BA (Hons) Commercial Photography

Gabriel Van Ingen is Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA (Hons) Photography and BA (Hons) Commercial Photography at Arts University Plymouth. Gabriel is highly experienced educator in the creative arts and an Ambassador for Docking Station, a Netherlands-based photography platform, and was previously Editor at LUMEN magazine of visual art and technology and Director of Nottingham-based artist studios and exhibition space, Secta Studios. His work has been exhibited across the UK and Spain. A PhD candidate with an MA in Photography from De Montfort University and a BA (Hons) degree in Photography from Nottingham Trent University, prior to his appointment at Arts University Plymouth, Gabriel acted as Course Leader for BA (Hons) Creative Practice at Derby College. Gabriel’s creative practice has a strong experimental focus, utilising a range of historical techniques and emerging technologies. Areas of special interest for Gabriel include using his practice to reconcile our relationship with the sea and a sense of disconnection between the longing towards a poeticised view of the sea, and our growing understanding of the environmental impact of human-induced environmental change and the strategic appropriation of our oceans. In 2013 Gabriel was commissioned by the Djanogly Gallery Nottingham to hand print black-and-white prints from negatives by British Photographer Roger Mayne for the exhibition Saturday Night Sunday Morning: The authentic moment in British photography, and in 2011 he was Artist-in-Residence for the Nottingham CAMRA Festival. With wide-ranging experience of working in Higher Education and international foundation creative programmes, Gabriel has also taught for over fifteen years, at institutions including Nottingham Trent University, University Centre Stamford, Nottingham Trent International College, Rotherham College and Peterborough Regional College.

Jane studied Professional Media at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, graduating in 1999. She obtained a PGCE with The University of Plymouth in 2004. Jane has been teaching photography for over 13 years. She started her career in Further Education, working across courses such as A-Levels, Foundation, Access to HE & National Diploma. She now works exclusively on the BA (Hons) Commercial Photography programme at Arts University Plymouth. Prior to teaching, she started her photographic career in food photography in London, with clients such as M&S, Sainsbury’s, Birdseye and Pizza Hut. Jane relocated to the South West where her freelance practice began to specialise in wedding and portrait photography. She currently balances lecturing, her commercial practice, as a social and wedding photographer and family life. Jane sees herself as a mother, photographer and a lecturer. She loves the dynamics and rapid pace of a wedding, the chaos and laughter of a family shoot and the pastoral care, challenge and development found in teaching. In September 2016 Jane started studying an MA in Photography. This opportunity has cultivated a new drive and direction within her work, exploring elements of the family, beginning to examine and document responsibilities of a daughter and a mother, whilst also comprehending her position of matriarch within a modern family unit. www.janepriorphotography.co.uk

Gem Pope graduated with a first class (Hons) Degree BA in Photography, Film & Imaging from Napier University, Edinburgh, before relocating to London to begin her commercial career. After several years of assisting a variety of world-renowned commercial photographers, working with clients such as Vogue, Q and Nokia, Gem formed her own freelance career based within the music & television industries both in the UK and in LA. Her clients have included Rock Sound magazine, Ninja Tune, Polydor & Mercury records as well as ITV. Leaving the London lifestyle behind to start her family, Gem relocated to North Devon where she began associate lecturing at both Plymouth & Bath Spa universities. In her role at Arts University Plymouth, Gem enjoys pushing her student’s creativity to the maximum, whilst sustaining her own commercial practice. Gem is currently undertaking a body of research which is concerned with the evolution and relevancy of the photographic assistant within the twenty-first-century digital landscape. She spends her remaining spare time writing young adult fiction and deconstructing both photographic and cinematic narratives. www.gempope.co.uk