My Final Choices

1. My first choice is Falmouth university to study Marine And Natural History Photography. Due to my extreme interest in wildlife conservation and photography it seems as though this course would be the perfect experience to explore both. Alongside this their facilities are next to none with fantastic industry connections and opportunities. 

2. LCC would have to be my second choice as their course on Documentary Photography & Photojournalism intrigues me. I have always had a strong interest in reportage photography and capturing people in their day to day life, so photojournalism seems like a logical step from this. I also like the thought of using photography as a means to document and help places/ people that are less fortunate. I would like to use the art of photography to make a change. 

3 & 4. My third and fourth choices are Southampton and Cumbria. I like both universities however both have their faults. I would prefer to do the Wildlife Media Course at Cumbria, however I don't think I would enjoy being in Cumbria itself as its fairly out of the loop. This is the complete opposite with Southhampton as I love the university and where it is situated, however I'm not as passionate about the Photojournalism course.

Southampton Solent Offer

I have recently received an email from Southhampton university offering my a conditional place to study a BA Hons in Photojournalism. This was after I sent off my online portfolio of 30 images with two analysis's. This was fantastic to hear as they enjoyed my work so much that they didn't even offer an interview, but offered me a place straight off. 

Applications for Uni

Whilst applying for UCAS, I was advised to apply to a number of universities to broaden my my options. I ended up applying for four Unis including Southhampton, Falmouth, Cumbria & LCC. For LCC and Southhampton I am applying for Photojournalism & Documentary Photography and for Falmouth and Cumbria I am applying for Natural History & Marine Photography. Although LCC and Falmouth would be my main choices, Its comforting to know I have a back up if needs be. LCC and Falmouth are my top choices because the courses they offer are at the top in their field.

So after applying I had emails back from all four universities, one conditional offer from Cumbria and the other three have all requested online portfolios. This is a really positive response as all have atlas shown a key interest in pursuing my application further.

Visiting The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Exhibition

Due to my interest in the natural/ wildlife photography, I decided to visit the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. 

The images I saw were absolutely stunning, not just the runners ups or winners, but every single photograph. A section of the exhibition was dedicated to Wildlife Photojournalism and showed how humans have intervened in the natural world. It really inspired me and showed the level of talent there is out there in the industry. I think possibly the most eye opening part of the exhibition was the "young" wildlife photographers section. It showed that age is no boundary and that to be a successful wildlife photographer, you don't have to have years of experience under your belt. 

These were some of the artist ( and their pieces ) that I loved: 

Pedro Carrillo - Ray Ryhthem 

Michael Nichols - The Last Great Picture & Intimacy

Dana Allen - Blown Away 

Rodrigo Friscione - The Longline Lottery 

Marine Aigner - Dinner At The Dump 

Paul Hilton - Sea Of Death

Ian Johnson - Where Is My Forrest 

David Clapp - Magic Mountain 

Matthew Smith - Sailing By 

Jordi Chias Pujol - Ocean Blues 

Indra Swari - Passing Giants 

Greg Du Toit - Feeling The Flames

Fabien Micheneet - Little Squid

Mac Stone - Beach Guardian 

The Photojournalist that particularly inspired me was called Brent Stirton and his collection of images called “Out Of Africa”. He focuses largely on the poaching industry in Africa and the consequences from it - both human and animal. It shows how humans are effecting the beautiful natural wildlife of Africa. This was really important to me as it showed how you could use the art of photography for conservation. 

Falmouth University Open Day

Falmouth University is my top choice because of it's specialised course in Marine And Wildlife Photography, which is the only university offering it in Europe and Northern America. I have always wanted to get into marine photography or videography ever since I was little. I have had a fascination with marine wildlife and wildlife in general forever. I have been particularly passionate about conserving wildlife, the core ethos of the course and degree at the end of it is about marine and wildlife conservation as well as learning about it, which is ideal. Needless to say I had very high expectations of the university when we drove down.

Our view from the hotel

The first thing I noticed was how far away the university actually was, It took us in whole around 5/6 hours to make the drive down to Falmouth. The distance is definitely something to take into consideration as I will be very far away from London - the hub of activity and also the home of my friends and family. Despite the distance the drive was very scenic and gave me a good introduction int the town of falmouth. We drove through in the evening and the harbour was absolutely stunning. The lights of all the anchored boats twinkled off the ocean and the sky was ridiculously clear so you could see all the stars. It was so idealistic and visually stunning, it seemed like the perfect place to study photography. Once we parked up we ended up meandering through Falmouth, there was a clear buzz of student life but still had the quant touches of an original cornish village, to me this was a perfect balance.

We stayed in a hotel which overlooked the ocean, it seemed as though most properties had the blessing of an ocean view. I liked the fact that the sea was so close and you could easily pack up and do a spontaneous shoot on the beach at any point.

We drove to the Penryn campus, which although was initially hard to locate, hard a large and beautiful main building which overlooked the rest of the town and seafront. Not only was the main building beautifully constructed and presented, but so was the rest of the university. Everything was very modern, clean and well put together, not to mention the friendly and warm atmosphere as soon as you stepped on campus. There were tour guides and helpers at every turn, all willing to help and guide you to anything you need. The atmosphere was one of the most important things to me, unlike LCC there was a large volume of current students there, willing and ready to talk about any given course. The most noticeable difference was the mood of the students - they all looked so genuinely happy and enthused about their university and being there.

As soon as we gathered our bearings, we were offered a tour around the accommodation buildings. The students who lead us around were happy to answer any questions and did so with honesty also helpful information for new coming students that you wouldn't necessarily find on the website or prospectus. The onsite accommodation was more than adequate and had a variance of single, double and bunked rooms. This gave a good variety and they even had students in the rooms to talk about what it was like living in the different arrangements. They also showed us some of the accommodation facilities like the washing room, common room and kitchen and told us in detail of what we would and wouldn't need if we planned on staying there. I loved how well kept the dorms where and the sense of community you felt when you walked in. I also noticed allot posters and adverts for social events like halloween parties and gatherings which was encouraging. They also had allot of decorations and comedic signs and photos up which made me think that people here didn't take things too seriously and were up for a laugh, which sounded like my kind of people exactly.

Our Ocean view

We then made our way to the talk on Marine And Wildlife photography. The talk started off with the head of faculty talking about the university and the art side of it in general. He breezed over the alumni but mainly focussed on why Falmouth was so successful as a university and why it had produced such students. It seemed they catered for the individual as opposed to the masses like LCC. His talk was far more light hearted and comedic than the head of faculty from LCC, this affirmed my presumption that the people at falmouth were fairly laid back.

After this the lead teacher from the Marine And Wildlife photography course spoke about the course. He showed some of the photographs current and past students had taken, these were stunning and inspiring. He also explained how the course works and how closely it is intwined with conservation, this was largely important to me. He also explained how throughout and after the course we would be encouraged to work with conservation trusts linked with the university, some of these included the Shark Trust, WWF and more. This was great as he explained how allot of these trusts were open to internships and possibly permanent positions from photography students. He also showed work from one past student who demonstrated exceptional dedication, this student is now working for the National Geographic and shooting a concept of his in Japan. This is has been a life long ambition of mine and it shows that through taking this course and working hard it could become a possibility. He rounded off by talking about the structure of the three year course and what we would be doing. Not only was there allot of freedom given with in the described units, but also guidance and in-depth tutorials.

Our long sunny drive home

After this talk it was time to head home as it was a long drive, so were unable to attend the guided tour of the photography department which was a shame. However, I have no doubt that the facilities were all of a high standard and very modern, judging by the rest of the university. Overall, I can honestly say I fell in love with every aspect of the university and can't think of anything negative to say. I much prefer it to LCC and can automatically invasion myself there. It is definitely my top choice and in the meantime, I'm going do everything in my power to create a strong portfolio to present to them.

LCC Open Day

I went to the LCC Open day for Photojournalism & Documentary Photography for a better look at the course. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the overall friendly/ open planned feel of the uni. I love the layout of how spacious and open the university was. We where welcomed and made to feel very at home as soon as we walked through the doors. Shortly after this we where ushered into a welcome talk in the main lecture hall. From this we learned the past alumni from the university and were introduced to some of the lecturers. This was really important to me to see as their work was just as inspiring and really showed the level of skill of which I will be learning from.

We then had our course specific talks given from the head of faculty (photojournalism & documentary photography). He started off by explaining that documentary photography and Photojournalism involves the photographer creating a narrative within their photographs. This was very comforting to hear as that is what I try to achieve when shooting. After this, past students work was shown. This was very interesting to see as their work was so broad and it seemed as though they were given very little restrictions with regards to concepts. He then went on to say what the department expected from us as prospective students. They looked for passion and an intuitive nature with regards to the world and environment around us. It was also comforting to know that they didn't expect outstanding technical ability but instead the understanding of how to achieve an effective narrative/ story within a photograph.

After this talk were split into several course specific groups. Our photojournalism and documentary photography group was then lead into the photography department. From here we were given a guided tour of the department. There were a number of different photography studios each have high end technical equipment for digital and analogue photography. Their dark room was of a large size and even had the equipment to develop your own colour photographs. In one of these rooms they had a large scale / high quality photograph printers. This was really encouraging as it showed me that I could further improve my work with their facilities and create more dramatic and high quality photographs. The only thing I could say negatively about the department was the fact that they had no  active students using the facilities.

Overall I thought the university was very promising and offered state of the art facilities and second to none creative direction and guidance from lecturers. The only worry was that with the lack of students about it was hard to grasp the true feel of the place in full swing. This made the university lack in atmosphere and could have done with more students explaining how they were getting on with each course specifically.

Planning My Gap Year

Before starting university I will hope to take a gap year ( 4 months ) to travel. I will use this opportunity to build up my photojournalism portfolio. It was also be a good way to explore parts of the world I have yet to see and broaden my horizon with regards to where I would like to settle down/ return to. I Will also be on the look out for interesting stories to write/ document at the places I visit.

I have been looking at a website called Round The World Experts ( Here is the link ) and it has a service which allows you to type in the destinations you wish to visit and it will formulate a rough cost. From there an employee will call you and discuss your options. For now I am awaiting the call but I have planned to visit these following places with my friend:

Japan (Tokyo & Taiji) : to experience such an alien and advanced place. Plus in Taiji there is a cove where they continue to slaughter dolphins with the support of big companies as Seaworld. I would love to document this and make an effort to change this.

Australia: I have heard lots of amazing things about Australia and how laid back it is, which sounds fantastic as I have a particularly laid back nature. They have also an abundancy of natural wonders I would love to explore. For example, The Great Barrier Reef. I would love to scuba dive here and record how much it has changed/ been destroyed because of the intense tourism.

Thailand: I have been to Thailand before but have yet to see all of the Islands. Whilst there I noticed a great deal of corruption with regards to the sex trade. Thailand is one of the hotspots for the child sex trade. This is somthing I am really passionate into looking into and being a strong activist for. Thailand also has numerous problems with regards to animal cruelty, especially towards endagered animals such as Elephants, Leopards and TIgers

America: I would be planning on going to California, Miami and San Francisco. I have chosen California to look at the infamous life of the OC county college students and document their summer break, to see if it lives up to the stereo type. I also want to go to Miami to look at the rise in gang crimes within the area as crime has spiked significantly within the past 10 years.