perfect excuse to ask her (and her fellow MA graduate friend Will who also came along) to collaborate with Year 9 on their Selfie project. It was great for the students to meet Victoria and Will, fresh out of university and finding their way as artists. They were both very generous with their attention, kind and full of praise for the students' experiments.

Peter ended his visit with a Q&A during which he was asked what advice he would give to a young photographer wishing to pursue a career in the medium. His reply was telling. "First," he said, "you must decide whether you are the sort of person who likes to take photographs or who must take photographs. Secondly, I would advise you to minimise your outgoings and maximise your income." Sage advice indeed.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all the professionals with whom we have worked this year. I can't stress enough the value of getting professional practitioners into school. Don't be too proud. Beg for money if you have to. Stress the transformational impact of students (who are becoming artists) meeting the real deal, especially if your students have little or no experience of meeting artists in their everyday lives. All of our visitors have been inspiring, charming, encouraging and, most importantly, authentic. It's clear that they live and breath their practices, embodying the qualities essential for survival in an unpredictable world. We call these qualities the Tallis Habits - inquisitive, collaborative, persistent, disciplined and imaginative. Teachers obviously have a central role to play in modelling these qualities and encouraging students to be creative. But when this encouragement can be rubber stamped by a visiting practitioner, whether they are at the beginning of or in the latter stages of their careers, the effects can be profound.

Here's hoping 2017-18 provides yet more opportunities for us to meet the professionals.

Happy holidays.

Jon Nicholls
Thomas Tallis School

What has been the best professional development you've ever experienced as a photography teacher? 

I imagine no single course or experience has been able to satisfy all your needs but it would be great to know what you have valued. Here are some of the experiences that I have either valued or would value in any CPD event:

• an opportunity to be taught about aspects of the history and theory of photography by experts in the field
• an opportunity to be shown useful, innovative and unusual techniques and processes
• an opportunity to discuss photography pedagogy, how to interpret the various exam board specifications whilst maintaining a focus on creativity, independence and authenticity
• an opportunity to make photographs (in a studio and/or on location) alongside fellow photography teachers and to explore the identity of artist/teacher
• an opportunity to meet and hear from one or more respected photographers
• an opportunity to explore the transitions between KS4 and 5 and between KS5 and degree level study
• an opportunity to talk to colleagues from a range of settings across the country, to plan projects and discuss ideas for future schemes of work

Is there anything you would want to add to this list? Who has provided your CPD to date? I've been to fantastic courses at The Photographers' Gallery, for example. We really enjoyed our recent day of creative mischief at Tate Exchange during which we to to meet and work alongside several colleagues and their students. Some of the best CPD I've experienced has been through conversations, both real and virtual, with colleagues. Our Threshold Concepts were developed in this way, collaboratively and online.

What if we could organise a conference (an unconference even) specifically for teachers of photography? How might it work? It's an idea that Chris and I have discussed several times. The likelihood of being able to create one event that would satisfy lots of people (cost, location, duration) would be a real challenge. Nevertheless, it's a tantalising prospect. A first step would be to try to understand what colleagues might want from such an event:

• How long might it last (a few hours, a day, a weekend, over several days...?)
• Where might it take place (in a city, on the coast, abroad, in a rural location, in a gallery, in a school, online...?)
• How much might participants be willing/able to pay (nothing, transport costs only, £50-100, more...?)

In other words, if you could design your ideal CPD experience, what would it look and feel like?

As a photography teaching community perhaps we could collaborate in designing our own CPD and organise an event or events which would help to meet our collective needs? Please leave your responses in the comments below.

Jon Nicholls
Thomas Tallis School