Ashton Park - Day 2

On the 18th April, I had my second day at Ashton Park Sixth Form.

I arrived at the prearranged time of 1.30pm and headed to the photography room.

We started doing photograms with the students, which is where objects are placed on photographic paper before being exposed to light and developed. The group was split into two - the people who are doing an art GCSE and those who are not. The group was given a range of objects from bottles to feathers, flowers, and leaves.

We took the group not doing GCSE into the darkroom while the other group wrote up and mounted their work from the previous week. Anita explained how to make photograms and left me and the technician to help the students. I helped the students to compose their images, and to create double exposures (this is created by moving the object to a different part of the paper and exposing it for a shorter period of time). I also explained the developing process to some of them as they had forgotten it from previous lessons. The same happened for the GCSE group who came in during the second half of the lesson.

After the lesson finished, I helped to tidy up the darkroom and classroom, and again reorganised the darkroom filters. I refixed over ten images as they were not in the fix for long enough and would become discoloured. This was especially important as these images were by the people who are doing an art GCSE. Afterwards, I disposed of the developer and stop and kept the fix, as more was mixed up to refix the images and had only been used for a small amount of time. I then cleaned some of the excess water off of the prints and hung some over the sink to dry and placed some back in the dryer. I also uploaded some digital images that some of the students took from the cameras to the computer and organised them in files.

I discussed with Anita when to come back. I will be going in next week at 1.30 on Thursday, and also on the 9th and 10th of May to help out during the exams. On the 10th after the exams, we will head straight up to Ashton Court mansion to get ready for the summer ball.

I was there for three hours. I am learning how to communicate with teenagers in a professional manner and to be helpful and approachable to them. One even called me "Miss", which made me smile. I am also realising how much work goes in to teaching photography, as Anita has different tasks assigned for different groups for certain amounts of time.

3 hours,  10 hours overall