Gallery of Photography, Griffith College, NCAD, courses - which one to choose??

CBRadio

Hi,
Wondering if anyone could help me. I'm interested in doing a photography course, I'm an enthusiastic amateur photographer with a Canon EOS350 and access to a fully manual SLR. I've done some photography study as part of a diploma in journalism in Griffith College and absolutely loved it. I want to improve my understanding of the potential of my digital camera and also challenge myself with my photography, not always going for the easy shot. I am interested in studio photography and perhaps eventually getting some work as a photographer (wedding/commercial). I haven't ever done any darkroom printing so I'd like to get experience in that too.

The Griffith College course looks good because it's more aimed at commerical photography while the NCAD one is more artistic. The shorter courses in the Gallery of Photography look good too.
If anyone has any advice or experience of these courses or any other ones I'd really, really appreciate some comments.
Or do you think I should just buy some books, practice and try and improve myself and maybe join a photography club or something?????
Thanks
CBRadio

unreggd

If you're willing to put in the time [generally 9-5 in "bigger" colleges] it'd be beneficial

Many will say you dont need a course, just practice, but if you do a course, you'll have all the basics down, you'll be around like-minded people, and you'll be doin it 5 days a week.

I'm doin the 1 year part-time course at St Kevins College in crumlin

Its Mon to Friday 9am to 1pm. Its Photography and Digital Imaging so theres lots of post-processing to learn about, cant wait to start it!

After that I'm gonna go straight into 2nd/3rd year of the DIT degree [fingers crossed]

You might be different but I like learnin the mechanical knowledge from other people doing it. Ive already started working as a photographer so it can only get better

Let me know if you need any other info on courses

Good luck

Xios

hey unreggd, i'm aiming to get into that course in dit, but if that fails, could i possibly get into the course you're doing? Or is the sign up date long since past? plus do ya need a portfolio for it?

sineadw

ooo I was looking at that St Kevins course too...

@OP You might be a little late for full time courses? I could be wrong there though. Night course in Ballyfermot looks very good - enrols in Sept, and about a third the price of a lot of its equivalents. Fetac level 5, 20 wks, 300 odd quid i think? Wouldn't mind doing it myself if I could split into four.

@xios - http://www.stkevinscollege.ie/certphoto.htm Its old fetac 2 which is new fetac 5 I think? I have a feeling interviews were in march gone...

Xios

I submitted an application, hopefully i could get into it, cause it'll be perfect if my points don't add up for the dit course

Thanks for the link sinead, tbh i wouldn't have gone looking for the site myself

RCNPhotos

I did a full year portfolio course, in Sallynoggin, which was fantastic I have to say. I wish I'd put a bit more work into it. I took an extra year off to continue working on my portfolio which is how I got into music. But anyway I'm hoping to go to Griffith this year as like you said, their more commercially orientated. I met.....I can't remember his name....the guy who does it in there, or one of them anyway, northern fella, was really cool, nice guy it seemed, so fingers crossed

CBRadio

Hi,
Thanks to everyone for replying. Sorry one thing I obviously didn't make clear is that I'd be doing the course part-time. I'm working full time in IT so this would just be in the evenings. Thanks for the info on the Ballyfermot course, I'll look into that. it's a bit late for the enrolment for NCAD but I think Griffith is still open but I'll probably wait till next year to start a really intensive course so might try Gallery of Photography this year or the Dublin Camera Club. Had a look at your website RCN, really impressed. I tried to do some gig photos during the journalism course but don't think I had the right camera or knew what I was doing!!!
Thanks again everyone,
CBRadio

unreggd

Im sure ye can still apply, so if ye havent apply away!

they say to bring somethin but I only brought 4 good photos and I was accepted on the spot

Its good cos its Fetac, but its Betec as well, the European version of fetac

so makes it easier if u wanted t study abroad

But im not too fussed about qualifications, just bleedin deadly photos!

leinsterman

I did the inaugural evening NCAD NUI Cert in Photography and Digital Imaging course ... In summary: it is overpriced (€1,250) and I would not recommend it.

(Waits for Fajitas! to leap to his usual defence of NCAD )

Anyways ...

For me the cons outweighed the pros -

Pros -

• Project Work is good for getting you out and about with a reason to shoot;
• Studio was the best bit and they have two good instructors;
• Meeting others with a common interest ... but I have to say this did not work as well as it could have ... they don;t encourage any group working;
• The college has a great vibe about it not least because you keep bumping into Fajitas! in various stages of drunkeness (I think it is part of his course);
• The Campus is a subject of photography on its own ... amazing industrial setting on a former Powers distillary site;
• I really enjoyed studying imaging culture with Doireann Wallance ... this is not everyone's cup of tea ... but for me it is good to get a bit cerebral about photography ... you do have to read a lot of Susan Sonntag rubbish ... but there are plenty of good books on the syllabus also ... especially by the likes of John Tagg, Liz Wells and Barthes ..;
• The NCAD art library is excellent ... one of the best around, lots of good books on photography;
• The course involved a bit on documentary photography ... not really my cup of tea ... but it was nice to try something else to my normal stuff;
• I was not a fan of using 35mm film until one magical moment back last September when and image appeared infornt of me in a darkroom ... this is quite a special experience you don't get with Digital ... Now I love it ... in fact I just spent $450 on a used EOS 3 for the purpose of shooting B&W landscapes ... I find using a darkroom as somethign akin to meditation ... I would have never taken up film had it not been for this course

Cons -

• Attitude and qualifications of the main tutor is poor ... and one of the (admittedly very good) studio teachers is extremely arrogant and difficult to take ... but he also teaches studio at Griffith so you may have little choice but to endure him if you are looking for a formal qualification;
• While it says digital in the title they do very little on it and the tutor takes the classes herself ... she has no clue about even the basics of photoshop ... in fact it was irresponsible of the college to allow her to teach it ... she is not qualified to use a computer let alone teach digital ... she is the kind of photographer that thinks using photoshop to do anything is cheating;
• With the exception of the studio and imaging culture classes all other classes lack form and structure and are poorly planned ... on many evenings you end up sitting around chatting about everything but photography while the tutor struggles to get her act together ... when the class complained they tried to shove the blame back onto the students;
• There is no real technical aspect to it with the exception of studio where you do learn a bit about flash photgraphy ... there is a little too much project work and not enough on the basics of using and handling a camera ... not really a biggie since you can learn this yourself by reading a book or just practicing a lot .. which I suppose you could argue is the purpose of the project ... but it would help if there was someone who could answer your questions teaching the course;
• There is too much emphasis on Documentary phtography ... there is not much on other forms ... and they seem to look down on plain old landscape shooting ... we were supposed to do fashion but I would not call three hours one rainy Saturday morning in a class of 11 students sharing one tutor and a model sifficient ...
• The standard of equipment and number of enlargers in the darkroom equipment is poor and inadequate for the number of student (11) on the course;
• I would argue that the studio equipment is in poor repair... but I seem to remember Fajitas! getting all defensive about this ... so check with him for a balanced view;
• The computer facilites are OK ... but you have to share unless you bring you own computer (with your own photoshop S/W);
• There is no access to the facilities outside of class time ... this means you get a max of 3 hours a week in the dark room ... and occasional access to the studio ... all shared with 11 other people ... far from enough in my opinion;
• The attitude of the college admin was not great they held up everyones student and library card facilities for six weeks because one student could not get her birth cert from the UK ... what had that to do with the rest of us ?

Spyral

sounds ouchy leinsterman... we only had 4 enlargers between the class of 20 for forensic imaging but we could go in during the week as long as we had a partner (incase we accidentally drink the developer ) but it was only one module.. for a course purely on it it sounds ouchy to me..

Modette

im about to start the 2 year full time HND in photography course in st kevins crumlin..can anyone tell me what st kevins is like??it dosnt seem to be "on the map" as far as colleges go:S

sushisushi

Just to add another option for people thinking about going the full-time route, don't forget that there is also a degree in photography in IADT, as well as the DIT one. No sign of any night course in the offing, though, and not likely now with education budget cuts a-go-go.

traygleeson

Hi, You could try The Institute of Photography in Dublin city. They do a lot of part-time courses for different levels of photography. Their website is www.iop.ie. Hopefully you find something that your looking for.:)

melekalikimaka

sushisushi wrote: »

Just to add another option for people thinking about going the full-time route, don't forget that there is also a degree in photography in IADT, as well as the DIT one. No sign of any night course in the offing, though, and not likely now with education budget cuts a-go-go.

gcd does part time degree