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

We recently had a visit from a newly qualified teacher keen to find out how we managed our photography resources, supported our students and designed the curriculum. She asked lots of really great questions and we had a great chat during a Year 12 lesson. Over the years we have collected quite a few photography books, some of which are kept on the bookshelf in our main teaching space. One of the things our visitor asked was which books we would recommend for a colleague starting from scratch and creating a capsule collection. This got me thinking and so here are are my recommendations for 10 essential texts for the photography classroom/library.

They are personal choices so it would be great to know if you think I've missed anything really useful and which ones in my list you also use on a regular basis. With an eye on shrinking budgets I have tried to keep the costs down. The links take you to the cheapest version of the book I could find (not surprisingly the same online bookseller in every case) and as close to or below £10 per book as I could get (if you don't mind sometimes buying used copies). This means that you could get hold of all 10 of these books for under £100. You may, of course, decide to shop elsewhere and pay a bit, or a lot, more. This site does not benefit in any way from click throughs to particular booksellers! I've also mostly avoided coffee table survey books or photobooks by individual photographers. These can be quite expensive and might be purchased later on to swell the bookshelves once you've got your collection of smaller, cheaper books started. 

Anyroadup, here goes (in no particular order):

There are hundreds of great photography books out there. What are your favourites? Please leave a comment below...

Jon Nicholls, Thomas Tallis School

PS. You can currently get all 10 of these books for £89.32.

At this time of year, when GCSE students are taking on the preparatory period of the exam unit, it can be difficult to find the balance between providing structure for multiple themes while not being too prescriptive with ideas and suggestions. I'm also mindful that in the current climate, with increased pressures all round, there is a danger that students fall into a habit of wanting to be told what to do, rather than learning important lessons of persistence, problem solving, knowing how to get themselves up and running independently, and so on.

I recently shared a couple of resources on devnicely.co.uk for my Year 11 students, but thought it might be useful to put them here too. The first is a check list, offering a structure (of sorts), but hopefully still encouraging students to think for themselves:

In addition to this I also dusted off this previous resource, which still seems to hold up - a flowchart to help students along the way (which I think Jon and I may have developed together a couple of years back - can't actually remember now!):

Anyhow, hope these might prove useful. If you have alternative approaches/resources we'd love to hear from you.

By Chris Francis, devnicely.co.uk

I had a few spare moments at the end of my Year 12 class yesterday, so I initiated a quick word exchange. Nothing fancy, just a quick game à la 'Exquisite Corpse', where students wrote one photography-related word on a piece of paper and then passed it on to the next person to do the same. The instructions were simple: Write one word at a time - one that has reoccurred in Photography lessons in Year 12 and helped their learning (yet trying to avoid the most obvious e.g. 'photograph', 'visual', 'elements' etc.). It was spur of the moment, yet I was curious to know which words might be the most popular. It turned out to be these: 'Framing', 'depth', 'context', and 'contrast'. Truth be told I would have liked a few more descriptive words; we are spoiled for choice with the language of photography. But then again, perhaps I could have explained the task better, chosen my words more carefully.

I've just noted some of their responses and added some more too. Which words might you add to this collection? Feel free to create your own list in the comments box below.

Related on this site:
Photo literacy
Photography writing

By Jon Nicholls, Thomas Tallis School

Apologies. It's been a while since the blog was updated. And Happy New Year!

In the spirit of new beginnings and new exchanges I thought it might be interesting to begin a new feature. I don't know about you but I love showing my students films about photography. There's no substitute for having a photographer visit your classroom. We were very fortunate to have the wonderful Nick Waplington visit before the Christmas holidays. But school budgets, pressures of time and the difficulty of making contact with busy professional artists means these opportunities are relatively rare. The next best thing, in my opinion, is sharing the thoughts of photographers in the form of video clips found on the Internet. Thankfully, these are in plentiful supply.

So, I'm hoping that you will play along in this game of #photofilmpingpong. The idea is simple. I'll serve a video to you via the blog, explaining why I like it and how I use it in the classroom. You return the serve with a video URL of your own choosing and a similar brief explanation (using the comments below or sending an email to photopedagogy@gmail.com). I'll then publish this as a new blog post and, with a bit of luck, we can continue to exchange our favourite resources over the coming months.

I'm serving a beautiful film about the American photographer Stephen Shore. Hopefully, you know it already. There are lots of Shore-related films on the Internet but this one is my favourite. He's never not interesting to listen to. He's as economical and wise with words as he is with the camera. It might seem odd to share a film about the use of equipment most students will never have access to - an 8x10 view camera. However, what Shore says about photography in this film is timeless and relevant. He describes the way that photographs compress time and can contain lots of different types of information - perceptual, psychological and medium specific. He explains that his interest is in looking at the "ordinary, everyday world with clear and focused attention." I can't think of a better way to explain the purpose of photography to young people. But he continues to explore the notion of visual thinking. This, for me, is what makes this film so special. 

This, to me, is a very powerful message about the making of any kind of visual art, especially in the context of school which places such a high priority on the importance of language as evidence of cognition. The evidence of visual thinking is primarily in the images students make and we, as teachers, should respect and value that evidence. Furthermore, students should be taught to trust in this visual sense, their visual intuition and not get too bogged down in over-thinking and linguistic justifications. I don't mean that talking and writing about photography isn't important - Stephen Shore is a great example of an articulate photographer and theorist of the medium. But I love what Shore says in this film about the importance of intuition, of not repeating yourself and of the need to find new visual problems to solve.

This lovely little film ends with another powerful story. Shore compares learning the craft of photography to a young child learning to walk who spends all her time concentrating hard on the technical issues of putting one foot in front of another. Not until she can walk confidently does she have much time to think about where she is going. Having spent 10 years discovering the formal properties of the medium, Shore now spends his time thinking about where he is going with it. 

I look forward to receiving your returns of serve.