I love Filofax

I may only have been using it for two weeks but I'm already wondering how I could manage without it! For anyone who doesn't know, a Filofax is an organiser that achieved iconic status in the late 1980s and became associated with Yuppie culture.

I've always wanted a Filofax, I had a FunFax as a child, but I've never really needed one. At Sixth Form and Secondary School, where one would be useful, they always gave out a diary for the year so there seemed little point. Now, at University, I was in a position without a diary. They didn't appear to be planning to give them out either, this was exciting. This meant Filofax.

So I got myself on the Filofax website and I had two shocks, one was the variety and the other was the price. I was dumbfounded by a glorified binder costing up to £170. Now slightly sceptical about whether I could actually afford one I tried to decide what I wanted out of my future Filofax. It needed plenty of space for assignments and briefs, needed to be big enough to fit folded A4 paper and needed to be understated but stylish. This narrowed my choice to an A5 series; the A4 was too bulky and not to mention expensive.

Eventually I decided on one of the cheapest in the range, the Identity. On the official site it cost £35 but I found it on WHSmith for £19 with the help of a voucher.

Sorry, not my own photo!

So how is it? Well, as I've said, I don't know what I'd do without it. I record all my briefs and deadlines in the Diary section along with a checklist in the To-Do section, I can keep train timetables in the cover pocket and I can record any other important student information elsewhere.

Since the purchase I have added a calculator for any difficult exposure calculations and am currently waiting for some 'sticky notes' from eBay.

So, if you want a fancy organiser look no further than the Filofax!

P.S I think I have fallen into the Filofax trap; I'm trying to justify buying a Personal size Filofax and I got slightly excited when I saw a fellow student brandishing a Filofax!

Week Three Round Up

Yet another week has passed and probably the most eventful of the three I have been there. Monday saw us learn about the stereotypical artist in an attempt to help us define what kind of photographer we are and where we want to place ourselves in the marketplace.

Tuesday is our practical day and my favourite day of the week, this particular session was used to introduce the group to large format cameras. It was a very interesting experience. Loading the massive sheets of film was fun but challenging, I'm not looking forward to handling fresh film at ~£2 per sheet!

The Large Format Cameras, ~£3000!

That was the interesting part of the week over, we learned about copyright and developed our ideas for our Large Format Brief of Identity but that was it!

Week Two Round Up

Well, another busy week of University has passed and by busy I actually mean very busy. A lot has happened, I started my real timetable of seminars, lectures and workshops and have even been given details of my first brief!

I have also been given plenty of 'homework' to be getting on with. I received a lengthy piece of work to do from all but one lecture, but work was needed to be able to participate in it!

So far I have started critical studies, this attempts to get us to see work from a new perspective and helps us to create new and original ideas. Practical work was fun, we learned the proper use of light meters for ambient and flash applications; I am still wondering when to use incident or reflected light, though.

Friday was perhaps the most daunting for most, we had to pick a photograph from our Sculpture Park Trip to present to our group of 50 students in a "Concerned Client Task". I was the last of the day to present and I actually received the best feedback for my presentation style, critique on my chosen photograph wasn't bad either!Below is the image, chosen to represent 'form' with elements of 'tone' and 'line'.

Canon 20D - ISO100 - f/5.6 - 1/400

I'll leave you with some important news. I bought a Filofax.

"School Trip"

Today we had a 'School Trip' to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It took me over four hours to get there, and four hours back, so it was a long day.

It was a good experience, we were asked to take photos based around the basic elements of photography, which was fun. I also got to see what other peoples' work ethics were like. The images that I captured will be used later on in the course though I'd like to edit some now!

The Year To Come

For the very first time the class was given a hint about what we will be spending the next year of our lives doing. We were also given our first real brief outside of creating a profile picture for our Moodle accounts!

Today's course introduction, while telling us about how the year will be structured, also excited us by hinting at the first four tasks. The class of around 70 students was split into 4 groups, each group is going to take it in turns to do Large Format work, Medium Format work and also 2 modules on DSLRs! I'm in the first group to take on the Large Format work so I'm quite excited!

I'll end this post with a short message about my feelings on one aspect of modern University. Why must the emphasis be placed on free alcohol, cheap alcohol and getting drunk? I don't travel for 2 hours to be told where the best bars are or to be given drinks vouchers. I travel to learn about photography.

Induction Week Continues

My very second day at University was the classes' first opportunity to share its work with each other. We shared images with our allocated groups, discussed how they were taken and how it relates to our career aspirations.

My chosen image was my candid shot of a man at the temporary art installation, on Birkrigg Common, Harmonic Fields. It shows a high contrast, photojournalistic style that I hope to develop. Unfortunately the Mac and projector combination reproduced the image far too dark. Feedback was good but the lecturer was quick to point out that a modern photojournalist must also rely on other means to support themselves, unless part of Magnum.

I am pleased to say that the group I have been allocated to has proven wrong my assumptions from Monday, most had produced high level work though still carrying some niggles. Real critique was at a minimum until Ninja John, the wildlife photographer, gave some real insight into industry standards.

Again this was a short day, a half day in fact, so very little happened. I expect even less is going to happen tomorrow so stay tuned!

University - Day One

As hurricane Katya's dying breaths pass over the UK with winds reaching 70mph I had my first day as a photography student at Blackpool and the Fydle College. Cutting out the two hours of traveling, my first day of the three year course was somewhat uneventful.

After an introduction from the staff we moved onto the first photography related activity of my time at the college, a pub style photography quiz. The quiz, while fun, allowed me to get to know some of the students I'll be sharing the college with. Many of the students I teamed up with appear to share the photographic passion, they have interests in most aspects of the field, a necessity if you want to get through the grueling course.

However, there were some individuals that appeared to have no idea what should really be expected of them at degree level. Photography at University or College level has a bad reputation, the fees are extortionate and there is no guarantee of a stable job at the end. This is something shared by most courses. The thing that struck me is lack of knowledge, I have read about students qualifying with barely a basic knowledge of photographic terms and techniques, have I come to work with similar people? As far as I could tell, and in no way am I elitist, they had very little idea about basic abbreviations or even definitions. And since when did camera shake become a integral part of controlling depth of field, a genuine suggestion from a fellow student.

I'll have more stories to some in Tuesday's edition!