OCA The Art of Photography Course Discussion Including Assignments and Submissions

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I am struggling with assignment 4 at the moment. Not with the images I have got those on my hard drive. But, I have not uploaded anything to my blog in ages so will will have to spend some time doing that this weekend. Perhaps most of tomorrow :(

Edit: I should have said not even uploaded the exercises.
 
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Thanks guys for your lovely comments. I must admit I am a little nervous as to the reaction from my tutor as they are quite different from my Contrasts assignment but on the other hand I am sure that having some butterflies is good for the soul.
 
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Rob - Exercises - I try to do these as a I go along but sometimes I process and write up 2 or 3 at a time. My tutor suggested in his assignment 4 feedback that as an exercise I redo it using something reflective and transparent which I did yesterday. I've added it on the end of his feedback - I created one image for each of the categories. I'd have a look at other people's blogs to see what they did for assignment 4 and you may find it triggers something off for you

Carol - The tutor will always give good observations and feedback I've found but he will also show insight into improvement in technique and observation. Its the latter that continues to push you as an individual and drives the continual development. It does feel a bit like getting your homework marked but if it allows you to improve and develop further then that's something to get excited about I think
 
Agree 100% with what you say, Warren, in fact I have asked my tutor if he will give me his honest critique of my more abstract images as to how they can be improved so that I can assess whether abstract architecture is a realistic direction for me to go in (something I'm considering for future personal and OCA work). I still get that homework feeling though!

Cheers

Carol
 
Definitely stick with it Carol, those are some of the best images I've seen that matches an assignment for ages. Much better than I did.
 
Byker28i said:
Definitely stick with it Carol, those are some of the best images I've seen that matches an assignment for ages. Much better than I did.
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I agree with Byker. I really like your images Carol and although I don't look at a lot of other people blogs, I think your images are some of the most interesting I've seen. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the next assignment (y)

Still not heard anything back from my tutor for my assignment 4 :(
 
AlfyB said:
Still not heard anything back from my tutor for my assignment 4 :(
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They have 6 weeks I believe to turn around assignments. My last tutor always used most of that time, by which time I was half way through the next set of exercises.
my current tutor got my first assignment back to me in a few days.
 
Well I got brought back down to Earth with feedback from Assignment 4. Essentially I am crap and understand that I should have put a lot more into the written side of things as to why I used a set light etc.
As something a little different I covered my diffuser with a red t-shirt to play around with the lighting, didn't go down well at all. Very very little positive from it, and just when I was going to sit down and email tutor back pc has gone tits up and on way to oc doctor as we speak.
 
I've had one of those, for my final part of dpp, that I put months of work into. I wasn't deeply impressed at the time.

Have you written it up on your blog? I couldn't easily see it.
 
Assignment feedback, per the OCA, should be passed back within 2 weeks. The OCA confirmed this to me as I have had problems in the past - trawl through my posts :).

If you dont receive feedback within 2 weeks its worth sending a polite email to your tutor see if there are problems.

Assignment 4 feedback for me was turned around in about 4 hours which was very pleasing and a record!

In terms of looking at other poeples blogs and assignments I would strongly recommend this. If we were doing these courses in a classroom there would be much discussion and opportunity to listen and look at other peoples ideas and work. This in turn leads to ideas and creativity. When performing distant learning this advantage is lost so checking out other people's blogs is a good idea. Its obviously aslo worth google searches for ideas and information as well as looking at some of the recommended books

Remember this is creative arts so unlike maths there will not be one single answer to the question. This is why its great looking at what other people to do as it can be inspirational, it can be eye opening, it can be encouraging
 
Reidy36 said:
Well I got brought back down to Earth with feedback from Assignment 4. Essentially I am crap and understand that I should have put a lot more into the written side of things as to why I used a set light etc.
As something a little different I covered my diffuser with a red t-shirt to play around with the lighting, didn't go down well at all. Very very little positive from it, and just when I was going to sit down and email tutor back pc has gone tits up and on way to oc doctor as we speak.
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Oh? Can you provide a link to your work so we can have a look?

I think the written element in the blog is important to justify what you've done and to crtique how successful it was and what your learnt. I do think some tutors react in different ways. You can in response to this feedback provide this extra information or even readdress some elements of the assignment so that the assessors can see you have taken on this feedback.

I personally used a cardboard tube for some of my images to fire light down t isolate elements of my subject.

If you are unhappy do challenge your tutor to give frther information. Its must be a key that any criticism is constructive as the purpose of studying is to improve.

Don't let it get to you and I wonder if perhaps you may be reading to much into the feedback. Ultimately we are going to want more constructive critique than praise if we are going to get better I would think?
 
I agree with what he says, parts were pants :)
Haven't put assignment ir feedback on yet and will be bit longer as pc just gone in to be fixed.
Thanks all.
 
Yes I remember being impressed when I saw this before. Yet again another example of how people intrepret the brief in different ways / choose different subjects and produce something really good. I think this is a good example of why its important to view other people's blogs to see different ideas and to help stretch the imagination and creativivity in our minds

I think I would have liked a sound clip of the V8 to accompany the images :D.
I have a MK4 R32 and whilst not in the same league, the V6 is such a lovely noise that even after 4 years I still drive in the winter with window down to listen to the engine note - I'm a big kid :D
 
Well I have finally uploaded the exercises and assignment for TAoP part4 to my blog. I really must add exercises to my blog as I go along in the future, and not do it in three larger sessions. Blog at robsea.wordpress.com.

Been reading part 5 tonight, although the section is quite small, I think it will take quite a bit of planning, especially to get it right.
 
Byker28i said:
Definitely stick with it Carol, those are some of the best images I've seen that matches an assignment for ages. Much better than I did.
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Many thanks for your kind words Byker, but you are too modest; your food images for that assignment are excellent. My tutor directed me to your set when he gave me pointers for the assignment so I have a lot to live up to. :)
 
If anyone is just starting out on Part three (colour) there is a useful 10 page article on colour in this month's Digital SLR Photography magazine which makes a good starting point. You need to get to the shops fairly quickly though as next month's mag will hit the shelves on 13th August.

Enjoy!
 
robsea said:
Well I have finally uploaded the exercises and assignment for TAoP part4 to my blog. I really must add exercises to my blog as I go along in the future, and not do it in three larger sessions. Blog at robsea.wordpress.com.

Been reading part 5 tonight, although the section is quite small, I think it will take quite a bit of planning, especially to get it right.
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I sent my plan in to my tutor who offered some advice / suggestions. My shoot is planned for the end of August - nothing fancy

I now have my folder for DPP; I need to have a look through this and start preparing for submission of TAOP for formal assessment
 
Well my pc hard drive decided it didn't want to play the game anymore and has died....oops
Hopefully the automated back up on the external drive has worked.I have on a separate drive all stuff up to part 3, but may have lost last bit......noooooo
Was planning on having chat with tutor this weekend, this may delay it a little bit.
 
robsea said:
Well I have finally uploaded the exercises and assignment for TAoP part4 to my blog. .
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I like the assignment work and an interesting subject to use. I liked the first image with the red gel but wonder if you considered backlighting the whole of the pineapple? Is one of the images mono? My tutor says I should be thinking of the images being produced as being a set so perhaps if this is mono it isolates one image?.

I was impressed with your set up and it was a great idea to photograph it so we could get a good view of how you had approached the assignment

Oh and I hope you recue your data
 
Things looking up, amongst the 4 back ups a day of an empty file, I have found recent stuff so fingers crossed nothing is lost
 
FrattonFreak said:
I like the assignment work and an interesting subject to use. I liked the first image with the red gel but wonder if you considered backlighting the whole of the pineapple? Is one of the images mono? My tutor says I should be thinking of the images being produced as being a set so perhaps if this is mono it isolates one image?.

I was impressed with your set up and it was a great idea to photograph it so we could get a good view of how you had approached the assignment
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Hi Warren, thanks for the comments. Yes the last one I converted to mono. Must admit not happy with it, but was running out of ideas at the time. Also I had over run two deadlines for this assignment, so just wanted to get it done.
 
Reidy36 said:
Things looking up, amongst the 4 back ups a day of an empty file, I have found recent stuff so fingers crossed nothing is lost
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Hope so.

I had a hard drive fail earlier this year. Took me days of hunting through various hard drives to find everything. Taught me a lesson, thought I had lost some family photos that could not be replaced.

I now have a much better system in place for doing backups.:)
 
robsea said:
Hope so.

I had a hard drive fail earlier this year. Took me days of hunting through various hard drives to find everything. Taught me a lesson, thought I had lost some family photos that could not be replaced.

I now have a much better system in place for doing backups.:)
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What do you use now, just out of interest.
 
Reidy36 said:
What do you use now, just out of interest.
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I use a small piece of software called Heatsoft Automatic Synchronizer, http://www.heatsoft.com/has/HASindex.html . I have set it up to automatically sync every 30mins to two diffent NAS boxes (one on the hour, one on the 1/2 hour) plus I have a usb portable drive that I copy to everyday. I take the portable drive with me whenever I leave the house. That with the hard drive in the machine means I have 4 copies.

Also one of the NAS boxes is set up as RAID5.
 
robsea said:
I use a small piece of software called Heatsoft Automatic Synchronizer, http://www.heatsoft.com/has/HASindex.html . I have set it up to automatically sync every 30mins to two diffent NAS boxes (one on the hour, one on the 1/2 hour) plus I have a usb portable drive that I copy to everyday. I take the portable drive with me whenever I leave the house. That with the hard drive in the machine means I have 4 copies.

Also one of the NAS boxes is set up as RAID5.
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Now you are using tech speak. You never do enough until you realise what you could have lost.
 
robsea said:
Well I have finally uploaded the exercises and assignment for TAoP part4 to my blog. I really must add exercises to my blog as I go along in the future, and not do it in three larger sessions. Blog at robsea.wordpress.com.

Been reading part 5 tonight, although the section is quite small, I think it will take quite a bit of planning, especially to get it right.
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Hi Rob, had a quick look and like your work; I thought a pineapple was a really good and interesting subject to use - lots of texture, shape etc.

I can't really comment on your images from a lighting perspective as I haven't done that module yet and haven't played around with 'studio' lighting either. However from a viewer' s point of view I like them, particularly picture three with the candles. Another one that stands out is the last one because of the shapes and shadow that you've created, however I do wonder whether as a set this one will stand out as the odd man out as it is the only one in mono.

Thanks also for showing your set up - always interesting to see how people approach their shots. Looks very professional too.

One minor comment on your blog post, did you mean ' worked through the exercises' in the second line? ;)

Anyway, well done. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for assignment 5!
 
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Carol S said:
Hi Rob, had a quick look and like your work; I thought a pineapple was a really good and interesting subject to use - lots of texture, shape etc.

I can't really comment on your images from a lighting perspective as I haven't done that module yet and haven't played around with 'studio' lighting either. However from a viewer' s point of view I like them, particularly picture three with the candles. Another one that stands out is the last one because of the shapes and shadow that you've created, however I do wonder whether as a set this one will stand out as the odd man out as it is the only one in mono.

Thanks also for showing your set up - always interesting to see how people approach their shots. Looks very professional too.

One minor comment on your blog post, did you mean ' worked through the exercises' in the second line? ;)

Anyway, well done. Look forward to seeing what you come up with for assignment 5!
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Hi Carol thanks for the comments. Yes you are right 2nd line should read exercises, Ive now fixed that.

I've now received feed back from my tutor, he finds no3 "strange as an image" and has commented about the colour temperature being cold in 5 and very red/orange in 6&7. He likes no8 and has made no comment about the b/w conversion. Overall I am happy with his comments.

I will look at amending these along with a couple of shots in assignments 2 &3 prior to formal submission for assesment by the OCA.

Assignment 5 I'm struggling to come up with a suitable idea at the moment,
 
robsea said:
Hi Carol thanks for the comments. Yes you are right 2nd line should read exercises, Ive now fixed that.

I've now received feed back from my tutor, he finds no3 "strange as an image" and has commented about the colour temperature being cold in 5 and very red/orange in 6&7. He likes no8 and has made no comment about the b/w conversion. Overall I am happy with his comments.

I will look at amending these along with a couple of shots in assignments 2 &3 prior to formal submission for assesment by the OCA.

Assignment 5 I'm struggling to come up with a suitable idea at the moment,
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LOL re number 3. I must remember never to become a photo critic! :D
 
Having researched a few photography courses, I signed up to OCA TAoP today.
I was thinking of going to a local college to do a BA in Photography, but at £6000 to £9000 per year, and no chance of funding,that was a no go.
So I am going to try OCA.
My first (and biggest) challenge will be to set up a blog.
Here goes!!!
 
... me too!

I've just completed the Intro exercises, and am spending time this weekend going through planning and researching for "The Frame" and the first assignment.

I work full time and have other commitments (as we all do!) so this is going to be very much a balancing act ... taking a month to do the first few things made me realise it's something that needs to be taken seriously, but it's been enjoyable so far. Not it's the serious stuff ...

Was told about this site from a fellow OCA student and see a couple of familiar names already, which is good (hello Fratton Freak from SW OCA).

Anyway ... had better get on and make a start!
 
Congrats to you both for joining - I can assure it will be challenging but great fun. I have assignment 5 yet to complete for TAOP and am now starting DPP

Blog - I use blogger and its very simple and easy. I think the art is being able to post honest musings about your learning and progress through the exercises and course. Do look at other blogs as some less basic can be set-up better

I'd recommend you have a look at a lot of blogs to see what others have done

I think Rob has a post in this thread somewhere with a list of forum contributors blogs plus the OCA has a list of blogs for people doing TAOP

For me personally TAOP was challenging and at times I got stuck for inspiration. However in terms of progress I feel I have learnt so much and am looking forward to it continuing

Hello Karen - I also have trouble balancing TAOP but I think I've completed it (almost) in just over 12 months. What I learnt was not to stress waiting for inspiration and when stuck just leave it else look at what others have done. This is a natural thing as you would see others work / images in a classroom environment and if anything this should be encouraged.

Both - I think the biggest piece of advice I can give is to remember that this is a creative arts course so feel free to think outside the box and not always look at the exercises / assignments in their literal statements. Interpret them in a creative way. I never fail to be surprised and amazed at how people do this in different ways. Do ask questions here if stuck - its a very friendly bunch here
 
Welcome both.

Bat advice I can give you is to read ahead, know what's coming up and take lots of images :). You need to look at the hours a week you can put I to it. Generally I try and do an hour or two during the week, then a half day or full day at the weekend.
The blog writing takes time, but there's quite a few books to read/are worth reading.

And as said, don't be afraid to ask. There's a lot of useful advice and support available from the other students on here, even for those of us who've been doing it for a while.
 
And as an update I've just spent all day finishing assignment two. (people and place). That's probably a week taking the images and 16-20 hours of work to select them and write the assignment.
 
Byker/FF - thanks both for the replies and advice. Doing a creative degree is going to be an awful lot different than when I did my business degree ... certainly more fun ;-)

Having only done the Intro exercises so far, I realised that the writing - although time consuming - was ok, and I actually managed to get most of it done during my lunch hours at work (it was really good to be able to switch off from things there). What I found harder was actually planning and taking the photographs, which is pretty much the wrong way around, I'm guessing ... ?! ;-) When I say harder, I mean not the technical side, but thinking of something different and creative to do, so I wasn't just shooting for the exercise. Looking for a subject or location, something that would make an interesting photography. I found that "nipping out" at lunch time to do them didn't work - I felt rushed and stressed about getting something done, as I was working on a whole exercise (perhaps I should just be doing little bits at a time). Then when I did plan for things, something went wrong or I wasn't overly happy with the results, and wanted to redo them. I know I can be a bit OCD on getting things just right (well, the best I can do with my ability), but I know I need to approach the practical side of things a lot differently going forwards and for the assignments. Realistically, I have weekends to do photography, so if I come away with some rubbish shots, it feels like a lot of time wasted.

I live in the country but am mostly inspired by a more "urban" environment, and mostly enjoy doing my photography in Bristol (at weekends) and London (when I am up there for work). I work in Bath, and that is great for people/crowd shots as the place is always packed, but I really need to look harder to find something a bit "different". I purposefully chose a couple of iconic local sites for the intro stuff, just because I would normally avoid them!

@FrattonF, I did an urban photography workshop in Gloucester a few months ago, and it was great to get off the main streets and see what was around there. Quite a lot!
@Byker - can you recommend some good locations in Swindon?

I spent most of yesterday going through the exercises and assignment for The Frame, and making notes on what I need to do as a whole, rather than just one thing at a time, so hopefully that will help.

So guys ... any advice on planning, preparation etc? How do *you* do things?
 
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