Kerry from Missy Vintage reflects on her second year at university and how Black and White Photography magazine has helped her research...
I’m coming towards the end of my second year at university – in fact at the time of writing this, I have less than a week until my final hand in of the year. Less than a week. My heart just gave a slight flutter. Panic? Excitement? I think both…
People keep asking me how I juggle everything; the fact is I don’t feel like I do. My blog has had to go neglected for a little while as I find myself being totally consumed by my photography degree plus all the other things that life throws at you. I think it’s pretty tough going to uni regardless of what age you are. There’s this constant theory being tossed around that the young spend their days in bed and the older students are much more ‘on it’ because we’re older, wiser and more together. I would suggest this is a myth!
When I started uni I thought my days would be filled with lots of sitting around in coffee shops and bars, chatting about art. Whilst there has been quite a bit of that, there hasn't been as much as I thought there would be. Some days I’m mainly on my own, reading, researching and making plans. Although much of this is carried out online, there is still something about sitting and turning the pages of a printed magazine or a book which makes working feel just that bit more enjoyable. Also, sometimes I just get completely fed up with scrolling through a screen for hours at a time!
For the first part of my second year, I was creating a lot of black and white imagery. I was looking beyond photography for my research but of course a strong element was looking at other photographers, both historic and contemporary. Black and White Photography magazine has been a good source of research and great company for me when I’ve been out and about on trains getting from A to B to shoot locations.
I love train rides but the Wi-Fi is often really shockingly bad so I always try and have a magazine or a book with me so I can still read something. With just the final leg of my second year to go I’m beginning to plan how to spend the summer. Destinations like Brighton and London are calling but I also feel I’d like to revisit Birmingham again soon too. Then there’s a plan I’ve had for a long time which is to just turn up at the station and getting on the next train to leave that goes to a place I’ve never visited before so I can photograph the unfamiliar. So it looks like my summer is going to involve a lot of reading on trains…
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