Profile

I now have all the course materials and have spent the last couple of evenings going through things. The first required activity for the course is to send a personal profile to your tutor. This is mine:

My name is Steven Briggs, I turn 40 later this year (born 27th September 1972) and live in Nantwich, Cheshire with my wife and 2 children. By day (and sometimes beyond), I work as a Software Development Manager for a major online gambling company.  

Photography  

In a fairly passive way, I’ve been interested in photography for most of my life. I saved all my pocket money for over a year when I was 12 in order to buy an SLR. I bought it mainly to take photographs of military planes. However, my interest soon broadened - particularly as I completed my Art GCSE. Unfortunately I found the hobby difficult to maintain, partly due to cost, partly due to mobility (the ability to get to places to take photographs), and partly due to lack of imagination. In addition, I grew an increasing interest in music - so in the end I sold my camera to get a guitar. I was intrigued by the benefits of digital photography for some time before I was able to convince myself that I’d maintain an interest in photography for a prolonged enough period to warrant buying a DSLR. However, I bought one about 2 and a half years ago and have enjoyed photography as a hobby ever since. I’ve developed my skills during this period, but I currently feel that I’m getting a little stale – potentially due to lack of structure and sense of purpose behind what I’m doing.

Study 

When I completed my A-Levels I knew I wanted to be a professional musician (singer in a band....). However I also enjoyed studying, so I decided to go to University and study Philosophy and Sociology which appealed to my interest in pondering the big problems of life. I then moved to London to seek my fame and fortune as a musician. I had mixed results – a degree of success, but my sense of realism got in the way and I decided that I needed to start a career in order to pay the bills. While I’d previously been a confirmed hater of technology (pretty much believing that the internet would be the end of all human interaction), that which I hated started to become that which interested me most. So pretty much out of the blue I decided to adopt a career in IT. I realised that I would need some formal training so I started a part-time MSc in Software Engineering. I enjoyed the challenge of squeezing studying the degree alongside my job and family commitments. Particularly in the second year I concentrated on self study and attended a minimum of lectures. I passed with a distinction and have since enjoyed a reasonably successful career in IT.

Combining the 2

My intention with embarking on the OCA Photography Degree course is to provide some structure to my ongoing development as a photographer. I’m hoping that my studies and associated projects and assignments will give me the focus and challenge I need to take me out of my comfort zone and really push me forward with my photography. While I’m unsure whether I’ll be able to maintain the motivation over the full duration required to do a degree, I do want to proceed with assessment for each course in the hope that I will stick at it. I intend to take about a year on each course. I’m attracted by the formality, rigour and duration that will go along with a degree level course – including the study of other photographers that is unlikely to be included in a less academic course. I also like the idea of gaining a degree in Photography as it would compliment my Philosophy and IT degrees to give a fairly rounded view of my life interests. Another major reason for wanting to do the course is escapism – I have a very demanding job and pretty demanding family, which makes it all the more important that I use my spare time efficiently and to maximum effect. Photography enables me to concentrate on my creative and artistic side which doesn’t get much expression in my work. And finally, if I’m really honest I like the idea of being able to make a living from Photography. I’m realistic that this may never happen, but I also know that I won’t be able to maintain my IT career much into my 50’s. If I can progress the course to degree level I may be in a position to make some money from photography at the end of it. Who knows.

Misc

My pre-existing Flickr account is www.flickr.com/stevenbriggs7 . In line with my ambition to complete all work electronically and online I’ve setup a blog as a learning log - http://stevenbriggs7.blogspot.co.uk/ . My email address is stevenbriggs7@hotmail.co.uk .