Art and Design (Photography)

Course summary

The course is dynamic and extremely exciting. Students have the opportunity to express their individual interests, views, specialisms, and opinions throughout their work and create a portfolio of work that is personal to them. Students will have the opportunity to be immersed in the creative world of the arts and view photography firsthand in some of our country's most prestigious galleries. We believe it is important for students to experience what it would be like to be a practising photographer, and we therefore aim to take students to visit galleries three times during the course of their A Level. In previous years, we have taken students to places such as London Art Galleries, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Chesterfield College and Chatsworth. When visiting Chesterfield College, students are able to use the darkroom and develop their understanding of traditional photographic processes. They will use film-based cameras to process their own negative images themselves and develop these photographs using a range of traditional techniques. We organise speakers from different creative fields to discuss with students their career pathways and develop students' knowledge of how to gain a career in their chosen specialism. We also enter students' work for local and national competitions to enable them to work on live briefs and gain experience of what it would be like to work as a practicing photographer. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to get their work exhibited outside of the academy setting and out into the public domain.