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NZ Macguide Issue 8
Located in the heart of Palmerston North, UCOL (Universal College of
Learning) is home to a myriad of different hands-on courses from
pre-apprentice engineering courses to full-on graphic design. The
campus is bright and new with purpose-built labs for all disciplines,
and all this is very attractive to our digital camera guy, Fraser Kitt.
Photography has proven to be one of the most popular courses offered
at the Universal College - the two-year diploma course covers all
aspects including Photoshop labs tutored by Chris Hubbard. Chris is the
most enthusiastic tutor I have had the pleasure of meeting in ages.
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Student come from all over the country to study at UCOL |
His fervour is fuelled by a past as a commercial photographer who
branched into graphic design, then on to prepress in the printing
industry. He has that assured calmness that goes with knowing the
business he teaches. He has also been on board at UCOL from conception
and he is one of those who told the bean counters - who wanted to
install PCs - that the industry would laugh if the students
weren't taught on Macs.
Students come from all over the country to attend UCOL courses.
Chris has students from as far away as Dargaville, Blenheim, Nelson and
Wellington. With approximately 110 fulltime students on the books this
is one busy college. Class numbers are relatively low compared with
university lectures; here the students know all the lecturers and when
a problem arises the tutors are at hand.
Count the Macs
The design centre is nestled at the back of the campus in Queen Street
in the building that houses the Visual Arts courses - there are 55
Macs.
Three different courses are taught: the traditional 'visual arts'
(painting and pottery), design and multimedia (computer based using a
G4 lab) and last but not least, the photography section. Here the
students are heavily involved with cameras, film and - yes
- Mac G4 computers.
About 20 Mamiya RB 67 medium format cameras are heavily used. Third
year students get to play with the large format 4x5 cameras. All
students use the Nikon Coolscan in both 35mm and 120 formats. An Epson
Duoscan is used for the larger formats up to 4x5 inches.
Of the 55 Macs, 52 are G4s. Each Mac is fitted with a CD burner and
a Zip drive. Chris instructs students to back-up to disc, preferably
making two CD copies; using the Zip drives is a fast and efficient way
of backing up work-in-progress files.
Digital
Olympus E-10 and E-20 digital cameras were chosen for the digital work.
These are robust, with functions and settings similar to those of
conventional cameras, allowing the students to set exposure via shutter
speed and aperture. These cameras are loaned out and they are very
popular. "They are probably the cheapest true SLR view cameras you can
get, as against relying on LCD screens," Chris added.
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Welcome to the 21st century - no safe lights, chemicals or tape to edit |
Moving image
The department also has a few video cameras. Two top-of-the-line Mac G4
900 towers are dedicated to video and Panasonic MX 300 and 350,
triple-CCD cameras are the weapons of choice for the photographic
department. To teach the finer points and continuity of movie making,
iMovie is used. "It's a straightforward program to learn - in one
session you can be making movies," Chris explains. "The software will
change but the concept of how you put a movie together does not".
While the world of photography has rapidly altered with the
introduction of digital cameras, Chris is quick to point out that
photography is still basically the same. "My philosophy of Photoshop is
this: a photographer goes into the black and white darkroom and does
final manipulation by dodging and burning. When they come to colour,
they loose that control once the image has gone to a lab. To me the
computer gives the photographer back the control they had in the
darkroom. I see digital overcoming the shortcomings of photography. For
example, with a digital camera you don't have to wait for the film to
be developed. The capture area is smaller so the depth of field is
greater. There are all sorts of little gains; niggly things about
photography that have been overcome with digital. But the basics of
photography have not changed - the concept of lighting and depth of
field are still the same."
Fifty percent of the third year is digital.
Lecturers' iBooks
Chris enjoys the freedom of iBooks that are available to lecturers.
Airport-based, these units link wirelessly into the college network and
have access to printers and data projectors. "They offer the freedom to
prepare material at home or in the office".
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Chris Hubbard loves his job, and with good reason |
The students learn Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand and Adobe
Acrobat. The course is work oriented - students are encouraged to
participate in the NZIPP (New Zealand Institute of Professional
Photographers) print judging. Three of the four finalists were Ucol
students including Manawa Udy, a third-year student who won two silvers
and a Gold medal with distinctions.
The emphasis of the course is to produce photographers who will get jobs by instilling real world skills and values.
About twice yearly, Chris is involved with weekend Photoshop courses
at introduction and advanced levels. Attracting about 20 people per
course, they help to build and hone Photoshop skills. Each student has
a Mac to use and there are always additional tutors on hand. While
Chris shows the class what to do via an iBook and a data projector
while the other lecturers roam and handle individual enquiries.
Computer access
All fulltime students have access to the
computer labs from 8.30am to 11pm Monday to Friday, and weekend access
10am to 4pm as long as there is no class in session (but students may
enter classes if there is a free seat, except that students can't enter
a lecture for a class at a higher level than they are).
UCOL's policy is to renew hardware on a three-year rotation. The
current ones were up for renewal at the end of 2002, to be superceded
by new G4 twin processor units. Likewise the colleges was using
Photoshop 6 with an upgrade to 7 imminent.
All computers have Mac OS9. The change to Mac OS X has had to work
in with administration software that charges students for prints and
copying, but it will come.
You just can't keep the smiles off Chris's face. Who wouldn't be
happy working in an environment like this? Great machines, enthusiastic
students and lecturers keen to teach.
?�© Parkside Media 2003
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