Griffith College photography courses

riiight!

Hey, I'm thinking of applying to Griffith college for one of their photography courses. One is a Diploma in Photography (HETAC) and the other is a BA in Photographic Media (HETAC).
Does anyone know if either of these courses are any good? I'd be interested in doing the the courses part-time, but just want to know if they are worth doing in the long run.

Links
http://www.gcd.ie/index.jsp?1nID=108&2nID=124&nID=221&aID=943

http://www.gcd.ie/index.jsp?1nID=108&2nID=124&3nID=124&nID=221&aID=268

*fixed links

snellers

I guess the question is what do you want from the course?

If it is to improve chances of work then IMO not worth doing ....if for personal skills and knowledge development may well be worth it.

Covey

Links are bad

riiight!

Well I'm not too sure what I want from it to be honest. I recently bought a DSLR and want to learn more about the camera and well photography in general. I would like to carry on from that into some sort of photography career but haven't a clue about what sort of field be it journalism, weddings, etc etc.

Have you done one of these courses before?

melekalikimaka

i'll pm you, when i have time, i dont right now and fill ya in

Kwyjibo

Im interested in starting this course in September 08.
Contacted the college, it's HETAC certified, good for progressing onto other courses.

Has anyone completed, is it good?
Worth the fee, sweat and tears?

decsramble

Kwyjibo wrote: »

Im interested in starting this course in September 08.
Contacted the college, it's HETAC certified, good for progressing onto other courses.

Has anyone completed, is it good?
Worth the fee, sweat and tears?

How much do the courses cost?

melekalikimaka

cica 5000

riiight!

its EUR 3,900 for the part-time and 5,600 full-time for both these courses. I'll probably end up doing the part-time.

snellers

all I can say IMO is that the course won't directly make you any more employable (you aren;t going to find any photography jobs out there demanding that type of qualification....well I haven't seen any! :-)

if considering your own photography business then it could be the course for you as will give you a grounding in many areas of photography as well as a history and understanding of technologies.......not essential but will give you more rounded skills and knowledge

thefizz

I agree that the qualifications won't do much for you but the knoweldge gained will, so if you can afford it and have enough interest, then go for it.

riiight!

Ok thanks for the advice. Is there anywhere else that you would recommend? I can qualify as a mature student for september 09 but I really want to get out of my current situation and go to college now.

thefizz

Try Dun Laoghaire College of Art & Design and DIT Mountjoy Square.

Peter

melekalikimaka

now this is why we should have this

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055051243

go on vote :D:D

Karlmartini1

I know this a very old thread but I just thought I'd put in my 2 eurocents. I'm just completing my first year of photography in GCD where I attend in the evenings. If I pass I get a diploma and then decide if I want to do 2 more years for a degree.

The main complaint I have about the course is the syllabus. There is too much of a concentration on fine art photography. Pretty much all the lecturers come from an art background and it shows. The inherent problem is that successful commercial photographers don't tend to become lecturers because they are making too much money in their current business. The result is that the lecturers tend to indulge their fascination with contemporary art photography which I simply can't engage with. The syllabus is more geared to producing photography gallery curators than photographers.

Another frustrating thing is that we are not graded on how good our photographs are. We get marks to put together scrap books called visual diaries where we detail what we learned. For me this is a waste of time. I already knew half this stuff before I started the course and showing them what I learned and how I learned it seems futile. I suppose it's the same old complaint. Give a bunch of academics a practical discipline like photography and they manage to bugger it up with Harvard referenced essays, bibliographies etc.

I suppose my photography has got better but I feel it's because I've been thinking about photography more while in the course and doing my own research into techniques.

Even if I do complete the degree I don't think that piece of paper will be of too much use. 90% of photographers are freelance and it's the quality of your portfolio and business acumen that will get you work. One thing I am hoping is that a bank will be more likely to give me a loan to setup a studio if I have a degree.

tororosso

Karlmartini1 wrote: »

I know this a very old thread but I just thought I'd put in my 2 eurocents. I'm just completing my first year of photography in GCD where I attend in the evenings. If I pass I get a diploma and then decide if I want to do 2 more years for a degree.

The main complaint I have about the course is the syllabus. There is too much of a concentration on fine art photography. Pretty much all the lecturers come from an art background and it shows. The inherent problem is that successful commercial photographers don't tend to become lecturers because they are making too much money in their current business. The result is that the lecturers tend to indulge their fascination with contemporary art photography which I simply can't engage with. The syllabus is more geared to producing photography gallery curators than photographers.

Another frustrating thing is that we are not graded on how good our photographs are. We get marks to put together scrap books called visual diaries where we detail what we learned. For me this is a waste of time. I already knew half this stuff before I started the course and showing them what I learned and how I learned it seems futile. I suppose it's the same old complaint. Give a bunch of academics a practical discipline like photography and they manage to bugger it up with Harvard referenced essays, bibliographies etc.

I suppose my photography has got better but I feel it's because I've been thinking about photography more while in the course and doing my own research into techniques.

Even if I do complete the degree I don't think that piece of paper will be of too much use. 90% of photographers are freelance and it's the quality of your portfolio and business acumen that will get you work. One thing I am hoping is that a bank will be more likely to give me a loan to setup a studio if I have a degree.

Great Post I have been humming and hawing about doing a photography diploma etc for a year or two now but this gives a very nice insight into what these courses feel like for the student in them! Basically the course you are doing is the study of thought process behind photography as opposed to hands on practical photography work? For example, when you come out of the course will you have learned anything about studio shoots and techniques etc??

melekalikimaka

Karlmartini1 wrote: »

The main complaint I have about the course is the syllabus. There is too much of a concentration on fine art photography. Pretty much all the lecturers come from an art background and it shows.

Well you must have different lecturers to me... Kev ( tho he's finishing a MA in fine art) and sinead dont have fine art backgrounds for one... hector doesn't do fine art either, he does fetish mainly and studio portraits... Michael is the only one whos anyway fine art minded

Karlmartini1 wrote: »

Another frustrating thing is that we are not graded on how good our photographs are. We get marks to put together scrap books called visual diaries where we detail what we learned. For me this is a waste of time. I already knew half this stuff before I started the course and showing them what I learned and how I learned it seems futile. I suppose it's the same old complaint. Give a bunch of academics a practical discipline like photography and they manage to bugger it up with Harvard referenced essays, bibliographies etc.

yet again not accurate, a huge amount goes to final prints, i think its even 50/50

melekalikimaka

tororosso wrote: »

Great Post I have been humming and hawing about doing a photography diploma etc for a year or two now but this gives a very nice insight into what these courses feel like for the student in them! Basically the course you are doing is the study of thought process behind photography as opposed to hands on practical photography work? For example, when you come out of the course will you have learned anything about studio shoots and techniques etc??

we spend alot of time in studio, I'm in there twice a week, sometimes more, especially with assignments coming up, you book it when ever you want, and depending on subject, you get sudio based classes relevent... ie high key lighting, commerical food photography etc.

theres a large degree of theory in first year, after that you can kinda lean where ya wanna beit commercial, fine art, fashion... as the briefs allow for alot of freedom

daner31

hey I know this is an old post too but I am currently applying for a photography diploma in NMTC on harcourt st.
its always a danger i think with the private colleges that they can have fairly dodgy course material or courses in general when compared to public ones and still get away with it. I am certainly weary of griffith for this reason, and €4000+ is a lot to be handing out. NMTC is about €2700 per year for the diploma and €2000 for FETAC 1 year course. also, I qualify for "Back to Education" funding from social welfare - who essentially pay for my course! not bad!

I dont know anyone who has done photo in NMTC or Griffith so i can't truly say but i took a trip in there and it looks fairly decent - its very small but definitely not a bad thing, means a lot more feedback and interaction between lecture and student. the college also looks very profession-orientated which is what you want from a photography course - developing your skills and what type of photography interests u.
I am currently waiting to hear back from them so fingers crossed x!

also, i know dun laoghaire do a degree but i think they may also err on the "arty" side as it's an art college after all. personally, I dont think there is much merit in doing a full-on photography "degree", as its just not that kind of subject. but, each to their own and its just my opion...:)

daner31

sorry, I was referring NMTC as the very small, hans-on college! i dont have a clue about griffith except what people have posted on this site, so would like to hear any feedback about NMTC?

melekalikimaka

dunno if anyone on here goes or went there tbh. got a link to info on course? could be overlap on course with gcd, could shed light on module make up

daner31

sure, here is the college's list of courses..
http://www.nmtc.ie/fulltimecourses.htm

and you can get a brochure on their website too. i think there are only about 20 students in the course so maybe they are quite stringent in the application process ?!....would be nice to hear from someone who is doing it now or has finished the course.