Who are we? The OCA Photography Social Group

We are a group of students who come together to help each other through the exciting journey of our photographic studies. On our Discord Channel we offer informal critiques; answer technical questions about cameras and the apps we need for our course; share collaborative challenges; and give support and encouragement to anyone who asks for it. If you would like to join us then please email luke523038@oca.ac.uk to ask for the link.

Monthly virtual events give us an opportunity to discuss the work of photographers who interest or challenge us; to hear first-hand about the practice and creative process of both professionals and past students of OCA; and to consider broader issues around the place of photography in society.

In the last six months we have heard talks from some excellent speakers. Helen Williams gave an entertaining talk about her early career as a photojournalist, then her move to working with television production companies taking photographs on set, and for advertising their programmes. Dr Susan Bright shared her experience as a curator, particular of photo-based exhibitions. She went into detail about the curation process, the budgets she works with, and how she collaborates with artists.

Academic and painter Caleb Weintraub gave an enlightening talk about photography, AI and ethics. He put this in the context of earlier developments in photographic technology whilst talking about the impact on photography, why it matters and the multiple perspectives on this.

We were also joined by visual storyteller Mr Whisper (Bal Bhatla) who specialises in natural and low light street photography. He is an ambassador for Fujifilm and has worked for brands including Disney and Netflix to produce images for advertising campaigns. He talked about his experience of working with corporate clients, the value of social media for photographers, how you can keep your stylistic integrity through commercial work. He shared often amusing stories about his experiences on location. As with most of our speakers, the video is available on the PSG Padlet and is worth a watch.

The meet up in November was a great success. We started at the Whitechapel Gallery in London to see the Peter Kennard exhibition, then moved on to V&A for lunch and the Fragile Beauty exhibition. The conversations we had help to build connections which are much harder to achieve online so if you can make it to one of these meet-ups we’d highly recommend them. If you have a suggestion for a suitable exhibition close to where you live then please get in touch and we’ll help to organise a visit.

We have just started a group to improve our critique of photos. It’s based on Terry Barrett’s book Crits A Student Manual, and each of the monthly sessions will start with a fun activity to get everyone talking and then go into more detail about one or two images. If you would like to join us then please email jennifer531092@oca.ac.uk to receive an invitation to the next session.

Bal Bhatla photo from https://www.mrwhisperstudios.com/ 

Coming up this year

Our next meet up is at The Photographers Gallery in London on 10th May at 11:15 to see Peter Mitchell’s exhibition Nothing Lasts Forever – please email jennifer531092@oca.ac.uk if you would like to join us or sign up on the OCASA site here.

We have talks planned from people specialising in landscape photography, an alumnus, the co-founder of a collective, a zine creator, and a documentary photographer, to mention but a few. All the details of forthcoming events are emailed out to photography students with details also available on the PSG Padlet.

On Discord there is a monthly collaboration discussion which anyone is free to join – just follow the link on the channel to find the date of the next meeting and a suggestion about what we will be talking about.

PSG Team

Featured Image: 'Operation Ouch CBBC' image courtesy of Helen Williams/BBC https://helentwilliams.com/publicity-portraits