Checking all exercises and posts

I've spent a few hours going back over my work checking that everything is completed and easy to access.  My tutor suggested that the fewer clicks to access any part of the whole module the better as they moderation team only had about half an hour to look through all the pictures and written work submitted.

I had put each assignment's extra pictures on separate CDs which meant that each one would have to be inserted and removed one at a time.

There's a couple of bits and pieces which need clarity but other than that all the blogs, assignments and posts seem in order, thank goodness and I don't think I could set it all up again.

Looking back over all the work of this module make me think that the work I've produced  has improved my picture taking.  I still think that I rush things too much; with a little more thought I could compose the image so that less cropping needs to take place in the processing part and I wouldn't need to rely on the sharpening techniques that are available in Photoshop.

Overall though, I'm pleased with what I have produced.

Assignment 6 Preparing for assessment

After the mix up with my remarked assignment 4 critical review, my tutor and I spoke on the phone regarding preparing for send my PwDP module for moderation and moving on to my second module at Level 2.

Overall Comments

Good to talk to you earlier this afternoon.

These notes are no more than bullet points from our telephone discussion and may well apply as much, or more to your continuing studies as to your current assessment.

Learning Log and or blog — as you move through this second level and into level 3 (HE6) you should think more and more about the context of your work, the underpinning critical theory and your engagement as a lens-based practitioner with the world of visual and other culture, photographic or otherwise.  Remember that in part the learning log is a way of showing the assessors your level of studentship and that goes far beyond the narrow confines of the particular module you are on at any one time.

Essay — I think that you have simply tried to do too much in your critical review, a common mistake that we have all made at one time or another.  Be guided by the word count, a shortish essay calls for depth more than breadth.  I think that you could have achieved what you set out to do by telling the story of Lee Millar, her start as a model and then her move behind the camera, the links with the Surrealist movement and the British art hierarchy, her work as a war correspondent, particularly her images of the concentration camps and her subsequent burial (?) by the male photographic establishment.  However I would not want you to agonise over this particular essay any more, take it as a lesson learned and move on!

Remember that the OCA requires a digital version of your critical review/essay and it is best to ring the office to make sure of the best way to achieve this.

Images — I understand that you are sending the assignments as digital files with a selection of images printed out with (wide borders, no plastic wallets and in an archive box).  It might well be best to have all the assignments on a single DVD or USB drive organised in a folder that is only one level deep if possible and easy to navigate at any rate.  The assessment conditions make swapping cds a time consuming distraction that the assessors can do without and everything that makes it possible for them to concentrate on you visual work without needless distractions can only be to your benefit.

I hope that you find the Landscape module stretches you in the ways that you want and gives you plenty of scope to develop your practice in new directions.

I wish you all the best for this assessment and for the future and if there is anything I can help with in the future don’t hesitate to e-mail me (if you get no reply try again!)