Photography at Solent
By Bethany Harrison
What is photography?
Immortalising a moment. A camera can capture a memory, a story, or an emotion. For this reason, it is considered to be a multi-use medium that is utilised throughout the media industry. Whether your career passions lie in marketing or filming it is almost guaranteed that you shall come across photography at some point during your career.
At Solent, our Media Production students enrol on a photography module that educates students in the art of photography. Essential technical skills are learnt such as general camera training, which prepares students for offsite photography, as well as studio photography which are vital in many aspects of the industry. Skills are built upon each level of the course and focus on different aspects of storytelling across the years. Photography is a particularly useful module because it is used in many of the other modules in some form. Solent University also has a wealth of equipment that students can use for free, making the course quite accessible to students.
How is it used on the course?
Level 4 (Year 1) students are required to fabricate a narrative and depict that through a series of images. This module allows students to let their creativity drive their learning. It is incredible to witness the variety of high-quality work that is produced in this module, reflecting the variety of interests in students. Some choose to focus on social issues, whereas others take a more fictional story approach.
Take a look at some of the photographic portfolios that are available on the flickr website!
‘Challenging Masculinity’ by Joshua Merry
Album description
'Challenging Masculinity' is a series photographs that aims to challenge and question the meaning and perception of masculinity. Each image is paired with words which were chosen from a sample of people I asked about the characteristics that first came to mind when thinking of a 'typical man'. The juxtaposition of the words intends to highlight the lack of clarity surrounding what is expected of men today. The purpose of 'Challenging Masculinity' is to suggest issues relating to toxic masculinity, and to encourage the questioning of masculine stereotypes and their relevance to a man's self-worth and value to others in a supposedly progressive world.
‘Brutalist Britain’ by Anton Novi
Album description
I’ve been interested in brutalist architecture since the first time I remember seeing it.
In my opinion it is under-appreciated and I think there there’s more to brutalist architecture when you look a little deeper, and as we know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My intentions are intended to encourage viewers to alter their perspective of their pre-conceived ideas of brutalist architecture by showing that there are many aspects to these imposing structures that are often left unnoticed.
‘A Library Through Life’ by Holly Pettifer
Album description
Over lockdown, book sales in the UK have soared as people have started to rekindle their love for reading, or have decided to pick up a book as something to do over the long months of being stuck indoors. Even people who read a lot anyway picked up a few more books to add to their lockdown reading lists. Many people found joy in reading these books, and used these fantasy literacy worlds as a sort of escape from the unfortunate world we are living in at the moment. This photo series stemmed from an idea to do a photo based on a book I adore. With the lockdown happening, I
decided to focus on books that had been present throughout my entire life, or that have been a big presence in my life recently, and have helped me escape into a different universe, away from any of the harder moments through my life, even for a little while. I wanted these photos to encapsulate the feeling of escaping into a happier place, of not needing to be anywhere, or having any worries. These photos are my escape from an anxiety-filled life, with the relief of these stories weaving their traces into my memories.
