Wide Angle pt.3: Higher Education, Photography and Protests.
Written by duckrabbitFor a wider view of the broader implications of the student protests….
Imagine these exam questions:-
1. How does a student photographer justify £6,000 to £9,000 a year for tuition fees for a BA, £1,000 costs of entering both photography prizes and attending agency workshops whilst also needing to fund the cost of living too?
2. Is graduating with around £40,000 of debt (with the establishment agencies all struggling to justify themselves as socially relevant and viable economic institutions too) going to be justified for the less wealthy in society?
3. If the career path for Masters degree Photographic students ends up being the teaching of others through a lack of alternatives despite all the initial intentions, is this a characteristic of an economic pyramid structure that is going to collapse into itself if students to do bother entering into the bottom rung?
4. If the poorer demographics are not incentivised to try and be photographers, what are the implications for cultural diversity in an industry already dominated by the wealthy white demographic group (the only ones who can enjoy and afford a life contemplating introspective artistic abstract concepts hence by its nature is very out of touch as it represents a minority world view)?
5. Like in other industries, if the establishment remain closed to the modernising social and economic forces of the outside world whilst trying in vain to control and impose their ideas of the world on others without inviting external scrutiny, will the rapidly emerging markets provide the future of story telling as African, Asian, Eastern European, Middle Eastern and South American et al shooters forgo some of the more western white male crisis dominated agency ideologies?
6. Will the ‘Emerging Markets’ (and indeed the more progressive minded western white male shooters too) accept how they are stereotyped by western image makers or will they start shooting and distributing themselves to express a new more dynamic world view with a more dynamic business model?
7. Will the audience of the ‘Emerging Markets’ (and the more progressive open minds of the western world who travel the world themselves) accept how they are being stereotyped by western image makers or will they start buying stories/ interacting with images from new entrants expressing a new more dynamic and diverse world view?
8. Does the vociferous nature of the student protests in the UK show (and the world reaction to Wikileaks) that children of the internet age will no longer accept ideas imposed to them by a socially closed non-listening clique of individuals telling them what is good for them and what they should like?
Please add the word “Discuss” at the end of all these questions.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (27 Comments)
THANK YOU! for opening this up… I am a Nottingham Trent BA Photography student in my last year and I certainly would not be here if the fee’s were as dear as they are now. The amount of rich boys with Hasselblad, digital back camera’s we see in the industry is particularly discouraging.
Our degree show will easily cost each of us £700 with printing, framing, space, fee’s to produce the work etc.. and we get studio’s and equipment free! Can you imagine what the cost would be with that..
may I also add that you are expected to use film and I’m sure you are aware of those costs nowadays. Thats not even adding on competition fee’s and exhibition costs.. our tutors expect us to go to Bratislava and Paris photo.. how on earth can we afford that?!
The cost of a Law or English student is high at the beginning of the course but the cost for an Arts student is a continuos. Paper, film, printing, chemicals, books on top of that.. the list goes on.
The general public seems to not want to back the rallies with the students because students, like the elderly, take and don’t give back to the system. But I assure you that if the government had promised free public transport across the country and just took it away once in power, the entire country would have something to say about it.
Saira,
first off I love film and am working on a project using film right now BUT I cannot believe that you feel like you have to so shoot on film. That is nuts.
The problem with degrees is that very few students know wether they are fit for purpose before they enter onto them, infact few students really care.
Many academics are out of touch with the working world and should never be teaching practical skills. Universities are not really interested in the teaching anyway because it doesn’t bring in the funding.
The system is not fit for purpose.
We need a proper independent website in which students can rate their courses.
At the moment you cannot even legally take a university to court if you think the teaching is crap. This is absurd.
Paying $45000 (fees plus living costs) for a photography degree is nuts unless you have amazing and inspiring teaching that will shape the rest of your life.
But that can be said for almost any degree.
Last year I spent some time teaching at Birmingham City University where some of the students had to sit on the floor because there was not enough space. I could not believe it. And at least there they had some really talented and committed teachers.
DR,
sit on the floor?! thats terrible!
There are lecturers who are supportive and those are the ones which I hope to stay in contact with but the rest are a complete ‘jobs worth’ type. I even had one teacher flick through a copy of National Geographic and proclaim ‘I’ve never read this publication before but I find it to be quite dramatized and a complete fabrication’ (commenting on Steve McCurry’s images of the Nomad’s in India from this year). What photographer has not read the Geographic?!
I think the website is a great idea, at the moment students are comparing Uni’s according to the TImes’ top 200. To be frank, as you said, many students go to Uni just to get away from home. Universities are business’.. bloody clever ones.
Best advice I can give any student embarking on an arts degree is to act as if the next three years are your working years, make contacts and do work you can use in the industry because at the end of the day your tutors just don’t care if you pass or fail.
(this is not a specific idea relating to the University I attend.. god help me if I get kicked out in my final year for saying this.. duckrabbit you will just have to employ me!)
The students DO GIVE BACK to the system!!!
Education enriches society, provides opportunities for social mobility and broadens society. Biologists, Chemists, Engineers, Doctors, Writers, Journalists, Painters have all enriched society and they were all educated at some point. Companies constantly complaint about the level of skills in the graduating generation so why can’t they be taxed more by the Coalition as they benefit directly?
Look at what the Coalition are doing in terms of tax: They have cut Corporation Tax and National Insurance for employers whilst increasing it for employees and this is why the tuition fees issue is so ideological and provokes so much anger. Labour introduced top up fees and increased participation. The Coalition are cutting teaching budgets at the same time as increasing fees to fill the gap WHILST cutting tax for companies.
Keep protesting, keep it clean and vent your anger. Don’t let the Coalition tarnish you by saying that you are just a bunch of violent disobedients refusing to listen to what is good for you like you do not know!
Keep shooting if that is what you love but I only urge this, really focus on who you want to speak to and how. You have the power to reach audiences yourself and collaborate wisely with those who share the same vison from around the world though cultivating your own social network.
The audience you bring with your work will always be more powerful than the images themselves when you present yourself to the industry because you have the power to say to them “look who I am bringing to you because of my work”. It will show them real intent, direction and focus.
You will get a lot of personal fulfillment (if not a always a very big bank account!) from giving pleasure to your own audience!!!
6. Will the ‘Emerging Markets’ (and indeed the more progressive minded western white male shooters too) accept how they are stereotyped by western image makers or will they start shooting and distributing themselves to express a new more dynamic world view with a more dynamic business model?
Good luck. It’s nigh on impossible to be a professional photographer from the emerging markets and pitch to publications based in europe and the US. They don’t really want to know, they couldn’t care less that you’ve shot a story they like as they already have someone in Africa (big fucking continent, still referred to as a single country) or Asia.
Dynamic world view, hell we have Nachtwey or Saman dammit, why do I need a new world view?
End of the day, it sucks the fees are increasing but maybe it will mean those who think they can earn money in this industry will start to look at alternatives. This industry is broken. The business model belongs in the 70’s and it shows. It’s increasingly hard to produce work and receive a response from editors. I’ve sent 20+ emails to editors over the past week and not one replied. Not one had the common decency to say ‘thanks, but no thanks’.
So ask yourself, do you really want to waste 30k + equipment costs on something that will most likely leave you broke and moaning on the Internet?
Dude, create you own network and audience!!!!
On point 6, it is going to be an emerging market agency serving local photographers getting images from the locality they reside in. Publications in China, India, the Middle East, Brazil, Russia will all have their own audiences.
Count the number of people in the “BRIC’s”… European and US agencies have to shape up and unless they start talking in today’s global language and not in one from the 70’s, they will be hurting the new generation of shooters. It is not enough to distribute the ideologies of the 70’s using today’s social networked technologies because it will be the PUBLIC who distribute the work.
If they do not like the work, they will not retweet or re-post will they? When do online magazines realise it is their product that is stuck in the 70’s too!!!
Think about this: The amount of people online in just China is bigger than the entire population of the US. It will be soon when the online population of China, India and Brazil is bigger than the entire populations of Europe and US added together.
Reach them, establish your own network and you will have the agencies come to you for YOUR audience because that is exactly what this industry lacks: Popularity.
1. It’s crazy. Apprenticeship and polytechnic programmes that focus on skills rather than theory will be more favourable. Saying that I think internship post degree is a broken system. Internship should happen in the second or final year to build relationship and familiarity to the job market.
2. Young grads/people shouldn’t start life with burden of £40K debts. This is wrong. the system is broke.
3. Good point. We prefer lecturers from the industry, or have been serving the industry (not academia) for substantial years. (Several Sojournposse people give lectures only after 10 years of field work). Saying that, not all professionals can make good teachers.
4. The BBC is plagued with anthropological programmes that are of no interest of the minority / progressive liberals etc. Look, they are not even invited to share the WikiLeaks dump. That’s an indication that they are not in on the “real” conversations. It’s probably not a bad thing because cool indie business models can happen. Case in point: Facebook. That won’t exist if it was pro Harvard establishment.
5. This is changing. The beauty of internet and new media is that everyone is open to receive multiple point-of-views. It broke barriers. Dialogues are taking place from both sides. That why it must be kept free from “establishment.” (See WikiLeaks).
6. It’s about the story. When I see Ed Kashi’s work I don’t think “That’s taken by a white photog.” I think, that’s a bloody good story and it opens my eyes. Same with looking at Araki’s. I think his work is about challenging perception of sexuality, only using a Japanese visual grammar. His work is universal.
7. No, they are pretty educated and sophisticated, can see through propaganda – from all sides. There will always be interests in championing certain agendas. However at the end of the day, everyone like good authentic story.
8. That is debatable. The digital natives (marketing terminology of “children of the internet”) are people just like the digital immigrants. They are forced into huge debts and accepting corrupt/broken system that they don’t want. Yhey are standing up for their lives. We should support them because they are our future.
Did we passed the exam? 😀
Editor, Sojournposse
4. Look at White Horse Village series by Carrie Gracie
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6404629.stm
A white woman in China but she speaks in their language and goes deep and for a long period of time showing a huge amount of respect for the subjects she chooses to report on. None of the “I shot this because…” or “My name is Carrie Gracie and I am a BBC Journalist” vanity. Amazing stuff from the BBC and a lesson form all those who think they can be filmakers, editors, sound experts all because they have a Canon 5D mk2. This is the stuff of journalistic excellence from the BBC because of the quality of thought outside the frame.
5. Where is the dialogue from the top of the PJ’ism industry? I don’t see it. I have been to talks where they show their own work and celebrate themselves. But not to cast a critical eye on the industry to try and improve it. They say “look at what I am doing” everytime they get a platform and show their shots. All the MD’s of these agencies say look “What we are doing now to be different with new media” but it is not discussion or serious Q&A’s.
6. We all know it is about the story, but the stories are loaded. Ed Kashi’s work is excellent and so is Tim Hetherington’s Liberia book but for every one of these, we see Bruce Gilden in Russia et al, another exercise in explicit bleakness by Lynsey Addario or the World Press Awards being full of images of death showing somewhere foreign. The stories are loaded beacuse their is not enough diversity within these institutions and the best way to change that is to diversify your workforce. This MUST change.
5 out of 8 is at best a C+
Joking of course!!!
Thank you for contributing to the debate as this is what is going to make things better for those who are graduating. The health of an industry is the responsibility of those who are at the top of it. For them to charge the amounts they sometimes do for workshops and even worse, portfolio reviews (and now the new phenomenon of express 20 min portfolio reviews) is profiting from the hopes of others.
More than ever, students and fresh talent needs supporting, not explioting.
But IAMNOT the BBC had a MASSIVE budget for that project. Its not really comparable, right?
Although I am aware of photo agencies working on massive budgets and producing complete crap.
£1,000,000 grand a year??? John Paulson, George Soros and Warren Buffet were in the wrong jobs!!!
With no bums on seats, you have no capacity to influence, produce positive social change or even express your artistic ideas to an audience.
What is the point of doing something that nobody sees?
She delivered and she was already there as the China correspondant I understand. Her language skills highlight her dedication to the place where she wanted to report from.
If we had more PJ’ism stories that were as powerful then investment would have came in. There has been so much money out there looking for investment opportunities in the last 20 years so why has none of it gone into Photojournalism? Surely some of Easy Alan Greenspan’s infamous Put could have gone into the agencies.
It is like the car industry in the US, build the same old cars with the same quality as the 70’s and 80’s and Toyota will come and show you how it is done. How about Sega and their Megadrive? Sony and their Walkman?
When was the last Earth from the Air, Salgado’s Workers/Migrations? When was the last time PJ’ism really captured the imagination of the public? Why does the audience have to work so hard to discover the good in the medium by filtering out the bad?
Again because there was a massive budget and machine behind her, plus she gets paid over 100000
0grand a year. BBC does lots of pants reporting as well.You are comparing apples with plums.
I agree with a lot of what you say, but to be fair people don’t pay to go and hear top photogs speak about how shit the industry is. They want to hear them talk about their work.
That said the last one I heard was Ed Kashi, and I found him very open and honest.
Last time I went to a talk specifically about the future of the industry, the photographers showed their work, the NGO’s showed their work, Ed Kashi asked some of the usual questions before showing his work yet the lady from the TV/Film industry discussed the problems, the issues and the application of what they learnt along with the effectiveness of it all quantified in thoughtful statistical analysis. The difference was amazing. She did show images but they were documenting the process they went through for the benefit of the academic audience and the industry.
Sometimes being open and honest is not enough so that is not what I am questioning. It is about being effective too because honest endeavour might be enough for some but for those at the top, it has to be about impoving effectiveness everytime they do anything. It is the same at the top of every industry and it has to be the same for photojournalism.
If you do not, someone out there is going to work harder than you to make their product more attractive to the public and be more effective in both reaching and influencing them.
It is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, competitive out there.
I disagree,
‘Sometimes being open and honest is not enough so that is not what I am questioning. It is about being effective too because honest endeavour might be enough for some but for those at the top, it has to be about impoving effectiveness everytime they do anything. It is the same at the top of every industry and it has to be the same for photojournalism.’
Not everything is about bums of seats. Otherwise we’d end up with wall to wall x factor.
I have to say I was proud to see these UK students fighting on the streets of London to be heard. I have been teaching photography for sometime now. When I see my students from NEw York University who graduated with $160,000 worth of debt, they ask me how can ever pay this back working as a photographer. I see dreams deferred all too frequently. I dont even want to discuss the state of the Photography industry. I see photographers as part of new Beat Generation (at least the ones that hang in there with their vision), because they are more like the radical poets of the 60’s.
I tell my students today that it could be worse you can be trying be an actor or painter.
If you want IT (to be photographer) you HAVE to fight for this path.
Bring back the FIGHT baby!
Much respect from old fighter
‘I see dreams deferred all too frequently’
great quote Joseph, sometimes its unclear what people are actually working for …
Joseph … not so old.
Photojournalism is worth fighting for. It’s really worth fighting for. Totally agree with you on that Joseph!
I see DR as the new Duckyleaks. 🙂
PJ is is always how we have seen ourselves in the world. Its a humanity. Without we could be in serious trouble
‘What is the point of doing something that nobody sees?’
Lots of point if it gives you pleasure.
As I said not everything is about bums on seats. I used to produce a radio show with 1.5 million listeners but I never worried about increasing the size of the audience.
Platform and scheduling are the most important factors in audience figures. Too simplistic to equate impact with numbers.
No, so far the dialogues not happening at photo seminars yet. But then why dilute beautiful conversations on photography with marketing talk. There are media developers working on new marketable platforms. Our bet is this new business model will evolve from current broadcast PR and sophisticated social media collateral that use story contents to engage with communities. But we want to be careful before we launch anything irreversible this time. The free online publishing model is probably the biggest mistake the media has done. They thought it won’t be as important as print. But the horses are out of the stable. Gotta think of something new.
Most certainly agree with all of that!
My issue is that if you go to a talk with say Eugene Richards work, then listening to him discuss say The Blue Room would be magic.
I go to specific talks with titles such as the “Future of photojournalism”, “Does the camera ever lie” etc, etc wanting to see debate about the state of the industry, yet it too ends up as photographers showing their work as if to say “look, I am the future!”.
I no longer bother and decided to blog instead.
Thanks for contributing!!!!
Higher Education, Photography and Protests. – http://www.duckrabbit.info/2010/12/wide-angle-pt-3-higher-education-photography-and-protests/