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Photography
The photography curriculum at TLA is enriching and vibrant, offering DSLR cameras, studio lighting and Adobe Photoshop training.The intent of our teaching at TLA is to support students with developing their own creativity, imagination, critical understanding and proficiency in Photography. We support students with striking a balance of thinking and actively being creative. This involves taking risks to ensure they progress and produce original outcomes. We plan our curriculum to develop their understanding of photography and encourage a lifelong engagement with the creative world, opening minds to the possibility of working in creative industries.
Photography at TLA offers opportunities to expand students' creative thinking skills, through research, analytical investigations of photographers and artists, art movements, cultures and contextual sources, covering a range of styles, genres, classical and contemporary techniques. Students are encouraged to explore meaning, influences, context and intent through a range of techniques for different purposes. This allows them to grow an appreciation for Photography and the role it plays in the creative industries that can enrich our lives.
The curriculum is sequenced to increase the level of demand in students’ critical and analytical understanding of practitioners’ work as well as the skills required to experiment and develop their ideas through a range of techniques. We support students with expanding their practical skills across practical photography and digital art. Students have opportunities to use industry standard art software programs such as Adobe Photoshop.
We aim to build students' confidence with problem solving skills as they plan and develop independent outcomes within a supportive learning environment.
KS5
AQA Art and Design A-level in Photography.
In KS5 photography students start by exploring the range of settings, functions and shooting modes on a digital SLR camera. Through practical workshops they will learn how to manipulate depth of field and shutter speed to ensure they are able to select the right camera settings for various shooting conditions. Students then apply this learning to a series of mini projects where they will experiment with different techniques, explore concepts and devise their own works inspired by contextual references. They will learn how to analyse works showing understanding of meaning and context and be able to articulate how these concepts and ideas in the work of others inform their own. Students then embark on their self directed ‘Personal Investigation’ where they select a theme, issue or style and explore this photographically. The will research and respond to contextual references and produce a body of work through to a conclusion with photographic outcomes, supported by an extended essay. The personal investigation concludes at the end of January in Year 13. Students will then select from a range of starting points set by the exam board and produce another extended project concluding in a 15 hour practical exam where a final series of outcomes for their chosen themes are created and presented. Coursework is worth 60% of students' final mark and the externally set (examined) component is worth 40%.
Exam board(s)
AQA 'A' Level Art & Design
Photography
