Should Photography Be Something That's Studied?

I've had a lot of thought on this subject. But it's something I really should have thought about a lot more before I took it on for five years through college and then university.

Through reading a lot of blogs and interviews lately, whether they're well-known or unknown photographers, has got me thinking about my own choices in studying photography.

In the majority of these interviews, said photographers have all been asked the question 'Where did you learn photography?' and their answers have pretty much always been 'I'm self-taught'.

And their body of work is amazing. It doesn't matter if they're even just on Instagram - they have photographs that reach people and that they're proud of and it's all because they've gone in their own direction instead of being set projects to adhere to and then being told what's "wrong" with your work when photography is supposed to be subjective??

Woah. Clearly I have some pent up anger with this subject.

So why did I choose photography? It all started really when I was playing around, photographing the park we always went to one summer with my dad and sisters. He just happened to mention that he thought I had a good 'eye' for photos which kinda stuck in my mind.

I didn't seriously think about it though until college. My art class was dropped due to lack of interest and I was worried about what subject I'd pick up instead because I really didn't think I was suited to anything like sociology or maths or science. My worst nightmare. Instead I picked psychology as I thought it would be interesting (hardest. subject. ever).

And so photography, being the only creative outlet I had, was what I turned to (being one of my three subjects - psych, english lit/lang and photography (I didn't pick up film until second year).

So, like I said above I studied photography for 2 years in college and even though I loathed the teacher I, for some very strange reason, then went on to study a further 3 years at University. Um, what?

I don't know how my brain figured that one out. But after five years of crappy teachers and being told my work wasn't good enough when I've worked my absolute ass off was a little disheartening and these days I don't even want to pick up a camera that often any more, if at all.

That's probably why the majority of my posts tend to fall into the review category because I find it easier to quickly snap a photo of a book or something than trying to think up something creative. In fact, I find the writing of blog posts easier than the taking of photos.

So, no, I don't think photography should be something that's studied because, in my experience, it blocks the creative process within you, it doesn't bring out what you can do best because you have project rules to abide by and teachers breathing down your neck about what they think is best when in reality that's just their ideas being forced onto you.

Okay, I understand they have a marking scheme to look to and it is useful to get feedback on your work and sure, it's good if you want to learn about the technical stuff like exposure or depth of field. But - in all honesty - you can learn that basic stuff online if you really wanted to and then be free to explore your passion on your own. Anyone will give you feedback, it doesn't necessarily have to be from someone with a photography background.

I do not regret my choice however, because I met my best friend in college and my boyfriend in uni. It all could've been very different if I had chosen to study something else instead ✌︎

p.s. don't you think the emoji chocolates are cute? Got them for Adeel for Valentine's 🙊



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Study Soundtrack

It's been such a hectic week with the amount of work we've been given this year that I haven't had much of a chance to blog. So, I thought it would be a good idea to post a personal soundtrack I like to use when studying as I've been doing a lot of it recently.

I tend to prefer music with no lyrics, film scores if you like, or something relaxing and quiet. They're all from my favourite films, obviously, which I do find can tempt me into watching them, every single time. Yet, I have managed to avoid them and get a lot more work done than I would if I had listened to something upbeat.

Obviously, I don't get through all of the albums below, but I like to mix and match depending on what I feel like listening to.

Number 1 - 

The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture). 

The scores to these movies are amazing, I absolutely love them and I cannot wait to buy The Hobbit soundtracks too! One of my favourite tracks though, which I hadn't realised was even a soundtrack to the film, is Annie Lennox's Into The West.

Number 2 - 

Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture). 

Again, I just love the soundtracks to this series - I can picture the scenes to specific bits of music perfectly, although quite distracting especially with Johnny Depp in my head! My favourite bit is definitely when Will & Elizabeth get married on the ship; the accompanying track I Don't Think Now is the Right Time is perfect.

Number 3 - 

Harry Potter (Mask Plays Music from the Motion Picture). 

Some of the tracks on this album are a little scary, even without the connecting images (although Harry Potter in itself is not scary, the scenes with the Dementor's and Lord Voldemort in Philosopher's Stone are quite terrifying!), but I love it nevertheless. The Christmas tracks are my favourites by far.

Number 4 - 

P.S. I Love You Soundtrack. 

This just makes me want to go to Ireland and explore and fall in love all over again. It's so relaxing.

Number 5 - 

Twilight Soundtrack. 

I know there's a lot of controversy about this film in general, and I agree that it's not the best vampire film out there (Underworld!!!), but it's soundtrack is beautiful. I love the piano melodies especially, even if Robert Pattinson is not actually playing them.

Also, similarly to LOTR, I didn't realise Robert Pattinson actually had a song in the film. Although it is not the soundtrack piece it's still worth a listen (Let Me Sign).

And finally - 

A recent purchase, is Gabrielle Aplin's album, English Rain. 

Even though this is an album with lyrics, I find I can still concentrate enough to get work done. It's a stunning album and is very calming. I especially love the track The Power of Love as we are in the lead up to Christmas.

I hope you try some of these albums out, I know they're probably not to a lot of people's tastes but they're worth a listen!

What albums/sounds help you to study?

:)

Obviously none of these images are mine, they are the original artworks for the albums.