NPA Photography
Course Overview
The NPA Level 5 course covers both practical and analysis skills. You will cover areas such as understanding different genres of photography, photographic skills in photographing people and places and how to organise and manipulate your photography:
Unit 1 Understanding Photography: This unit involves research tasks, photographic vocabulary and learning how to analyse a photograph. You will spend time learning how to use the camera.
Unit 2 Photographing People: During this unit, you will be required to plan three photoshoots that involve taking pictures of people. You will need to conduct research, create a plan and carry out the three shoots between August and October. It is essential that the photoshoots you plan are related to your research and plans, and each shoot should include a minimum of 25 images. Final images will be selected and evaluated at the end.
Unit 3 Photographing Places: During this unit, you will be required to plan five photoshoots that involve taking pictures of places. You will need to conduct research, create detailed plans and carry out the five shoots between October and January/February. It is essential that the photoshoots you plan are related to your research and plans, and each shoot should include a minimum of 25 images. Final images will be selected and evaluated at the end.
Unit 4 Working with Photographs: This unit involves the organisation of photographic files, written or oral evaluation, practical work enhancing your own photographs using Photoshop (or a similar platform) and finally a task involving the resizing of your photographic images.
Assessment:
All Units of the NPA are internally marked within Ellon Academy. SQA will provide rigorous external quality assurance, including external verification, to ensure assessment judgements are consistent and meet national standards.
Homework:
You will be required to take photographs out of school time which you can then work on in class.
Expectations Outside of Class Time:
Some pupils may wish to take photographs outside of class time. For NPA Photography pupils, they can use their own personal cameras or phone cameras to take photographs outside of school. Pupils do not need a high-functioning professional camera to take photographs at NPA.
Progression in Senior Phase:
If you have completed NPA Photography and wish to further develop your skills, you can progress to the Higher Photography course. This course will help you prepare your portfolio for entry into art college or to apply for higher studies in photography at a college or university.