Show Notes
Clare and Jesse talk to Dr. Simon Denison about 'criticality' in relation to photography and teaching: what do we mean by 'critical thinking'? What does it mean in the context of Photography ?And how best can learn how to be better at it?
Simon Denison is a photographer, critic, academic and teacher.
His documentary and conceptual landscape photography has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. He is the author of three photographic books, The Human Landscape (Greyscale 2002), Quarry Land (Greyscale 2005) and I Spy Pinhole Eye (with Philip Gross, Cinnamon Press 2009), which won the Arts Council Wales Book of the Year Award in 2010. His work has been reviewed widely including in The Times, The Guardian and on BBC Radio 4.
He has led the Critical Studies department at Hereford College of Arts since 2011, teaching degree-level students across all art, design and media courses. Previously, he taught photography and history of photography at the Institute of Art and Design at Birmingham City University. He regularly reviews books and exhibitions for the photography journal Source. Formerly a broadsheet newspaper journalist and editor of the award-winning magazine British Archaeology, he was educated at Oxford University (Classics) and Edinburgh College of Art (Photography). His doctorate in photography criticism and learning theory from Birmingham City University was awarded in 2023.
Recent publication: 'Putting Ourselves in the Picture: An Autoethnographic Approach to Photography Criticism' in: Goode, J, Lumsden, K, and Bradford, J (eds), 2023. Crafting Autoethnography: Processes and Practices of Making Self and Culture, Abingdon: Routledge.
More from PhotoPhone
Jesse and Clare talk to Linda Jarrett and Justin Quinnell about their creative practices, both of which involve alternative processes and working with communities. Justin Quinnell is an artist and educator based in Bristol and Linda Jarrett is an artist based in New Zealand. They talk about the value of analogue and alternative photographic processes and the greater sense of community that these can come with. They discuss how alternative processes can communicate ideas to new audiences and are remarkable tools for learning. See their work, or connect via: @justin_quinnell https://www.pinholephotography.org/
Join by Dr. Catarina Fontoura, Course Leader for BA(Hons) Photography (online) at Falmouth University, Jesse and Clare discuss the challenges of teaching a subject that is steeped in politics, in an unprecedented time of polarised viewpoints.
Clare and Jesse explore the idea of graduate “opportunities” such as prizes, awards and other ways to get your work noticed. They ask what best practice looks like, in terms of organisations running such schemes, and to what extent such things exploit new graduates trying to get started in the creative industries. Helping them navigate this are Siân Addicott, Director of Ffotogallery - the photography development agency for Wales, and Philippa James - photographer, Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes, and graduate of the MA Photography programme at Falmouth University. Siân mentions Ffotogallery’s annual ‘Ffocws’ exhibition and mentorship scheme for recent graduates as well as those who are entering the industry through other routes. Philippa talks about various activities, including her experience as a finalist for the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize. https://www.ffotogallery.org https://philippajames.net
Jesse and Clare talk to Michelle Sank and Geoffrey Bird, both educators and photographers, about their experiences of returning to study photography at postgraduate level as 'mature students'. Michelle is a celebrated documentary photographer and environmental portraitist, and Lecturer on the MA Photography (online) programme at Falmouth University. Geoffrey Bird is a photographer and teacher at the Vancouver British Columbia Institute of Technology, and graduate of the Falmouth MA. The episode discusses the challenges that getting back to study after an extended period of time can bring, and also asks what maturity brings to a cohort of students, and a creative practice more generally. @Sank_Michelle @Geoffrey_Brid