Peer Review Sessions

I'm now midway through a photography degree at Coventry University. It's a new course and hence my class are the 'oldest' photography students. We're a small group, and so it was exciting when a new, larger cohort arrived to start this October. I was keen to communicate, learn, share, etc across both first and second years, and so set up informal group critique meetings for all photography students. As I am now opening up this blog to include other activities as well as my personal projects, I thought I would put in my writings on the benefits of these sessions (this was originally a short article for the department newsletter).


The purpose of the peer review sessions is to have a place where photography students from both years can share and discuss their latest work, in an informal setting. Each person shows and explains their images to the group, who then give feedback in the form of criticism, suggestions, and appraisal. This process is very beneficial to all present. Through discussion the photographer can better understand the reasons and motives behind their practice, as well as receiving opinions on what looks good/what’s interesting/what can be improved etc. Everyone else has a chance to develop their knowledge and appreciation of different styles of photography. And any learning, insights, ideas are not just between individuals, but shared by the group.

The idea came about because towards the end of each module, we would have a group critique with our tutors and classmates. The purpose of which was to see if we could improve or alter our work before the hand-in. These sessions were always very helpful, and it seemed that if we were to do this more often, we could progress our work throughout the term.

Storytelling

"Photography is a language that I have some ability to use. I want to tell a story, but I've always loved making images, and photography for me seems the best way."

Tom Hunter came to talk at the university the other day. It was very exciting to see many of his less published photos, and hear his motives behind his work.  He mentioned storytelling, and someone asked (being that he stages his photographs with great precision) if he considers himself to be more of a storyteller than a photographer. His response was the quote above, preceded by informing us that he attempted writing and found he was no good at it. I enjoy writing, and I'm not to shabby at it (I hope). And I like the idea of telling a story. Not photo journalism, not a news story, a story story, one which will be appreciated for its tale. Using photography as a language, but why not use writing too - if possible. I'm not sure, but I think that elementt of storytelling to photographs might be what keeps me really drawn in, that might just save photographs from becoming boring, limited, and flat for me, (as they so frequently are). This needs more thought.