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Collaboration across the motu
Five students from the Level 5 Digital Photography Training Scheme share their mahi and their experience of the online NMIT Te Pūkenga course.
The remote course allows ākonga to ‘call the shots’ as they take control of their own time management and produce a series of projects backed up with an explanation that highlights the techniques portrayed.
Jess Shirley, course tutor, says that despite ākonga enrolling from all over New Zealand, the engagement and energy on the course is brilliant.
“Some of the online students started study groups in their own area and met up in person. We had great ongoing communication and could video call if needed.”
Catherine Gillum started learning about photography during the first covid lockdown to fill in some time, and quickly got hooked.
“However, there was only so much I could learn on my own,” she said.
Joining the NMIT online course pushed her to try new things, which has led her to develop her own style.
As photography is a hobby for her, she has joined a 365 project, posting photos every day on a platform to receive feedback and to continue practicing her skills.
Thanks to his interest in photography and experience in making videos, Dan Hunter decided to dip his toes into studying online at NMIT.
“I’d chosen not to go to university right after I finished school,” Daniel said, “but I still wanted to study something.”
He enjoyed the course because it kept him motivated and practicing his art.
“Also, I loved seeing everyone else’s work,” he said.
“The course looked perfect to suit my needs as it’s not too long and could be done online,” said Sid Hu.
He was planning to attend some photography training to strengthen his skills when he found this NMIT course online.
From Auckland, he admires the many street photographers that see the extraordinary in the ordinary and wants to become one of them.
“The course fitted my pace perfectly,” he said. “I could finish the theoretical learning at home and go practice the capturing skills whenever I had time.”
Sid also enjoyed the collaborative approach of being able to share his work and get instant feedback.
“There’s a great learning vibe in our class forum. Everyone is so supportive and kind.”
Sarah Pumphrey juggles work with completing her Bachelor’s degree and was looking for an elective course that could be completed online.
“I really enjoyed the flexibility of the course,” Sarah said. “It worked well with my other commitments, and I could juggle the exercises and tasks to suit what was happening at the time.”
As she works in a high school and spends a lot of time helping students with their NCEA art boards, which includes photography, she thought it would be great to have a better understanding of photography herself.
Julia Seagar inherited a camera and wanted to learn what all the buttons meant on it.
“The manual overwhelmed me,” she said, “therefore taking a course made sense.”
She loved that the course kept her interested and that it was at a pace that was comfortable.
“The weekly lessons gave me enough time to absorb the information and to have enormous fun experimenting,” she said.
Julia found learning postproduction was very valuable.
“I discovered how to transform an image into something quite magical,” she said.
Julia is an artist and is now hoping to incorporate art with the ‘wonderful world of photography’.
For more information on the Level 5 Digital Photography Training Scheme(external link) or other online courses and programmes available at NMIT, check out our website(external link).
