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This time last year, I was submitting my application to an art school for photography in the UK and was in full swing preparing for my language exam at home. Thanks to the relatively stable COVID-19 situation last year, I was able to go abroad and study for a two-year Photography MA program at the Royal College of Art in London.
Regarding the question of what is a good study for a master’s degree in photography, I think the logic behind this question is probably this: to a certain extent, artists or photographers themselves don’t really need a degree to complete several types of professional development- Not everyone of the famous painters seems to have a college degree.
In contrast, occupations that require more education are like lawyers, doctors, and civil servants.
However, in today’s modern society, the best way we can think of to become someone who makes a living by a certain artistic means seems to be to go to an art university.
After coming to the UK, I found several reasons that seem to explain why in today’s developed Internet environment – where we can learn everything we want to learn technology – we still need schools.
What does school teach?
First of all, we have to admit that most of the works you see on the Internet appear in front of you with an algorithm-based empowerment mechanism. The basic rule of the so-called “algorithm” is this: your software thinks you might be interested in such content. And the rules of the algorithm are likely to be caused by some reasons that are not related to the information we want to obtain, such as: similar content that has been seen before; other users who are “similar” to you like this content; this content cost money to make it promotion, etc.
In other words, our access to useful information on the Internet is often subpar. In this process, redundant, repetitive, and boring information tends to dominate the information flow, and it may take us a lot longer than expected to get the information that is really useful to us. The university plays the role of an institution that helps us efficiently access useful and cutting-edge information.
In my case, there seem to be two points that can be discussed: First, what does a master of photography study? Second, what is the difference between an overseas master’s program and a domestic master’s program?
It is a pity that I have no experience in studying photography at a domestic university, whether it is an undergraduate or a master’s degree. But from the perspective of my classmates who have studied photography at undergraduate art universities in China, I probably know many internationally famous photographers, such as Moriyama Daido, Sugimoto Hiroshi, Alec Soth, Martin Parr and so on. Although these have been called “internationalization” in the field of photography, there may be some more “frontier” and “pioneer” content to explore a subject.
In my opinion, the systematic study of a discipline, as far as photography is concerned, has several characteristics: understanding the field from a more international and “cutting edge” perspective; understanding the discipline from a more academic perspective; and Understand and embrace your own artwork from a richer dimension.
The field of photography from an international perspective
We can roughly be divided into two fields, contemporary photography and modern photography, which has been around for some years, and before photography.
From the purely “photography” process, although the Chinese “pinhole imaging” has completed a light transmission process similar to “lens-photoreceptor”, it has not realized the real fixation of the image on the “photographic paper” . So in essence, photography is still a completely imported product. That is, the silver salt printing technique invented by the French Daguerre .
Fort Creek Valley Qiang people side farming, the Republic of China, Zhuang Xueben.
The development of modern photography in China probably began in the 20th century. Although there are many extremely precious photographic works with artistic and anthropological value, such as many works of ethnic minorities shot by Zhuang Xueben in the southwest, they have become important sample materials for the study of relevant ethnic cultures today. . There are also modern photography practices, such as Zhu Xianmin , Yu Deshui and so on.
But in terms of richness, the development of photography as a medium (medium) itself is more extensive and experimental, and their old clubs – the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, etc. – still have a lot to learn and study. Through a more systematic acquisition of technical inheritance and education, as well as an understanding of artistic and humanistic concepts, universities have brought us a broader perspective and deeper cognition.
Zhuang Xueben was the most important anthropological photographer in China at the beginning of the last century. From 1934 to 1942, Zhuang Xueben went deep into the ethnic areas of Sichuan, Gansu, Qing, and Yunnan, and took pictures of Qiang, Tibetan, Yi, Tu, Dongxiang, Anthropological investigations were carried out on the daily life, religion, clothing, products and geographical environment of ethnic minorities such as Mongolia, Baoan and Naxi, leaving hundreds of thousands of words of investigation reports, diaries and more than 3,000 photos. The photos use anthropological methods to take targeted thematic shooting of clothing, daily life, religion, geography, etc. These photo materials not only have high anthropological value, but also are excellent works of art.
For example, when discussing modern and contemporary photography, I have to mention the book “On Photography” by Susan Sontag (if you want to better understand the nature of photography, it is highly recommended to go and read it, WeChat reading should have free version). For example, in the book there is a very incisive sentence summarizing the relationship between photography and reality in today’s social environment:
However, true modern primitivism does not regard images as real; photographic images are not real, but reality looks more and more like photographic images. Now, it’s become a cliché to describe it as “movie-like” whenever people experience a dramatic event — a plane crash, a shooting, a terrorist bombing.
——Susan Sontag, On Photography
Understanding Photography from an Academic Perspective
In fact, since the beginning of the last century, all kinds of photographers have begun to discuss and study a question-whether photography is art. Here I highly recommend a book called “Classic Essays On Photography”, which contains 30 very classic discussions on photography in history. Such as Benjamin’s “A Little History of Photography”, John Berger’s “Understanding Photography” and so on.
However, there is no Chinese translation so far, so it may be difficult to read. In their discussions, it was about the role of the medium of photography in cinematography, staged photography, and documentary photography. The famous French photographer Robert Doisneau once discussed a group of photos that sparked documentary photography and staged photography.
The Kiss of the Town Hall ( Le baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville ) is considered to be the most famous photo he took in his life, however, it was later confirmed due to a farce of a lawsuit that this photo was of Doisneau. The two actors and students who were recruited posed for it. The discussion about this photo is probably that most people who see this photo will think that this photo is the product of a documentary photography, that is to say, the person involved may be unknowingly, or at least not been Deliberately direct the photo that was taken – even if it doesn’t match the truth.
But the photo seems to convey something about the street scene that happened in Paris at that time – a young couple kissing in the street under the romantic Paris capital – but this kind of photo puts such an element, or what we call it today The content of the stereotype is amplified a lot.
Robert Doisneau, Le baiser de l’Hôtel de Ville , Paris 1950. 
Rhein II (Rhine 2) by Andrei Guskey, 1999
understand and accept
Until today’s contemporary photography (contemporary photography), how to understand the art works of great artists such as Andre Gusky, Jeff Weir, David Hockney, Cindy Sherman, etc. Your own photography? Taking myself as an experience, let’s start with what I haven’t seen before.
Since I majored in journalism as an undergraduate, it was already my senior year when I started to work in the field of art photography. Before that, my understanding of photography was almost the same as that of most photography-loving friends—the most classic theory of “decisive moments” by French photographer Bresson had a great influence on me. That is, the photographer perfectly combines all factors such as form, vision, composition, light, and events at a particular moment.
On the basis of this understanding, I completed the first formal photography project in my life – “Well then, let’s “celebrate” 2020 . This is a photo shoot that took place in early 2020, and an article posted on my personal account details the project. To briefly summarize this project, when I was preparing to shoot the Chinese Spring Festival project at the beginning of the new crown epidemic (January 2020), I encountered this unexpected situation and turned to the impact of the new crown I experienced.
As it happens, at the time of writing these words, there was an article in the minority called ” What am I thinking when I’m taking pictures?” 》 James_Tu described it this way: “There are usually only two states when taking pictures: subconsciously pressing the shutter and pondering how to adjust the shooting angle to achieve the best shooting effect. When you need to take a serious shot or take a snapshot, think about it. Chances are it’s too late.” I agree.
Photography enthusiasts who have learned about photography, or want to try to take a good photo, have more or less heard of the concept of “photographic eye”. The word means to use our eyes to see the world like a camera lens in our daily life. In other words, it’s like simulating a situation where you don’t have the camera with you all the time and try to press the shutter. This training will undoubtedly bring great improvement to photography technology.
From a technical point of view, the most intuitive effect of this process is a process of constantly reframing reality into photographic images. And even that understanding, in the context of today’s photography technology, can be interesting. For example, you should have heard of an artist who uses Google Street View, Jon Rafman, in his nine eyes project , which is used extensively in Google Street View. screenshots to create items that look like photos. The name of this nine-eye is named after a device equipped with 9 cameras for shooting panoramic views. Most of the photos in Google Street View are captured by this camera.
All in all, I think that in today’s flood of photography – each of us may have more than 300 stock photos in our mobile phone – pressing the shutter and creating good photos is no longer a priority, the important thing is, Looking back at the moment after taking this photo.
Besides knowledge, what else does the school offer?
Alumni, contacts, resources, I think this is the most boring but most direct answer. In today’s society, to be an industry, in most cases, some connections must be made with this industry. And a good university provides such an opportunity. The art field is so in need of resources and connections today, and it seems a bit fake and superficial compared to the decentralized narrative it presents to the public. However, this is nothing new.
If we look back at history, we find that artists, whether Chinese or foreign, are a special kind of talent that requires additional and sufficient social resources to cultivate.
In China, calligraphers and painters such as Tao Yuanming, Wang Anshi, and Wang Wei, as well as more unknown court painters, have become the world’s top treasure house for China’s splendid cultural and artistic history. The ancient higher education system was not perfect. Since the “Zhongju” system was established, what we usually call the “Ten Years of Cold Window” is only a “golden list title” for one period.
In the West, from the previous classical oil paintings to today’s contemporary art, various styles and schools of painting are created and communicated together by circles of artists. Among them, there are better families, and there are poor families.
In short, what we need is not only the utilitarian social benefits brought to us by the resources in the school (although this is also a very important resource), but also a partner and fellow traveler who can provide emotional support and creative communication for our creation.
Frédéric Bazille – Bazille’s Studio
Bazille’s Studio is an oil painting that I like very much. It was created by the French Impressionist painter Frédéric Bazille. In this work, he and his friends are in Paris in an afternoon. The scene of each drawing and chatting in the studio. There is an episode in Teacher Chen Danqing’s “Parts” that discusses this in detail .
In this painting, there are several famous painters beside Bazier, such as Renoir (Pierre-Auguste Renoir), Monet (Pierre-Auguste Renoir) and so on. In this scene, a small studio has become a base for young artists to nurture and create amazing works of later generations. At this point, it seems that it is not only the relevant context of the photography profession – the development and progress of almost every discipline is inseparable from a mutually supportive group.
And this may try to answer the unanswered question above:
After seeing the works of some great artists, how do you create your own creations, and how do you recognize the value of your own creations?
There is a kind of thought: since the great ancestors have done so many great works and attempts, why is everything we do today not repeating the experience of the previous people?
My understanding is: the times are different, and the creative environment is also different. For example, today, with the rise of NFTs, we are paying more and more attention to blockchain, decentralization, metaverse, etc., and these are things that people have never imagined before. For example, many years ago, Milton argued for the freedom of the press in “On Freedom of the Press and Education,” saying:
“Books are not good or bad, but readers. A fool is just as foolish as if he had the best book. There is no reason why we should limit the fool and deprive the wise of the conditions that are conducive to increasing wisdom, because limiting Stupid people can’t stop their stupidity and absurdity from reading.”
— Francis Bacon. A Century of Harvard Classics (Volume 30): A Collection of Treatises by Bacon and New Trentice Milton on Freedom of the Press and Education (Kindle positions 2681–2683, Beijing Institute of Technology Press Kindle Edition)
However, in today’s Internet world, it seems that letting all kinds of information spread freely can no longer be a one-size-fits-all criterion.
Fang Kecheng, Assistant Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, proposed today’s transition from “scarce voice to scarce attention” in his Journalism Lab member newsletter. He said: “Looking back at the ‘free market of opinions’, we find that the bottleneck in the past was mainly that there was not enough good content available in this market for free competition, but now the bottleneck is that there is too much content, and people’s Attention and processing power are too limited, and there is no time and energy for the truth to emerge from the mass of information mixed with a lot of noise.” That is, the “marketplace of ideas” also needs to be rehabilitated today. scrutiny.
All of the above thinking and exploration can be discussed and supported by teachers and classmates in the school, to complete their own attempts, and finally find their own way forward.
write at the end
Due to space reasons, many of the above-mentioned content that can be discussed in more detail are suspected of being overdone. But I want to make a small collection with the first article done in Minority, and start a richer creative journey in Minority later.
If you are willing to see me write more articles, please don’t be stingy with your charging and comments, every time your encouragement is voting for the world you want.
And if you want, you can pay attention to my personal public account “Fireworks Album”. There are my daily photography works on it, updated once a week, pay attention to her, it is your photography taste.
Attached are some pics of recent play around the UK and Europe:
- UK, London, 2022, street view near my residence.
- Norway, Oslo, green landscape on hills.
- Sweden, Gothenburg, scenery at the end of a tram.
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