Hello from England...

kevs

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Hi all,

Just a few lines to introduce myself...

I'm a mature-ish Photgraphy student at Plymouth College of Art and Design in sunny Devon, England. I'm entering the final year of my B.A. course, having passed the Foundation Degree (2-year Undergrad. Degree). Most of my work has been monochrome landscapes; all film-based but i have nothing against digits provided there's not an all-or-nothing situation. 'Nuff said!

I've been lurking for a whilst on the 'Alternative Processes' forum, mainly because i'm planning to make my final major project in Kallitype prints, which should be interesting to say the least. I've been researching the alt. processes like a thing possessed, and i think i've exhausted the internet's supply of information!

I mostly use 6x6 cameras these days - i love the square format - using a Bronica SQ-B and Yashica 124G. The Yash is light and portable whilst the Broni is great for precision work. I still have a soft spot for 35mm though - it's so versatile and portable.

I'm sure it will be an interesting journey. Thank you all for the information i have all ready gained from this website; i have learnt much. I'll probably be asking questions on the Alt. Processes forum when i become frustrated and am about to throw in the towel!

Cheers for now,
kevs
 

roteague

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Hi Kevs, welcome from Hawaii. I'm sure you will enjoy our community. It is always good to welcome someone interested in film.
 

philldresser

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Welcome Kevs,

Nice intro. I have just started dabbling in Kallitypes and look forward to seeing you in the Alt Proc Forum

Phill
Norwich, UK
 

Curt

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Welcome Kevs, can you share what the College program is like there in Devon? I went though a University program that took five years and then on to the Art Center in Los Angeles and Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara California. The University / College programs include Art History, Chemistry and other subjects that make them special and different from straight "photo" schools. I would love to hear what you have or will be taking.

Curt
 
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kevs

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Hi Curt,

Where to start? The course i just finished was a two-year pre-grad course ending in a professional qualification or undergrad degree. About half of my cohorts were mature students, the group ages ranged from 18 to 55 - i'm about mid-range ;-). So we had a good mixture of folk wath some very different life experiences.

Plymouth is well-placed for landscape photography, which was one of my reasons for chosing PCAD. It's just across the River Tamar from Cornwall, and twelve miles from Dartmoor. To the east are the South Hams, a large area of mostly rural hills, and there's the coast too.

The course took many of us from having almost zero photography experience to professional standard. My own experience comes from a long interest in photography; i'd taken A-Level Photography for the two years previously.
The course required us to specialise in one genre per module; initial choices were reportage, landscape or studio work. Many stayed with their initial choice - including me. We also were required to submit work to an in-college exhibition.

This coming year we are required to submit a large body of work, plan and hold an exhibition and write an approx. 10,000 word dissertation.

Most of the teaching staff have professional photographic experience. The former head of photography started out on Hobart, Tasmania as a newspaper photographer, then moved to Hong Kong where he had a business photographing the interiors of buildings, hotels etc., before teaching and moving into lanscapes. He left earlier this month and his experience will be sorely missed I think!

The college is well-provisioned with equipment. There's a fully-equipped monochrome darkroom with De Vere 504 enlargers, as well as Dursts and others. The equipment store has lots of digital and film cameras, from 35mm to 10x8". However thay just closed their colour darkroom and are replacing it with a digital suite. Many of us think it's a move in the wrong direction.

The college's website is at http://www.pcad.ac.uk . Sorry if I sound like an advertisement! If there's anything specific you want to ask, go ahead and i'll try and answer as best as i can. Your course sounds interesting and encompass a wide skills base - a good idea for a photgrapher to be versed in as many subjects as possible!
 
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kevs

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Thanks to all for the replies, i'm looking forward to getting the project off the ground. I'll be back in Plymouth in a couple of weeks.

I should add that i'm currently in my hometown of Northampton in the exciting South Midlands!

Cheers,
kevs
 

roy

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Welcome. Several years ago now when I suddenly found that I had time on my hands, I took A Level photography at a nearby college. It was an interesting experience being a mature student among other students still involved in their education.
 

Leon

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hullo Kevs

looking forward to seeing some of your pics
 

Steve Roberts

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Hi Kevs,
I'm just across the road at the University of Plymouth, where for the last 17 years my job has been to drive the satellite uplink on the blue trailer overlooking Cobourg St (now stowed and awaiting removal). For those who might suspect otherwise, Plymouth College of Art and Design is nothing to do with the Uni of Plymouth, which incorporated Exeter College of Art several years ago and is in the process of moving it the 45 miles to Plymouth! Ahhhhh - politics!!!!
Welcome to APUG!

Steve
 
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kevs

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Hi again,

Thanks for all of your welcomes . I only just noticed the newer replies - as i'm on paid dial-up at home i usually just browse and run!

Steve - it's a small world! I've often walked past those huge satellite dishes at the Uni and thought 'wow, i wonder how many TV stations they can watch on those!' Pcad was until recently a UoP Partner College, but it recently left the formal arrangements. Politics indeed - I now have no idea where my Degree will come from! :-o

I'll be back in Plymouth in a week's time. Unfortunately i can't upload images to my webspaces from there, so i won't be able to scan or upload anything until the winter break. I haven't really done much with the college work but i'm planning to revamp my websites soon - probably this term when i'm bored.

I have two pre-exisiting websites, neither specifically photographic but featuring some of my images:

My 'personal' site has some Sci-fi convention piccies and reports.

My 'second' site carries some images from a trip to Australia. Almost all images are on 35mm coliur print film, scanned from machine enprints.

Cheers,
kevs
 

Curt

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Thanks and good luck with school. It sounds like a great time there, make the best of it and you will look back with fond memories. Too bad about the color lab going to digital. I guess you will have to pursue it on your own. Just because they are not teaching color in that way doesn't mean that it's history yet.

Curt
 

effor

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Hello,
I have been taking photographs “properly” for about 20 year’s, starting with a Zenit (something or other), moving on to an Olympus OM10, and then a Pentax P30T, I also had my own darkroom.

The darkroom is where my photography ill’s start though, about 10 years back I started having a bad reaction to developer and it got to the stage where I couldn’t use the darkroom for more than an hour, so my photography stopped until I started scanning negs and getting my pictures that way (bad I know, but there is worse to come).

I wasn’t happy with the results I was getting from the poor applications that were about back then, and so I neglected photography and rarely bothered anymore, until recently that is.

I find it difficult to use the Pentax now due to arthritis, I still use it on good days, but they are getting fewer and I do pay for it afterwards, but here is the real horror, I have bought a digital SLR, it is easy to use as regards zoom and focusing etc, and the auto functions help if I can’t manage in the manual modes.
All my “processing” is done on computer so I avoid the chemicals.

I enjoy photography very much, and I am not trying to claim that digital compares to analogue, but it now allows me to enjoy my hobby again, is this such a bad thing? My heart will always be with analogue, and I will take pictures in this way whenever I am able, but my body will not allow it as often as I would like.

If this is unacceptable I understand and will leave APUG, after all you do have standards to keep.

Comments please.
 

roteague

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effor said:
If this is unacceptable I understand and will leave APUG, after all you do have standards to keep.

Comments please.
Click to expand...


Of course you are welcome here. This is not an anti-digital site, rather it is a pro-digital site. There are some here who are very anti-digital, but there are also some here who shoot digital in addition to film. As long as you realize what is and isn't allowed (no digital images in threads or in the gallery) you will be just fine.
 

MattKing

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roteague said:
Of course you are welcome here. This is not an anti-digital site, rather it is a pro-digital site.
Click to expand...

I think Robert means that this is pro-analogue site - i.e. a pro-traditional material (mostly silver based) photography site.

He is right though - you are welcome, as long as your emphasis is on photography, and any reference to digital based processes is minimal or tangential.

Matt
 
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