Welcome to A’ level Photography

• Now that you have decided to study A Level Photography, you will need to do a bit of preparation. This document contains information regarding the course structure, the summer project and some Photographers you should know to prepare you to start your A level in September.

The purpose of studying Photography at A Level is to develop knowledge and understanding of:

• Specialist vocabulary and terminology when analysing or explaining your own and others’ work • Theoretical research of a particular genre style and/or tradition • In‐depth understanding of a variety of media, techniques, and processes • Development of an idea, concept, or issue • Recording ideas and observations related to chosen lines of enquiry • Communicating a particular meaning, message, idea or feeling

• There will be a pack to buy from school which will contain a selection of the and materials you will need. The cost of the pack will be approximately £50 What do I have to do in A Level Art? Photography?

There are two components of the course‐ the personal investigation and the externally set assignment. The table below summarises the evidence you will produce for each component:

A Level Components What will I need to do? How will I evidence this?

Personal Investigation ‐Write a personal study (essay) ‐A 1000‐3000 word essay (coursework) based on your chosen theme ‐Research on a range of artists ‐Create a body of work related to and/or designers 60% a chosen theme/s ‐Exploration of a variety of ‐Create a final piece/s media, techniques and processes ‐Development of ideas in response to chosen artist/s/theme ‐Recording of ideas and observations Externally Set Assignment ‐Create preparatory studies ‐By creating a body of work (Exam) based on the theme based on the theme given. This ‐Create a personal outcome/s in will include research, ideas, 40% 15 hours of sustained focus exploration of media, development of ideas and a final piece/s.

The table below summarises tasks you will need to do to meet each objective:

Development of Ideas Exploration of Media Recording & Personal Response Reflecting ‐Research a range of ‐Explore with a wide ‐Take own photographs ‐A final piece plan to artists‐ collect images, variety of media, related to chosen document intentions for make a visual study, techniques and theme/idea final piece and include biographical processes ‐Create a range of explanation information and analyse ‐Continually review and observational studies ‐A final piece/s that their artwork refine your work‐ from primary and realises what you ‐Create your own ideas consider the potential secondary sources intended to do inspired by your chosen and the limitations of ‐Use annotation to artist/s the media used explain your idea/s and ‐Show a clear to reflect on your development of ideas‐ progress have they been manipulated, transformed and edited throughout the journey

Summer Project Letter Shapes Abba Richman An email I received from Abba Richman: Hi Daisy Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, hope this helps you. The project took four months to complete, some letters were easy some more difficult to find. I was born in 1948 in London in Stamford Hill in London and later my family moved to Hendon. I studied at the William Ellis grammar school in Highgate and left England in 1967 for Israel where I have been living ever since. I started photographing almost by accident. One day I found a small 16mm miniature camera. I photographed a roll and found the resulting prints very grainy, so I bought a second hand Russian Zorki 35mm camera and was hooked for ever after. My first "job" was photographing the addition of a new floor to my school (at age 15). My self‐ confidence was boosted by the very favourable response to the resulting album of prints by the school headmaster. I was an awful student, but I did manage to get an A level in art and based on that and a very extensive and varied portfolio of work I was accepted to study at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem in 1969 where I studied Graphic Design for four years and completed a fifth graduate year in photography. What do I photograph? I can answer that easier by stating what don't I photograph, no flowers, animals, travel scenes, sunsets, etc. I am always on the lookout for the beauty and form in the everyday objects that surround us, in our homes, in the street, and sometimes right under our noses. The Alphabet series was an attempt to combine a purely visual approach with something surprising as well, trying to photograph the seemingly obvious in a totally undiscovered way, to present the viewer with a visual quiz. I think that is my purpose when I go out to photograph, to try and present an image of an ordinary scene in a way that no one has seen until that moment. There is nothing that has not been photographed before and it is the constant challenge of the photographer to give a new visual meaning to the seemingly trivial and ordinary. (at least for me).

Everybody looks but very few can see.

Abba Richman ‐ Photographer "I try to make beautiful photographs of ordinary things rather than ordinary photographs of beautiful things" Joe Rossi • Photographer/ artist who likes to find letter shapes in our everyday environments Isobel’s (ECSfG student) letter shapes were used to create an alphabet and to write her name. Look how she did it.

Isobel’s Alphabet

Find your alphabet. Look for the letters all around you. Some are easier to find than others. You might need to crop a lot or turn sideways. Look through, look up, look down, look in a mirror. Get on the floor, stand on a chair (carefully) Look in the shadows, look in the light. Look for reflections and fragments.

The key word for this project

is LOOK Letter Shapes Project

• Your aim is to find enough letters to create the alphabet twice. • Once in capital letters • Once in lower case letters • You might also need to find some extra versions of the same letter because you also have to write your name with no repeated letter shapes • E.G. if your name is Rebecca, you will need 2 lower case ‘e’s and 2 lower case ‘c’s • Don’t worry about putting the letters together. We will do that in school.

• Remember this is about LOOKING save your photos safely on a USB. Bring it with you to your first Photography lesson

Some Felix Nadar Henri Cartier-Bresson Cecil Beaton Mathew Brady Robert Capa Photographers Julia Margaret Willy Ronis Steve McCurry Cameron Diane Arbus Nick Knight Frederick Evans you should know Robert Hausser Horst P. Horst Edweard Muybridge Seydou Keita Felice Beato Google search will throw up all kinds of pictures from Karl Blossfeldt Eugene Atget dubious sources so use your discretion. Make sure you Helmut Newton Gregory Crewdson Alfred Steiglitz choose good if not well known images. There are so Bernd and Hilla Becher Aaron Siskind many photographers to choose from but they won’t William Klein Sally Mann Minor White all have broken new ground or shaped the history of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Lewis W. Hine photography like these guys: Robert Mapplethorpe Don McCullin August Sander Alexander Rodchenko Martin Parr Choose 2 of the photographers listed here to Edward Weston research. Collate notes about each one, record Paul Strand quotes and any other relevant information. Fay Godwin Man Ray Bruce Montagne Joseph Sudek Create a visual mind map for each one to illustrate David Bailey Jacques-Henri Lartigue their key ideas Annie Leibovitz Andre Kertesz You can use drawings, images and photographs Herb Ritts Albert Renger-patzsch Rankin Dorothea Lange List key terms and vocabulary‐ research meanings Tim Walker Walker Evans and/or context Mario Testino Andreas Feinenger Eve Arnold Brassai Norman Parkinson Write a list of key questions and/or discussion Robert Doisneau points that are raised