English Language Challenges

About my experience learning English at university I can say that has been very useful to know more about the language in a cultural sense. One of the most important things that I retrieve from this class is the different points of view that we could know and discuss. Something that I learnt more deeply is that English has a history and each group or community in their geographical location has its own way to speak and interpret language. Also, I added more words to my vocabulary. Practicing is always good to know more words, their meanings and how we can use them.

I think that blogs are an entertaining tool to learn, but I think is more useful to practice how to speak. It’s true that we have to know how to write, but in my opinion writing is something that you can practice by your own and speaking is something that requires more help.

About the aspects of my English that need to be improved, I think that speaking is something I have never to stop practicing, because I don’t live in a country where everyone speak English all the time, so if I don’t improve this with practice I won’t get speaking skills.

Outside the English class, I’m using English for different things. In first place, I use it sometimes to read some science academic texts that are not translated. In many cases I have found very useful texts for different projects or works that have no translation, so it’s necessary to know English to read them.

CHANGES TO MY STUDY PROGRAM

When they ask me about anything that I would change to my career (Journalism) I always think that one of the most necessary changes is related to the faculty facilities. For example, I think that the amount of radio and television studios is not enough for all the students from ICEI so the infrastructure could be improved; I also believe that technological equipment like microphones, video and photo cameras, voice records and many others should be more. We really need this equipment to do our work and not all of the students can pay for them since they are very expensive so I think that the faculty should have them.

In terms of specialization, I would like to see a greater variety of topics such as science, international relations, sports or music. 

Another change I would do is about the workload. This year I have felt in many occasions that time in the class room is not well used and we have to do a lot of work, besides to study for a test, at home. I know our career is getting more practical and less theoretical with the time, but maybe we should have more facilities and have more time during the day to report, filming our reportages and documentaries, taking photos, etc. I imagine that for film students this situation must be worse. I know all classes are important, but there are times where we have to prioritize some activities.

An Artist You Love - Michal Pudelka

Michal Pudelka is a visual artist and fashion photographer, originally from Bratislava. He creates weird and wonderful editorial shoots for clients including Valentino, Vogue Italia and AnOther.

Pudelka is currently based in London and is represented by the agency of Katy Barker. His editorial work pushes the boundaries of fashion photography, often exploring surreal and dreamlike imagery.

Particularly in shoots created in natural environments, Pudelka captures the models interacting with their surroundings in a way that removes a sense of genuine spatial context, presenting instead an ethereal vision of otherworldly encounters. 

Working alongside stylists such as Sarajane Hoare and Paul Sinclaire, the Slovakian photographer exhibits repeated colours and figures within the frame, collating elements of the uncanny in everyday life. Pudelka’s work sits on the borders of reality and imagined spaces, showcasing high fashion in the realm of outtakes from fairytale stories.

I met Pudelka in the photography course because I had to research trends in editorial photography. What I like the most about his work is its framing and the symmetry he use as a result of the models.