UCAS Design Your Future Fair

Yesterday, we visited the UCAS Design Your Future Fair. I wanted to talk to the three uni's closest to me: Manchester (MMU), University of Derby, and Staffs Uni. I wasn't keen on the sound of the Photography course at MMU as I felt as though the Photography man was rambling on about a lot of rubbish and I felt like it was more about conceptual photography/art and it wasn't for me.

I found out from Staffs and Derby that the course would require me to be in for about three days a week, which is fine with me since I would be driving every day. I like the sound of the Photography degree in both of these uni's but I think I'm leaning slightly more towards Staffs because of their links with industry and live project briefs.

That being said, I like the sound of the Commercial Photography degree at Derby, and the Foundation Degree in Applied Photography. The degree that I would like to do is the Foundation Degree. I think this is because it is part time, only two years and I could be working at the same time as doing it. I think that the course looks really good too as it is looking at how you'd apply the techniques to working and I feel like it would be a good degree for me.

Order of preference:

1. Foundation Degree in Applied Photography at Derby
2. BA Hons Photography in Staffs
3. BA Hons Photography in Derby
4. BA Hons Commercial Photography in Derby

Liverpool Tate and Walker Gallery

Today the art group went to the Tate in Liverpool to see Marc Chagall's work and then to the Walker Gallery to see the photographer Rankin's Alive in the Face of Death exhibition.

Initially, I was a bit sceptical about going to both the Tate and to Rankin's exhibition because I hadn't really enjoyed visiting the Tate in the past as its not really my thing... I'm not a big fan of the type of art where it seems as though anyone could do it, I appreciate pieces that take time and a lot of skill rather than the concept of work.

The reason I wasn't looking forward to looking at Rankin's exhibition was because I didn't like the sound of it as he's taking photos of dying people/ people with life threatening illnesses so I thought that it was going to be depressing... But it turned out to not be depressing, but rather inspiring. I felt as though it was sad but the people in the photos were so happy and just had to accept and live with their conditions... It just shows how something like that could happen to anyone and just how fragile life is. 

And as for Chagall's work, I was surprised at how much of it I liked and was impressed by how he could express symbolism and concepts in his paintings. I really liked his use of colour and brush strokes, however, I wasn't so keen on the style of some of the shapes and the lack of realism, but that's just personal taste...

Here is one of my favourite paintings of his:

The Promenade

The two people in this painting are him and his wife/partner Bella and the painting symbolizes their love. I really like what it symbolizes and the cubism style. In addition, I like the simplicity of it and the colours.