A2 Photography students have 
been asked to produce a number of images celebrating Black History Month. The students were given a commission by Shelley Phelan (Executive Director Equality, Diversity and Safeguarding). This became the student’s first live project as part of their A2 qualification.
As part of the commission, the students developed their own ideas and then presented them to Shelley. There was a diverse range of developed ideas of which three were chosen to become the final images. The ideas chosen were from Emeline Robertson, Deanna Brown and Jahvaughn Payne. The students then spent their time developing the ideas further and gathering images of students and staff from the college.
Shelley and I have been impressed with how the students have been able to explore the theme and to have developed their skills to produce professional photographs in such a short amount of time.
Shelley and I would like to say a big thank you to Professional Photographer Donald MacLellan for lending his images to the college. Donald’s work was produced based on the title of “Black Power” has been a great inspiration to the students. Within this body of work he has produced images of positive black role models in the British community. Many of these are housed in the National Portrait Gallery collection. See the website for more information: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp14239/donald-maclellan.
Matthew Billington (Photography Tutor)
Art & Design at Bournville College 