I was worried that my work would be satisfactory for the formal assessment as landscape was not best of favourite subject. I did however, do my best to persevere with reading and learning as much as I could from this genre and my final score was 61% which is actually higher than I’ve managed to achieve so far on any of my courses; so I am happy.
Assessment Criteria
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Materials, techniques, observational skills,
visual awareness, design and compositional skills
Very competent technical and visual skills
Range 0-35 = 23
Quality of Outcome
Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner,
with discernment. Conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.
Competent realisation of ideas, presented well, showing judgement. Reasonably effective grasp of
ideas and communication of visual ideas.
Range 0-20 = 11
Demonstration of Creativity
Imagination, experimentation, invention. Development of a personal voice.
Very good synthesis of analytical and creative thinking. Creative, takes risks with imaginative and
successful outcomes. Evidence of a developing personal voice.
Range 0-25 = 15
Context
Reflection, research (evidenced in learning logs). Critical thinking (evidenced in critical
review).
Articulate and self aware, good range of research. Demonstrates a developing intellectual
understanding and criticality
Range 0-20 = 12
Visual Arts Level 2 (HE5) Summative Assessment Mark (%) 61
Overall Comments and Feed Forward
This has been a transformative experience for you despite early trepidation concerning the
genre not ‘being your favourite subject’. There is some extremely honest self-evaluation and
strong ‘reflective learning’, pivotal in progressing your studies in preparation for future units.
Taking time to explore a more contemplative way of working with more rigorous technical
requirements (such as hyper-focal / depth of field) has been productive for you, not only to
improve practical skills but also in written analysis of images (key practitioners as well as your
own).
Although some of the assignments at first rested on the familiar recording of place they were not
as considered as they could have been, by the end point you began to find alternative
approaches. Taking on new ideas and more complex conceptual documentary Ideas of urban
landscapes (from Paul Graham Aftermath to the formal experiments of Richard Mosse) has
been pivotal in the integrated theory/practice approach you have developed throughout the
course. Some technical improvements needed and limiting speculation about ‘meaning’ but the
groundwork is there to build on in the next units. Research on everyday/banal spaces and how
you have applied the influences using novel forms and strategies moves the learning from
merely ‘competent’ to very good and you should be commended for the immense amount of
work you have done in this regard.
Moving forward the ‘struggle’ (as you call it) and the admission that you found the course ‘hard’
has to be emphasised. True reflective learning here, a determination to reach out of your
‘comfort zone’. The extensive re-organisation of the blog with practicing summarising key
research points is evidence of a huge development; a very big move from the starting point.
Demonstrating a deepening awareness of practical and contextual knowledge.
Shaun Mullins (512659) Photography Level 2 - Landscape (PH5LDS) 