And we're off...

So this week it's down to the nitty gritty! The nitty gritty of freshers week and hangovers, but more importantly, exemption from council tax!

Last week the first years presented our summer project, titled "Look Again". The was a real mixture of ideas and some had put more effort than others. My photos were rushed through really as the class was running late, something which I have thought a lot about since. Maybe I tried to follow the rules too closely. As Paul Arden says "If something you produced wasn't successful, its probably because you followed the rules" I interpreted the brief too literally maybe and tried to get colour, contrast, texture and text into my images instead of just one or two of those things. The result was maybe that my photos were the classic "style over content". It's hard to make bus timetables interesting for the viewer. I tried to overcome this by taking my shots at strange angles and/or using a fish eye lens. the result was an interesting photo of a dull and everyday object. Still, I can learn from this.

Speaking of Paul Arden, I googled him over the weekend only to find that he passed away last April. I loved his books, in particular, "Whatever you think, think the opposite". I loved some of the advertising campaigns he worked on, mostly "Silk Cut" and "The car in front is a Toyota". I found his ideas were always clever, often had two meanings and played very well with the English language. I read two of his books again over the weekend, inspiring stuff from a clever man.

As well as re-reading Paul Arden books, last weekend I went to London with the intention of visiting The V&A and Tate Modern and ended up doing neither. A walk through Spitelfields Market was more appropriate considering the sunshine and taking a look at the latest trends in independent fashion designers. I ended up taking some pictures of the quirky things often seen in London or any big cities. A montage of brands logo's into the face of Che Guevara was excellent, if unoriginal. It would have been perfect for the "Look Again" assignment we were set over the summer. Just a week too late!

I got my result from my Open University course recently, a pass at A standard and overall mark of 86%. Delighted with the result, although when I look at the website I created I find it very amateur and conservative, although much of that was because of the constraints of the brief.

Spoke with Clive the other day about his past work in editing and it turns out he hired some AVID equipment from TVE Ltd, before I worked there I might add, and they still owe him money! Small world. Nice guy who when I bump into around campus is always willing to stop and say Hi, even if he does call me Mush. I'll presume that he hasn't learnt my name just yet :-)

First class with Anna today, which I found really interesting. I'm not the strongest on Photoshop and other software packages but I find the history and underlining knowledge fascinating. Just taken out "Advertising As Communication" from the library as not able to attend her class next week and she says it's a good read. We'll see!!!

Also took out "Looking Closer" and "Type and Typography". So some 600 pages of reading at bedtime tonight. Drunk on literature? That is what freshers week is all about right? Hmmm, I'll start reading tomorrow maybe ;-)