If you have an aptitude for the subject, are creative, imaginative, enthusiastic and above all, have ideas to communicate you will love this subject. Photography is an incredibly rewarding course for motivated students, however you should be prepared to work hard to develop your technical and analytical skills. Specifically, this course provides students with the opportunity to respond to the visual world with the aid of both digital and analogue cameras and image manipulation YEAR 12 During the first two terms, students will produce a portfolio of practical work which demonstrates their application and development of new workshop-based skills taught by their teacher. These practical sessions will introduce students to new techniques such as abstraction and macro photography as well as revisit and build on previous techniques such as studio lighting and shutter speed. Students will be encouraged to experiment with their own ideas and develop critical/ contextual awareness through independent research. Students will practise essential study skills and approaches to learning related to the A level assessment objectives. Students will develop their own personal ideas after Easter where they will investigate, research, plan for and produce a body of practical work based on a theme of their choosing. This work will form the start of their assessed work in Year 13. The exciting part about this course is that you work to your strengths and that you develop ideas and responses that interest you. You are the driving force. YEAR 13 The A level qualification is a two-year qualification whereby students will build on experiences and techniques gained in Year 12. Component 1: Personal Investigation. Candidates will be required to submit two elements for this component. A portfolio of practical work showing their personal response to their own starting point and a related written study. Within this unit (the personal investigation), students develop a personal project based entirely on their own ideas, issues or concepts. This is supported by a written element (a related personal study) of between 1000-3000 words. Component 2: Externally Set Task. The early release paper will be issued in January and will provide candidates with a number of themes, each with a range of written and visual starting points, briefs and stimuli. From these, one must be selected upon which to base a response and students develop their ideas over a ten-week period. At the end of this there will be fifteen hours of supervised time in which students will aim to realise their ideas into an outcome.