PHOTOGRAPHY BTEC NATIONAL DIPLOMA L3 2026
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the first permanent photograph. 2026 is exactly 200 years since the French amateur inventor – Nicéphore Niépce, made the first lens-based likeness, the first lasting grainy scene, which happened to be the view from
his window. It was made on metal and took eight hours to expose.
Like an unassuming scientific alchemist, he magically conjured up a golden cultural moment in our quest to record and understand the world around us. Despite its recent convergence with the world of ‘high tech’, photography is still essentially about
communicating creative ideas, eloquently through the capture of light and time.
With 200 years of photographic history behind us though, it becomes increasingly difficult for
photographers to surprise us with ‘effective novelty’ as creativity is sometimes defined.
This year’s cohort has had its share of ups and downs. We recently had a trip to Derbyshire,
where we climbed Thorpe Cloud, as well as completing a 10-mile hike to Thor’s Cave. Last
year we also represented the college in the Lessons from Auschwitz program. In January we
exhibited our Diversity project as part of our Culture Day.
This was about exploring and conveying positivity and acceptance within themes of diversity, focusing on areas such as age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, hair colour, disability, etc. We feel that it is very important to celebrate individuality and personal expression within our work. To succeed together, we believe we need to value what makes us different.
In March last year we also managed to exhibit our positive-image portraits of Dudley’s Refugees in The Upper Waiting Hall of The House of Commons, as well as making some strong street photography in the capital. We also continued our conservation photography partnership with Dudley Zoo, which next year will become our biggest collaboration yet, as we mark the zoo’s 90th anniversary, with a wider visual and oral history, heritage project.
This cohort are clearly a creative bunch; they have had exhibitions and won competitions, even nationally, with our Association of Colleges exhibition and globally, with our recent World Skills accolade. We have continued to build close relationships with local universities too, many of whom we visited for workshops, or they visited us. Half of our young people are heading for undergraduate study, many locally, but some further afield. Others are seeking creative employment.
We were proud to welcome back Ellie Avison of the class of 2022, this year, a graduate of University of the Arts, London (one of the top universities in the world for art and photography) who during her teacher training with us, has helped transform this academic year. In the end, the class of 2026 have solved problems and come together to make this yearbook, showcasing their talents and aspirations.
We wish them luck, as they leave us to make their mark and embark on the next chapter of their lives; but let’s take a moment to reflect on their journeys together with us. I have learnt, that at critical moments in time, you can significantly raise the aspirations of young people, sometimes, simply by suggesting that they can do something bigger or better or more ambitious than what they thought was possible or what they felt they could achieve.
We hope you find our students’ work interesting, thought-provoking, authentic and relevant, especially in this image-saturated age of instant communication and deep fake, AI digital trickery. Despite the importance of our trips, it’s not always necessarily to go far, no need to canoe down the Amazon to create great photography. The trick it seems to me is to retain a sense of wonder about the world around us. We all take pictures now, but how many of us really look? Really, see?
As the seminal contemporary photographer of our time, the recently departed Martin Parr, so astutely pointed out, why are many of us drawn to photographic cliches, subjects that rarely change? Why not instead, as we did with our Show Me A Secret project, turn your attention to the high street, the view from the bus or the interior of your local shop? Thanks to the whole team, including Ellie and Chris!
Phil Brooks, course leader, photography
