Anyone started their C&G Level 2 course yet?

[stormywhether]

Gonna be starting mine tomorrow night - am pretty stoked about it.

Anyone decide to take this Photography course this academic year? There were a good few people mulling it over.

Any first impressions, if so?

[swsxp02]

I've got an A level in Photography that I studied for in a local college night classes. This was about 10yrs ago I guess. I enjoyed it as i tgave me a reason to get out there and do some snapping. Now I just rely on the DVDF comps to give some incentive.

Hope you enjoy it, I'm sure you will.

Not sure how the C&G fits in with A level, is it an exact equivalent? Or is one more biased towards anything. How long is the course?

[PC_Bod]

I;d like to do a course in Photography but all the ones round here are either very biased towards printing and the darkroom and film, or they're point and shoot courses that show you how to turn a camera on.

[Radiohead]

Not doing it because of the ridiculous focus on film.

[Sam]

Not doing it because of the ridiculous focus on film.

:thumbs: Same reason my husband and I decided not to do it.

[stormywhether]

Work are paying for it and yeah, it's film-focused although they accept a lot of the work in digital format.

I'll report back as I progress.

[wseed]

Non in my area. Still wondering if I can find a good last minute course.

[stormywhether]

Just thought I'd bump this as I'm fresh back from the first lesson.

Was a really good start to be honest, and an interesting group in that everyone has a completely different goal and style of photography they're interested in. Someone wants to do scene of crime photography, another's interested in marine stuff, as well as some more mainstream stuff.

The teacher's a bit vague but we'll see how that pans out.

One thing I was peeved about was that it seems that C&G does offer some choice of digital photography units, but the college/tutor is focusing instead on stuff like black and white photography - of which knowledge is necessary for students to progress to C&G Level 3 (so it's not quite as anti digital as we first thought. It's just the college wants to keep more people studying there...)

Started out with stuff on depth of field and our homework is to go away and do the whole "focus on the midrange / 1/3 of the way in, on a tree or something, then increase/decrease the aperture" and stuff like that.

There's a workbook to do throughout the year, which is basically one big scrapbook about what you've learned with diagrams you should draw yourself and your own images to illustrate certain concepts (such as creative use of aperture, etc).

Quite a bit of stuff to get through, it would seem. We were looking through past students' work tonight and, while quality is variable, they all produced a huge amount of stuff. Gonna be interesting to see if I don't work myself into the ground!

And then there's 30 prints you have to produce for your portfolio, b&w stuff, and themed stuff. All the workbook stuff can be done on digital - but the portfolio has to be from a standard SLR.

But overall, good first impressions. Now, gotta find that arty A3 binder thing to get cracking on!

[wseed]

Sounds quite similar to the course I started last year before they pulled it 2/3 the way through. I bought the gear to develop my negs at home as I found this saved messing with a time consuming task during the class and more time for printing which I couldn't do anywhere other than the college. The gear isn't dear and is relativly compact.

I got my A3 scrap book from the college artshop for a few £.

[stormywhether]

wseed, where did you get your developing stuff from? could do with a hand with that.

No art shop at the college, it's a bit of a craphole.

[reecie]

And then there's 30 prints you have to produce for your portfolio, b&w stuff, and themed stuff. All the workbook stuff can be done on digital - but the portfolio has to be from a standard SLR.


So do they want the negs to check? I assume this is so you can't photoshop your way to stardom? Although I expect you could digitise the neg, improve the photo and print it and they wouldn't be much the wiser unless you removed or added physical items.

[wseed]

The stuff you need is outlined in a PDF Ilford did I'd recommend a download "developing your first B&W film (http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/pdf/Film%20Hobbyist.PDF)" or similar they do a data sheet for each of there B&W films for developing times and chemical mixes.

The essentials are:

Changing bag (lets you remove negs from canister and transfer into dev tank) Jessops (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://tracker.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=17211^QA^a=60823^QA^g=106115) again but I think 7DayShop (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://www.awin1.com/awclick.php^QS^mid=530^QA^gid=6083^QA^id=30372)also do them
Daylight Developing tank (I got mine from Jessops (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://tracker.tradedoubler.com/click^QS^p=17211^QA^a=60823^QA^g=106115) but Patterson ones are a little better mine leaks a little liquid not light)
Measuring jug accurate to 10ml or so
Timer accurate to seconds, stopwatch is ideal.
Thermometer accurate to a couple of degrees C you need to check liquid temp at 20 or 22 degs c.
Chemicals Most local photo stores I'd recomend Ilford as they have all the data you need for times and dilutions. They are a little more ££ but often I think they mixed xx:1 where as cheapo ones were 2:1 with water so in real terms not much more expensive.
Film Developer not paper I used ID11 (Ilford) but also some cheapo Barclay brand.
Stop
FIX
clips to hang film to dry I used bulldog clips and cloths pegs.
Scissors to trim film

Nice to have:
Storage containers some of the chemicals can be reused so stored in an airtight bottle is ideal.
FunnelStops spills.
Film canister opener You can pop them open by hand or a bottle opener.
Film squeegee clear off excess water before drying
Drying agent helps film dry without streaks a drop of washing up liquid will work.

The PDF is best for a read though.

So do they want the negs to check? I assume this is so you can't photoshop your way to stardom? Although I expect you could digitise the neg, improve the photo and print it and they wouldn't be much the wiser unless you removed or added physical items.

You can do many of the photoshop actions in the darkroom they just take a little more time and or skill. (not that I'm saying photoshop isn't a skill) Also unfortunately a print from a lab or an Inkjet comes nowhere close to a hand developed print.