Photographic Studies

(Photography)

 

Level 5

Certification

QQI Photography Level 5, Code 5M2094

Overview

The QQI Level 5 programme for the Photographic Studies course is designed to provide students with an introductory grounding in all aspects of photographic practice. Students progress through a series of workshops and lectures aimed at increasing their awareness of image making from concept to final production.

Upon successful completion of this course students will have compiled a portfolio suitable for application / progression  to the QQI Level 6 Photographic Studies.

Running since 1997, the full time level 5 and level 6 Photographic Studies course successfully provides an in-depth education in photography; from film to digital, darkroom to image processing, studio to street, within the context of historical and contemporary perspectives.

Students who have successfully completed the course have gone on to start their own businesses as freelancers, as wedding and portrait photographers, as photojournalists and documentary photographers, studi photographers, printers and as artists.  Inspired by the course, a high degree of students also go on to study photography (& other subject areas) at Third Level, with a significant number also coming from Third Level courses to study with us based on the reputation of the course.      

We provide a passionate, interactive environment for students of all ages to find their feet (and often themselves!) in our well-equipped new facilities, for a very affordable fee.

COURSE OUTLINE

Code Title
5N1278 History of Photography and visual Culture
5N1270 Digital Photography
5N1538 Photography Techniques
5N4340 Digital Studio Photography
5N0690 Communications
5N0757 Traditional Black & White Photography
5N1271 Documentary Photography
5N1298 Media Analysis
5N1292 Image Processing
5N1365 Work Experience
Photographic Studies Exhibition 2021
Photographic Studies L5

STUDENT CHARGES

Materials €200
QQI Fee €50
Student Services €250
Other €50
TOTAL €550

Contact Details

Tel: 021 4255500
email: Padraig.Murphy@Corketb.ie

Entry Requirements

Leaving Certificate (LC Established, LCVP or LCA) or equivalent

For mature applicants appropriate experience will be considered in lieu of formal qualifications.

Duration

One year full time with the option of progressing to Level 6

Work Placement/Experience

Participants will be required to undertake 10 days of work placement in a relevant location. The College will assist participants in identifying suitable placements.

Facilities

A brand new Photography Department in the refurbished church building on St John’s campus – A fully equipped darkroom and processing area for B/W analog printing.   A spacious studio with professional lighting systems, a digital Suite and digital printing room.  –  medium & large format cameras and digital cameras are provided by the college. 

Education Progression Opportunities

MTU Cork: CR225-Photography & New Media

TU Dublin: TU976-Photography

IADT: DL833-Photography

SETU Waterford: WD152-Visual Art

TUS Limerick: LC110-Art & Design

Upon successful completion of this level 5 course students will have compiled a portfolio suitable for application / progression  to the QQI Level 6 Photographic Studies course in St John’s College.

The level 5 course is seen as an important stepping stone to the 2nd yr level 6 Photographic Studies programme .

However students will also have the opportunity to apply to 3rd level colleges.

Over the last 20 years a large number of our level 6 graduate students have progressed on to the first year and second year of a number of photography degree courses in the island of Ireland including  DL833 Photography degree in iadt (Dún Laoghaire college of Art and Design), TU976 Photography degree course in Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin, formerly DIT) and W641 Photography with Video course in Ulster University Belfast.  Students have also progressed to a number of photography  and fine art degree courses in England, Wales and Scotland.

Recently students have also progressed onto the new degree course CR225, Photography with New Media in the Crawford College of Art & Design, Cork.

The option of applying to broader based art and media courses is of course also a viable option.

Students have also progressed to other Third Level degree courses unrelated to the core subject e.g., Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, Digital Humanities etc.

We advise you to consult the CAO website – www.cao.ie and http://www.cao.ie/index.php?page=fetac_ to confirm specific entry requirements for Higher Education Institutions.

QQI Level 6 awards may have advanced entry options into some Higher Education Institutions.

 

Career Opportunities

The level 5 course is seen as an important stepping stone to the 2nd yr level 6 Photographic Studies progarmme .

The level 6  course prepares students to progress to a broad range of employment areas within the photographic medium; from freelance work to running their own studio or business, to working as photojournalists or photo editors or artist-photographers. To date we have an almost 100% success rate for students progressing to further study at Third Level colleges in Ireland and abroad. Our students have gone on to have work published in magazines, to edit magazines, to publish books of their own work, to become artists and curators, and to successfully start and run their own businesses.

Student Testimonials

Izabela Szczutkowska

A photographer and documentarian. Her work has been an important part of the identity of the Cork scene in recent years. ‘’I went to study journalism – to be a music journalist – and photography, when I realised it was the language of the world.

“I Went back to study photography in St. John’s Central College, here in Cork; that’s where it really started to shape – thanks to the best tutors on the planet…’’

“Thanks to the exceptional tutors, their expertise and individual approach to each student, I received an overall great level of training – in analogue, digital, darkroom and studio photography – that helped me very much to form and inform my practice, both artistic and professional.”

Portfolio: https://www.irishartsreview.com/new-generation-artist-work/izabela-szczutkowska/

https://www.tudublin.ie/grangegorman/news-and-events/2020-graduate-wins-gallery-of-otography-award.html

https://www.izabelaszczutkowska.com/

Izabela Szczutkowska , Former St. John’s Central College Photography Student, Evening Echo, Thurs Jan 17th 2017

Jean Curran

“No, what makes me a good image-maker is spending time engaging with the practice and thinking about what each image needs to say.”

The Vertigo Project by Jean Curran

Irish Examiner , Fri, 11 Jan, 2019 https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-30896882.html

From Both Sides: a collection of black and white photographic portraits of soldiers in Afghanistan that were then painted by hand by an Afghan artist.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/two-sides-to-the-art-of-war-in-afghanistan-1.2183877

Brian Quilinan

Professional printer at Imagine Art , fine art printing , Cork https://imagineartprinting.com/printing/

Editor and contributor to a photo website OnEgdgeStreet https://onedgestreet.com/

and a contemporary practitioner .

“The pleasure is here and now..

“ The experience of the present moment is all that is really precious to us. It is our connection to everything. When people start to look at their phones when Bill Clinton rolls down the street I’m amazed with how easily they become transfixed on tiny pixelated screens over the immense richness of the world surrounding them. While the photographer’s preference is to record what is significant, the challenge is that this desire must not weaken the lure of life’s significant moments themselves. The idea of being free to live through a moment while the shutter happens to fire, this fascinates me no end. True expression isn’t made, it happens. ”

‘Brief Thoughts on Photography Today’ by Brian Quillinan

https://onedgestreet.com/brief-thoughts-on-photography-today/