Next Steps

I find myself rapidly approaching the end of Landscape, a year has nearly passed and it now seems a long time ago, in June last year, that I first starting typing into this blog. The last weekend has been a time of trying a few new things, looking at some great art and thinking about the next steps in my path towards a degree.

In May we head off on vacation, another 2 weeks in Borneo, taking underwater photographs on some of the greatest dive sites in the world. This is as much a phototography trip as anything else, but this year will not be tied into my course work. But, it still needs much preparation and the publication of a book chronicling the trip will take up much time on returning to Germany.

Taking this all in, I realized now was a time for a little introspection and planning. I am not going to get my 5th assignment done before the end of April, so am going to push it out into June/July, when I am back. Between now and the end of April will be a good time to finalize my portfolio. I still have Spring photos to take. Currently the weather is fine, but the trees have yet to leaf, leading to a landscape that still gives the impression of winter, albeit a bright warm sunny winter. Easter weekend is 10 days away, those 4 days should be enough to finalize my portfolio, good weather will be nice, otherwise, it'll be April showers. Then editing and selection of the final 12+4 images and off to my tutor for comment.

In the mean time I also plan to complete the remaining projects, those in chapter 5 look interesting and quite challenging, will be a welcome change from grad and polar filters - quick aside, but what are these doing in a Level 2 course. By this stage you either use them or have rejected them, I love this course, but I do wonder on occasion. Hopefully on return from vacation all that will need to be done will be to shoot assignment 5. Although, when I say "all" this is a big all, I suspect that this will need several weeks of planning, shooting and image preparation. I already have in mind that each image will be an individual created work of art, not simply a photograph. My theme is plain, the chaos of urban life, however, getting there in a way that works for me and channels Gursky will be a great challenge.

So, that will be the end of Landscape, another 2-3 months work and it should be in the bag. What next? This more than anything else has been preying on my mind. It always does as I near the end of a course, decisions made now affect a whole year of my life. All I seem to do these days is work for my company and then work again on my courses. When I embarked on Landscape it was with Social Documentary in mind as a 2nd course, ind fact SocDoc was the firm choice, I only elected for Landscape becuase the PWDP course looked so dire. The update to PWDP has caught me in a quandry. This is now the course I would have done rather than Landscape, it addresses many topics that I am fascinated by, type setting, book making, writing about photography. However, as my tutor suggests SocDoc would be a better development pathway right now. It also offers me the chance to continue my study of Munich and it's inhabitants. Although, so would the new PWDP, as I can pretty much choose what to shoot during that course.

No decision yet, but I feel my head and my heart are now firmly towards SocDoc, pity about PWDP. Maybe I should do both, after all there is nothing to say you cannot do 3 courses rather than 2. I enjoy the work and it would provide a better foundation for my final year studies. Question, questions. In any case I plan to enroll when I return from Borneo, I will have plenty of time to think and should be much clearer by then.

Now where is that damn Polar filter...