Photography is now the most widespread form of image-making in the world. Newspapers and magazines and advertising hoardings feed us thousands of photographic images every day, and they are perhaps more influential than we care to admit. The camera is an instrument of record and information but in the hands of a Richard Avedon or a Helmut Newton it is also a potent instrument of persuasion and a powerful artistic medium. A photograph can make a career, destroy a reputation, sell a car, justify a war, make us laugh or move us to tears.
Iconic pictures by photographers like Don McCullin and Frank Cappa have also done much to shape our view of modern history: images of the marines hoisting the American flag at Iwo Jima, the naked child running from Napalm bombs in Vietnam, the twin towers burning, the 1966 World Cup team, Churchill’s victory salute – all captured in a moment of time through the photographer’s lens.
Since its inception photography has also been recognised as a major art form. Artists such as Cartier Bresson and Man Ray have shown us how to look at the world through new eyes. They inform. They provoke. They can delight us or dismay us. They paint with light and they repay study and appreciation.
This course may be for you as a future artist, photo-journalist, professional photographer or amateur enthusiast. One thing is certain – the skills and techniques you will learn will last for a lifetime and provide you with pleasure and fulfilment way beyond the confines of the A-level course.