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Photography News Issue 29 absolutephoto.com
Back to school Photography students at Nottingham Trent University are benefiting from a studio full of Profoto kit, and they’re putting it to good use
NottinghamTrent University (NTU) boasts a photographic department that teaches BA, MA and PhD courses in photography to more than 350 students. Recently the University decided it was time to upgrade the main studio and give students the latest professional-quality lighting to use as part of their studies. MA photography course leader, Hugh Hamilton decided Profoto lighting equipment was the best option. “We needed to reflect the industry and looking at the spread of lighting equipment over the years you can see the market is segmenting and Profoto seemed to be the area that was suitable,” he says. “Our studio is constantly in use by our students so we needed equipment that would cope.” The University has three studios, 1, 2 and 3, which are used by its creative courses, which include photography, fashion and graphic design. The largest studio of the three, Studio 3 is used by the photography students and has been completely revamped with Profoto lighting equipment with four Pro-8a 2400 generators, 16 ProHead Plus 250Wheads and Air Remote triggers, plus a selection of RFi softboxes. “We’re also looking at upgrading Studio 1 to Profoto lighting as well, and we’re looking at the battery-powered B2 system. The students like to go out on location as well as shooting in the studio and the B2s are light and portable so will do the job for studio and location.”
With so many students on the course and a studio that gets booked up fast the kit needed to be up for the job. “Other systems are fiddly and with this system it’s really easy to change modifiers, it’s very simple and it’s student friendly,” Hugh tells us. “We have a high fashion student presence on our course, so we wanted to make sure that the equipment was suitable for the subject and powerful enough for the size of the studio. We were particularly interested in the Air Remote system, which allows us to minimise the cables on the floor and that’s proven very successful. Our students like that they can move around and be mobile, and control the lights from the computer and Air Remote.” It seems the students are spoilt by choice with the vast amount of kit they have to use. “Some students prefer to use the big softboxes, but it’s all about personal preference. We’ve had everything built in so they’ve got the option.Mostly, it’s twoRFi softboxes for side lighting or to light the background and a big HR Softbox Octa 7 " for the main light. A Softlight Kit gives a beauty dish option and we have extra heads for effects lighting,” says Hugh. Turn over to see how two of the students are using the Profoto kit in their work.
ntu.ac.uk/art
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