Welcome to David G A Photography
I have always loved taking photos ever since I got my first camera when I was in my early teens, however before 2011 every photo I took was taken as keepsakes. It was only when I met by new neighbour Photographer Len Abrams in 2009 that I truly fell in love with photography as an art form and as a purveyor of beauty. What he has been able to do with the humble digital SLR is just awe-inspiring. I have been drawn to Photography ever since. I received my first Digital Canon SLR EOS 550D on my 26th Birthday in 2011. September of that year I enrolled myself onto a NCFE Digital Photographer course and I have not looked back since. I am now studying Photography at a BA level at the University of Creative Arts Farnham an institution that has had a strong photographic presence for over 60 years. My Photography ranges from landscapes to Fine Art photography- From the Natural to the Surreal. All my photos as a photographer to date have been for the most part in a digital format. I have dabbled with film, however as an artist I am more comfortable with dealing with digital, as I enjoy creating surreal imagery with my photographs, and have not got the skill at the moment to try doing the same type of work with film. Those who have the ability, have had a lot of years to perfect their amazing art.
Education
Photography BA (Hons.) | 2013-PRESENT | UCA FARNHAM
Year 3:
Independent Study and Professional Futures- Tasked with creating an ambitious Photographic project dealing with the self and the treatment of LGBT’s worldwide through the use of surrealism, fantasy and dreams and also a continuation of a career development alongside.
Resolution and Professional Futures– Tasked with creating an ambitious Photographic project dealing with Endangered animals and our role in their tragedy. Two images of which are to be shown in the final year BA Showcase and at the Photography Gallery, London after graduation organized by the year group. Helped in part also with putting together the final year exhibition by being part of the build and production teams.
Dissertation- Modern Representations of Masculinity and Sexuality
Year 2:
- Professional Futures- organizing and staging a group Pop-up Exhibition on a chosen theme and researching into a Photography career, Work Experience and presentation and building a photography portfolio
- Vision and Knowledge- ‘Once There Was A Forest’: blurred and out of focused photos of images of cityscapes captioned with the names of forest a comment on the danger of unchecked urbanisation.
- Narration– Exploring different ways to create a single Narrative using photographs
Year 1:
- Documentary and Environment– To Let Surrey: a Photographic project documenting Surrey’s abandoned/derelict shops and buildings
- Constructed Image– Study of What lies beneath: Self Portraits with superimposed animal faces
- Self-Directed– Study Of Nature: Flower and Plant Topographies using four different printing processes: Cyanotype, Argyrotype, Selenium and Digital
Foundation Year:
- Poetics of Space- using sounds and still photographs to tell a story through the use of Adobe Premiere Pro
- Research Project- created 15 composite images based on stories from a science fiction story that I have been writing in my spare time and a 2-minute film based on the same theme using Premiere Pro and narrated in a language I have been creating for the people in the book
- Storytelling and Staging- tasked with creating a 21st Century themed Photographic Tableau Vivant of a 19th Century painting. Helped with the creation of a short film using the story of ‘How Peter Pan and Captain Hook came to hate each other’ as the baseline for the story. Tasked to write a short story using the 1812 Grimm’s Fairytale ‘ The Stolen Pennies’ as a starting point
NCFE | 2011-2013 | EAST SURREY COLLEGE, REDHILL
Year 2:
- Music and Meaning Project– Tasked to create an iMovie using photos to tell the story of a chosen song. Created a personal piece using ‘Empty Chairs’ from Le Miserable
- 7Deadly Sins project– tasked with creating a unique interpretation of this theme
Year 1:
- Photoshop skills. Research project to create a 4 images on a chosen theme. Created a ‘stitched’ Panorama with the help of Photoshop using four or more images of Cala Esmeralda, Cala D’or, Mallorca
Carpentry National Diploma, East Surrey college, Redhill 2007-2010
BA Honours History/Drama| 2003-2009|University of Worcester
Important Modules taken:
- Body, Voices & Spaces
- European Mask Acting
- Managing and Communications Information Using IT
- Career and Personal Development
- Drama, Television and Film
- (Re) Presenting the Past: History in Film
- Nazi Germany: Politics, War and Genocide
Took a Semester on an Exchange Programme at Bishop’s University, Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada (January/May 2005)
The modules taken were:
- Pre-Confederation Canada,
- Latin America to 1800
- Contemporary Canadian Drama
- Acting II class
St Bede’s Highschool, Redhill 1997-2003
Blakehurst Primary School, Blakehurst, Sydney, Australia 1990-1996
Experience:
BA Final Showcase, UCA Farnham | Photography Gallery, London| Final Year Exhibition | 7th -16th June 2017 | 26th June 2017
– Two Images from the Resolution final Term project entitled ‘Known Only By Their Fables’
Lightbox Exhibition, Woking | Blown Away Exhibition | 4th -26th Feb 2017
– Exhibited One image from the ‘I Am Gaia’ series, Independent Study, along with other UCA Photography Students
GROUP EXHIBITION | THE SECRET GARDEN STUDENT POP-UP EXHIBITION | 23RD NOVEMBER 2015
- Tasked with the group marketing for the Exhibition on the 23rd November in Farnham Library
- Exhibiting work on the theme of Flowers.
- Used Twitter, Facebook, emails and a Newspaper advertisement to broadcast the exhibition out to the public.
- Worked also in a group to set up this exhibition.
- Created the Exhibition tag line – ‘The Secret Bond That Flowers Hold’
- Exhibited photos of Australian flowers
NCFE YEAR 2 EXHIBITION | EAST SURREY COLLEGE, REDHILL | 2013
- First Photography Exhibition of Personal work on the 7Deadly Sins.
- Received Peer and Tutor recognition for this work
Employment:
- Internship as an Archivist, Digitisation Unit, UCA Farnham 4th-22nd April 2016
- Volunteering: Museum Steward, East Surrey Museum, Caterham, (April 2011‐Present)
- Volunteered as a Room Steward, Charles Dicken’s Museum, Holborn (June 13‐Oct 2014)
- Admin Assistant at Creative Design (Europe), (May 2010-July 2010 Hammersmith) (Aug 2012-Present Basildon)
- Backstage Hand, Harlequin Theatre, Redhill, Surrey (Oct 2006-Nov 2012) (volunteering): for a week each year
- Front of House Visitor Service & Information & Tills, Natural History Museum, South Kensington, (Feb-March 2007)
- Postal Department (work experience)- Aon Insurance Company, Caterham, Surrey (12-16th June 2000)
David G A Ward Photography 