Lesson 09: A2 — The Photographic Series
Pre A Level Art & Design · Unit 2 · U2·L4 · ← L08 | next unit: U3 Collage →
At a glance
| Session | W10, one Wednesday double (~90 min) — Unit 2 closes |
| Dates | Wed 2026-11-04 |
| Focus | A2 sat: select, sequence, title, and submit your series with its reflection |
| Deliverable | Your final 6–8-image series + written reflection, on MB by close; process trail in your sketchbook |
| Feeds | A2 is the semester’s second attainment; your contact sheet and rejects become sketchbook process evidence for SB2/A5 |
| Homework | None new — weekly MB sketchbook posting continues; U3 Collage opens next week |
Goal
You make A2 in this room, from work you have already done — the double is selection, sequence, and words, not new shooting. Test your series this way: take any one image away — does the group lose something? Add your prettiest off-theme frame — does the group get worse? If you can answer both, you understand what you made.
How it runs
- Set-up (5 min) — criteria on the board: framing · viewpoint · light · series thinking. Have all your frames, contact sheet, and edits open. From here it is your own pictures and your own reasons.
- Selection studio (30 min) — go from candidates to your final 6–8. Make two passes: the kill-your-darlings pass (your strongest image that doesn’t serve the theme goes into the sketchbook, with a note, not the series) and the weakest-link pass (if an image needed defending for two sentences, replace or cut it).
- Sequencing (20 min) — order is meaning: choose an opener (invites), a development (varies), a closer (lands). Lay out two different orders side by side — gallery view or prints on the table — and keep the one that reads better aloud. Title the series; a title is a claim, not a label (“Doors of Building B” < “Nobody Uses the Front Door”).
- Reflection (20 min) — one page, full sentences. Sentence frames: “My series is about … ” / “I chose these … from … frames because … ” / “The strongest image is … because … ” / “My viewpoint/light decision that worked best was … ” / “If I shot the theme again I would … “.
- Submit and close (15 min) — post your series + title + reflection to MB; put the contact sheet and your annotated rejects into the sketchbook as process evidence. Next week the pictures get scissors — bring nothing, the collage unit supplies its own material.
Assessment
A2 — photographic series + reflection, sat and submitted in class. Marking focus: framing, viewpoint, light, series thinking — series thinking is judged on the sequence and the reflection’s reasons, not only the individual frames. Returned with feedback within five working days. Register: PAL S1 Assessments.