A Blog... Jasper's Blog... About Photography: Unit 31

Task 1

LO 1.1:

Write here the career/educational pathway you want to pursue:

The main pathway in my life at this moment in time is an educational one. I want to, step by step, try and get a degree in photography.

Strengths

Determination - I'm determined to keep going, no matter what the obstacles may be. Even if failure is likely.
Commitment - I'm committed to finish what I start and to create the best possible outcome.
Helpfulness - I'm always willing to help others.
Punctuality - I am always on time. My motto is "rather too early than too late".
Sense of Humour - I feel I have a great sense of humour and can have a good laugh with people.
Linguistic Skills - I can speak several languages.
Communication Skills - I can communicate clearly and get my point across without confusion.
Patience - I am very patient, which can come in handy when helping others or when aiming for perfection.
Planning - I'm very good at planning and scheduling my work, ensuring I finish my work within the allotted time frame.
Perfectionist - I'm a perfectionist. I want things to be perfect or as close to perfect in my opinion as possible. This is both a strength and a weakness in my opinion.

Weaknesses

Self Confidence - I am not very confident about my abilities. Don't like dealing with people I don't know.
Disability - My back problem holds me back in life a lot. It often stops me from doing what I want.
Stress - I get stressed rather easily, which is a problem when deadlines are looming.
Critical - I can be too critical of my own work, which can make me doubt myself.
Short Temper - I can get angry quite quickly, but never without reason.
Perfectionist - I'm a perfectionist. I want things to be perfect or as close to perfect in my opinion as possible. This is both a strength and a weakness in my opinion.

Opportunities

Support - I've had the support from both my college and my family to pursue this educational pathway.
Moving country - Moving from Holland to England helped me to discover my passion for photography.
Professionals - I've had the opportunity to work with some professionals (photographers and models) and learn from them.

Threats

Health - My health is my biggest threat. It is the one thing that can hold me back and stop me from reaching my goals.
Money - Without the proper funding, affording the right equipment is impossible. This in turn will make it hard to compete within the industry.

Assessing SWOT Analysis

Task 2

LOs 1.1 / 1.2:

Now that you have created your SWOT analysis, list here the ones you want to improve explaining why these are important to you and your future career/educational path.

I would like to improve my disability, although at the moment in time there is no way of doing so. The medical knowledge and equipment is not available at this moment in time, but I have been advised not to undergo any more surgery anyway by my specialist.
I would like to improve my stress, which I can do by planning and scheduling my work properly as I have been doing. This should reduce my stress and my worries.
I would also like to improve my self confidence, which I can do by continuing to work with different people and also by believing in my own abilities a bit more.

As a photographer, you have to often deal with people and you have to sell your work. This is a hard thing to do if you don't believe in yourself and aren't confident when dealing with people. Stress is never good, in any profession or educational setting. It can affect your work a lot. My disability, at this moment in time, means I can't work and makes going to college very tough. I have lots of days when I have to lie on my bed and other days when I suffer from side effects from my tablets. This makes planning any work almost impossible, which is a hindrance if I'd want to pursue a professional career in photography.

For this task, my disability stopped me from executing my shoot at the pace and times that I wanted. I needed a lot of rest in between etc. I managed to keep stress to a minimum for this task as I'd planned it all properly, which turned out to be very important in the end as I would've had to do my shoot with thousands of visitors surrounding me. My self confidence could've done with a bit of a boost, as I had to engage with a lot of people. But I think I did well in the end and it's definitely helped me improve my self confidence. I'm much more likely to walk up to someone now and ask them if I can take their photograph.

Future Plan

Task 3

LOs 2.1 / 2.2:

List here all the skills that you feel that you have and those that you feel you will need for your career/educational pathway. Describe how they can be used in the future.

I have an eye for detail.
I'm a perfectionist.
I'm a quick learner.
I will need determination, perseverance and commitment.
I will need creativity and imagination.

The skills will all come in handy when doing my foundation degree in photography. I'm sure I will need a lot of every single one to complete the tasks and briefs set by my tutors.

For this task, having an eye for detail and being a perfectionist was perfect. I had to keep an eye out for any modern equipment and influences, as I didn't want those in my photographs. Because of my back, the determination, perseverance and commitment came in very quickly after starting my shoot. The pain was immense, but I had to keep going in order to complete my project. I think, looking at my images, creativity and imagination wasn't much of an issue this time. But they definitely came in handy in order to come up with the idea for this shoot.

My Life

Task 4

LO 3.1:

Using the SWOT analysis technique, describe here your current life situation in terms of relationships to others.

I have a wife and three daughters, all of whom I love very much and all of whom love me very much. We support each other and give each other space to make our own choices. I only have a small group of friends, but every single one is an important part of our life. My family all live in Holland, which means visits are rare but intense. However, we are very close to everyone.

Increasing my friend circle is something I'm rather keen on, which is partly why I decided to do these courses. Meeting new people is important in life, I think. My disability stops me from being an outgoing person, which in turn affects my relationships with the people outside my direct family.

For this task, the relationship with my best friend was important. Without him as my assistant, I probably wouldn't have been able to complete this project. So I may not have many friends, but I'm thankful for the handful of friends I do have as they're always willing to help me out.

My Choices

Task 5

LOs 4.1 / 4.2:

After group discussion regarding work and educational routes, describe here how you have made positive decisions in your life. Remember to give examples and reasons for your choices.

Before moving to England, I have worked from the age of 14. I always had holiday and weekend jobs until I started full time employment at the age of 18. This has given me a lot of experience in a work environment.

The move to England itself has been very positive for me and has opened up new opportunities. The reason I moved was the fact that I had met my wife on the internet and flying back and forth started to become too expensive after a year, not to mention the phone bills.

Going to college has been a huge decision in my life and certainly wasn't an easy thing to do at the age of 31. It's been a tough thing for the whole family, as my back takes me out of action after a day of college and forces me to lie on my bed to recover for sometimes several days. But even so, it's been a positive experience for me.

Now, the decision to continue and do my foundation degree has been the biggest, recent decision. It's given me a goal in life, which is something I have not really had for the past 9 years or so.

Without these choices, none of this project would've happened. I wouldn't have been in college over here in England. I wouldn't have had this event. So basically, my life choices have been rather important for this project.

My Action Plan

Task 6

LO 5.1:

After the group discussion about SMART targets think about the targets that you want to set yourself. These can be short term or long term goals.

Create your own SMART targets here: