Lucy Parker / Archivist / LCC / Observation at Guest Talk and Brief Delivery to MA Commercial Photography

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice by Peer

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed:

• Artist talk with Gabby Laurent (with interjections and dissussion lead by Kal)
• Setting up the next 2 week brief – Fashion

Size of student group: 12

Observer: Lucy Catherine Parker

Observee: Kalpesh Lathigra

 

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

We run a series of professional development modules. These guest talks are part of the our students development in understanding how photographers navigate the photography industry through its ecosystem ranging from fine art, editorial and commercial aspects.

Through the personal experiences the guest speaker presents their work and their journey in their practice. Students are encouraged to ask questions and gain real world experiences that they may in counter. The guest talk also opens up career opportunities for the students for example – assiting,research and business skills.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

• September 2024

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

• Artist Talk
  • Become familiar with contemporary photographic practices
  • Develop confidence in engaging with in person discussion
  • Reflect on the work presented

• Presentation of the brief
  • Understand what a fashion story is
  • Be introduced to examples of fashion stories to consider doing further research on
  • Understand the requirements of the next brief: Explore the idea of a Fashion Photo Story through your own research and work

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

• Contribute to class discussion
• Deliver on the brief

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

• Becoming more confident at participating during class
• Developing a critical perspective on their own work (beyond the technical ability to take a good photograph

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

• In class, on the 20th Jan
• Email, in advance of sessions
• At the beginning of the session

What would you particularly like feedback on?

• Whether you feel I managed to convey the importance of personal practice and evolution of their work in the Unit 1.
• If they are gaining an understanding of the necessity to invest time in both researching and developing their work.
• If I am balancing encouragement alongside the critical discourse of their work.

How will feedback be exchanged?

[In written form, over email. And when exchanged, shared on our blogs]

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

General things

I could tell you had already cultivated a relaxed environment for the students.  It’s clear you are also helping to encourage them to feel more confident to ask questions in class. I agree with you getting comfortable doing that is so important for learning.

Teaching and Supporting Learning

I particularly appreciated the way you encouraged everyone to ask questions. Some volunteered questions straight away, but you already knew they might have a so you prompted them to ask.

You introduced a wealth of resources : photographers for them to explore further, both in the brief but also through underscoring their names and put the names into context, alongside publications that they were associated with.

You also encouraged Gabby to highlight her processes. Demystifying the process empowering for the students, to help them imagine being in her position.

The conversation around ‘how’ to develop ‘initiative’/’trust your instinct’. To help developing initiative, one further step that might help students would be to encourage students to reflect a bit on the images presented by artist. Not about whether they think the photography is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but what it reminds them of, what it makes them feel. This might also help them to develop their artistic sensibility. It’s a variation of “object reading” – to explore an object (or, in this case, image) closely, in different ways, through themes, material qualities, and emotional responses, or different critical lenses.

This is something you do already demonstrated yourself in the session (thinking of when you were talking through some of the sample images in the brief, like the cow next to the image of the woman wearing the scarf and the echo in shapes it made) but it would be great to see you trying to encourage them to try it themselves.

Prompting students with questions about what images evoke (‘What does this remind you of? What does it make you feel?) and discussing interpretations can foster their self-awareness/critical thinking. You may only have time to do this with one image but, getting students to start trying to do this themselves, even if challenging, could help them develop their photographic sensibilities. It could be rewarding not just for the students but also for the artist and yourself.

Designing & Planning for Learning

But if there is somewhere of recording key terms as they come up, that can be returned to, that might be helpful. “Initiative” seemed to come up in the conversation so that might be one to come back to for example. Maybe having a padlet or shared document that you /they can quickly note down those things as they come up, collectively, to build their definitions together over the term?

You read the brief aloud in class which was helpful. “Fashion Story”- I am a little bit uncertain what this means. Spending a bit longer maybe unpacking it might be helpful? It’s something like creating a mood or a narrative in a set of images, or what it is that makes a cohesive story? The examples were helpful

To make sure that the brief has been understood, one idea might be to briefly put the students in groups and ask them to explain to each other how they understand the brief, and check together if they have any questions before feeding back to the group as a whole?

One note re. architecture – I find the rooms at LCC with the screens on different walls really challenging! You did a great job of moving around the room to interject/contribute to the conversation. I think it activated the space really well and made sure that those facing in different directions because of the tables felt included.

In sum:

Thanks so much for having me! The students are so lucky to have a teacher so passionate about their subject! Encouraging the students in these conversations will help them to develop their own sensibilities as photographers. Try asking the students, when an artist is presenting – ‘what does this image remind you of/what does it make you think about?’ … I guess you may or may not get a response, if the students are shy, but they might be forced to have a moment to *think* about it (“embrace the silence”  if needed). Great session, I can feel you are a really motivating presence for them.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Agreed I think it would be defienlty important in the future to have a document that can be a resource for the students outlining “key terms – terminology used within the context of industry practice. Building a resource like this to go hand in hand with the guest talks from various practictioners would allow for the students to feel confident in both understanding “ business speak”

Regarding explaining a ‘Fashion Story’. This is probably uselful for some of students especially those not familiar with the context of the brief. Generally we expect students to be versed in this as most of them are already aware of the context of the wording used. However unpacking the narrative aspects would be a great addition, this would be done by disseminating the context of the narrative and how it is imperative to the brief.

Regarding putting the students into groups to unpack the brief. Definetly a great idea to form small groups and have a feedback loop in place so that the brief is understood and questions are encouraged. Its essential reflecting back on this especially in terms of the international cohort who sometimes are shy or feel disuaded to ask out of feeling embrassed to ask for clarification.

Re architecture – yes a challenging environment, whilst I may have lucked out on the way I approached the space, I am going to really look at this and think about the best way moving forward in using the space to the best ability.