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A High Performing Specialist Academy for Technology & Applied Learning

Tate Modern and Tate Britain Trip for Photography Students

In September AS and GCSE Photography students took a trip to the Tate Modern and Tate Britain museums. The GCSE group went to an exhibition by Muybridge, whilst the AS group looked at the other exhibitions on display.

The Harrier and Jaguar display by Fiona Banner, of two ex-fighter jets, was an extraordinary and unusual exhibit which had an intriguing true story behind it.

After lunch, we went on to the Tate Modern where AS students went into an exhibition called 'Exposed'. Exposed examined how the camera has led to the desire to capture what is hidden. It displayed photos taken from the 19th century to the present day, taken by professional photographers, and also images captured on a daily basis by CCTV without our knowledge. This exhibition showed, in reality, how easily and how often lines of privacy are crossed by capturing these images every day. The photos were very fascinating and I found myself to be the last one out as I read some of the captivating stories behind some of the photos! Examples of some of the questionable images are those of illegal gentlemen's clubs and a more recent one of Paris Hilton on her way to jail crying.

On the coach on the way back there was a continuing chatter between us about some of the controversial images we had seen, showing how naive we have become about what is really private.

This was my first trip to a photography exhibition and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience - it provoked many opinions from everyone about the different images, showing just how secretly powerful the camera can be.

Curriculum Information