Course Evaluation

I got my interest in photographing things at a young age, purely wanting to document the people and places around me. My real spark came in 2009 where I enjoyed capturing the beauty of the landscape with the viewer and his interpretation as an aspect of my images. This course hasn't changed my interpretation of the landscape, it's actually enhanced it. My preconceptions of a landscape are the visions put forth by the 18th and 19th century artists which were conformed into early landscape photography and are still being used today. But this course has allowed me to see that it is ok to step away from these conformities and create your own view of the landscape. It has also shown me that the viewer is still a large part of any work. How your view is seen by others can alter your vision and may not necessarily be what you are trying to show but also, how it is presented can also have an influence over the viewer. I don't feel like my own practice of landscape photography has altered although my view has changed. I know now that it is ok to step out of my comfort zone and out of the conformities of landscape photography but that my own view is still the most important factor.

I can honestly say that at certain points, I didn't think I was going to get here. This course has been a massive eye opener for me, in more ways than one and has created a crossroads with a different path into the immediate future.

When signing up for this degree pathway, this was the module I was most looking forward to and it has turned out to be the module that I have enjoyed the least. I have found the transition from level 1 to level 2 a huge and somewhat difficult one and I am quite surprised at myself that I have managed it. My tutor has been a wonderful help during this course with all my ups and downs and I cant thank him enough for all his advice and guidance.
I didn't realise that the amount of theory work would increase so much, as I was comfortably settled into the level 1 way of working through activity based exercises and by learning thorough these activities. Also, all my level 1 courses were submitted purely online for assessment and it's only now that I understand why I need to change that. It's too late for this course but it's something that I need to address for the next module in preparation for the level 3 courses.
As I have said continuously through this course, and previous ones, time is something I really don't have a lot of. Distance learning courses are perfect to fit into your spare time and I didn't realise until this module that I really don't have as much free time as I thought. With the increase of intensity and theory, I'm really out of my comfort zone and therefore need to concentrate a lot more. This means all coursework has to be completed on my day off or while my children are in bed, and by that point I'm exhausted and find it difficult to concentrate properly. So i've come to the conclusion that I may need to make a big decision in the next 12 months. Although, I do now have a better idea of what to expect from the next module and how I need to alter the way in which I study to undertake it.
I am very proud of myself for completing the landscape module and now it's onward and upward to the next step.