BA (Hons) 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.

Louise Fago-Ruskin is an artist, writer and lecturer living and working in the South West. She holds an MA in Photography from the University of Brighton, a BA from Plymouth University and a PGCE. Her work examines notions of the unconscious, utilising the camera as a contemporary confessional space. She aims to tackle such themes as ideological manipulation, familial notions of separation and reformation, and performance as reparative action. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in group shows such as The Hyeres Festival of Fashion and Photography (Hyeres, France), Arles Photography Open Salon (Installation, Arles), and Parallax (La Galleria, London). She is currently represented by La Galerie Sakura in Paris. Louise's works have also been nominated for a variety of awards including 'Foam What's Next: A Search into the Future of Photography'. Louise has recently been selected from over 500 artists, writers and historians to take part in the Arquetopia International Mentorship Programme - a highly respected not-for-profit organisation in Puebla, Mexico and has recently published a photographic essay in The Image Journal (edition 103), a literary and arts quarterly edited by Aaron Rosen (" Art and Religion in the 21st Century") and is looking forward to a guest essay in the pending publication The Liminal Loop from The Lutterworth Press.

Steve is a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Commercial Photography and BA (Hons) Photography degrees at Arts University Plymouth. Prior to lecturing – after finishing up a Photomedia degree at Arts University Plymouth in 2002 – Steve landed a job at a publishing house who were creating market leading extreme sports magazines. He cut his teeth in the advertising department designing copy for clients before nudging his way onto the editorial team as a staff photographer on the internationally best selling Ride BMX Magazine. He spent a good few years in that role shooting and writing over 1000 pages of bicycle related content from across the world. A stint as assistant editor gleaned Steve valuable experience in photo editing and commissioning content from creatives, and it wasn’t long before he was elevated to the editor’s chair. He spent the next 4 years leading an international team of contributors in conveying his vision of BMX culture to the magazine’s 40,000 strong monthly readership. Succumbing to a collective creative itch, Steve and three colleagues took the ultimate leap in publishing and started their own independent magazine: The Albion. The print project ran for 18 coveted issues before being mothballed a few years ago. Having enjoyed the challenge of nurturing upcoming photographic talent while working in industry he made the logical move into lecturing. Alongside his teaching practice Steve is the marketing manager for a C-Skins, a market leading surf brand making performance wetsuits for surfers. Duties in the role include planning, shooting and commissioning visual material for seasonal ad campaigns and ensuring the brand is represented inline with its core values across all marketing channels. Drawing on this rich experience helps ensure the Commercial Photography course is aligned with current industry practice.