This month our Photography and Creative Media Production students are exhibiting their work at The Old Fire Station.
Photography
The work of 50 young photographers will go on show at The Old Fire Station on Thursday, June 20. Students on the A-level Photography course at The Henley College are inviting townspeople to come and see images from a range of practices and genres.
Teacher George Bull said: “We have a wide variety of work on show this year ranging from conceptual video pieces to more traditional photographic subjects. The students use industry-standard digital editing software alongside traditional black and white film and prints made in the college darkroom. We encourage the students to be bold and experimental in their approach and this is reflected in the work on show.
“Projects include work challenging Donald Trump’s view of women and the male gaze, still-life images of machine parts, global warming, urban decline and the environment and a documentary project on London buses.
Last year 20 students on the course gained the highest A* grade and more than 80 per cent were awarded a B grade or above.
Fern Pocock, 18, from Sonning Common has used both approaches during her final year. She said: “I was quite nervous didn’t really know much about photography before I came to The Henley College but the first year was really good because the teachers brought me up to a level with the other students and gave the skills to take my projects forward. I have always been a creative person and photography has taught me to see things from a different perspective. I’m quite shy but the teachers were really approachable and gave me confidence to ask more and more questions. I’d never worked in a darkroom before but that ended up being one of the things I loved the most. My parents would be amazed to see me working in that environment.
“I also really enjoyed developing my skills in Photoshop for my exam project. I wanted to look at how social media has taken over people lives, especially younger people so I used overlapping images of phones with portraits to represent how people are taken over by technology. It looks as though the phone is becoming the girl and the girl is becoming the phone.”
She added: “I love how independent studying at the college is. It has helped me mature as a person. The teachers are there to help but you have to learn to go and do things for yourself and that builds your maturity and prepares you for university. I feel that I’m better prepared than friends who stayed on at school. I want to study geology at Exeter.”
The work from second-year students on the A-level Photography course can be seen at The Old Fire Station Gallery between 10am and 4pm from Thursday, June 20 to Tuesday, June 25. The gallery will be open on Saturday and Sunday between 12pm and 4pm. Admission is free.
Creative Media Production
The work from second-year students on the Creative Media Production course can be seen at The Old Fire Station Gallery between 10am and 4pm from Thursday, June 13 to Tuesday, June 18. The gallery will be open on Sunday between 11am and 4pm. Admission is free.
Course leader Sarah Wilson said: “I’m so proud of what our students have achieved this year. The extended diploma is a challenging course that prepares them to work in a very competitive industry. We encourage the students to take a professional approach to their productions and to express their ideas in a creative way. Our students have produced documentaries investigating PTSD in military veteran, food poverty, extremism in vegan campaigners and the lives of drag queens. The short films have included psychological thrillers, horror and comedy. Music videos have explored the conflict between teenagers and their parents, body-image and domestic violence perpetrated by women on men.
“This year our students have been offered places at the University of York, Manchester, South Wales, Southampton and Bournemouth.”
Find out more about Olivia Crook, Creative Media Production student, and her final project that will feature at the exhibition here
