Remarks :
Finally, about the Visualite Academy as a whole, it is very good to learn photography or any other course. People should study at least one course in Visualite academy. It not only teaches you the knowledge but also the skills to become a professional. So I would recommend others to come and join in visualize academy if you have a passion for photography.
Entrance Preview :
To start with the admission, there is no entrance test or exam to join a course in Visualite. As people may think that, studying a certificate course in an academy like Visualite is tough. But to be honest, it is very easy to join the course. As we can see here that, they just gave their numbers on their website, so if you want to join the course, you need to do is, just to give them a call and they will help you with the rest. As they are professionals in the photography field, they will first of all understand your requirements and needs by asking some simple questions.
Course Curriculum Overview :
After the admission, after getting into the course, the next main thing that everybody wants to look at it is the course curriculum. Here people might lose their concentration and never worry about the course syllabus or curriculum. But the course syllabus plays a significant role in your course. It will tell you how rich your course or training program is, and in my case, the Intermediate/Advanced Photography course gives you the complete knowledge about the photography at advanced level and its techniques. According to me, I will always cross-check my course with the other courses offered by other photography institutes and schools. And I guess, in my research I have found that my course is pretty much good when compared to other schools and academies. And I feel so lucky that I joined here so early. The course syllabus covers all the advanced tutorials of photography, right from the camera, lenses, etc and if you don’t know some of the basic concepts also, they will ready to teach you the basics apart from the advanced classes and there is no extra money to be paid for that. I think that is something very unique and cool about the academy and no other academy or school might have the same humanity with them. Even when I was wondering about some concepts in photography, I immediately get clarified by the teaching faculties. They always encourage asking questions and helping me to overcome the discomfort. These are some of the highlights which I would like to mention here.
Internships Opportunities :
In this academy, there is no specific internship undertaken. But you will be taken to some real time photoshoots, be it a wedding candid photography or product photography. All the students will be taken a brief session about it and also practical sessions. In this practical session, you will be motivated to take more photos that will help you to improve your creativity and imagination. So there is no need to have a separate internship in this program. I was once taking some beautiful shots outside, on the streets and I could witness some pet animals strolling across the road and that really motivated me to take a picture of it. And the teachers also appreciated me for taking such an outstanding photo.
Placement Experience :
The placements and job opportunities are one of a kind in photography. In this Advanced Photography course, you will be learning any one specification from the diverse ranges available. It is the student’s own choice to choose which type of genre he wants. Now, in Visualite Academy, they are providing with Wedding photography, Fashion Photography, Modeling photography, and so on. Sorry, I don’t remember all the specializations available in this academy. Since, I chosen product photography, the experts in product photography in the industry came and taught me the course. I am sure, that they are really experts and teaching the nuances of photography and how to make it look attractive to a buyer. So they will teach you how to approach an agency and how to show your work. They will make you understand that patience is a virtue. Because basically in any field, not just photography, a job for a fresher is very tough as there will be already many competitors competing each other and now a beginner is entering into the field might cause a little discomfort to others. If you feel, you find any obstacle to enter into the industry or not sure where to approach or with whom you should start your career? The faculties will help with your situation; they will boost your confidence and give the most wanted advice. Later, to some people they might help by introducing them into the industry. So the job opportunities are here and give every photographer a wide range of avenues to kick-start.
College Events :
The events celebrated in my college, we celebrate every national event here. In this academy, every faculty is unique so we celebrate all the national and sometimes international events. I would like to share one incident happened in our academy. When holi comes, the colourful festival in the world, here too people will start dashing eachother with the beautiful colours. On that day morning, we friends were discussing on how to start the holi festival here and we were not sure whether the teachers and the director will allow us to celebrate the festival. Anyways we were prepared for both, if they allow us; we will start playing from the class itself. If they don’t encourage us, then we have to throw the colours outside the campus. But here all the staffs were as good as they accepted to celebrate holi here. So on the end of the day, after classes get over, we all were carrying the powder packets with us and started to throw each other. It was filled with fun and happiness, later we all took beautiful pictures from the famous Nikon cameras. Later it became a memory to us. We all enjoyed the day and celebrated the holi festival irrespective of other religion. So here in visualite academy, we celebrate all the events irrespective of its religion and culture. Here they maintain that secularism and that was really awesome. I think only in very few educational institutions only, people will be secular and accept to celebrate all the religious festivals. And we as human beings should appreciate that and motivate them to be the same forever.
Fee Structure And Facilities :
The fee structure is feasible or expensive? To answer this question, I need to give my own experience as an example. When I first time called the number that has been posted on their website, they asked about my requirements and desires then I too asked them about the course and the course fees. But they didn’t enclose in the phone, instead they asked me to come to office and to have a formal discussion. I immediately thought that the fees is going to be too expensive and huge, and I also thought that I can’t take up this photography course here. Because everybody tells that visualite academy is the best institute to learn photography. Within few minutes, my mind was thinking all negative things that I’m not going to make it. Later without any hope, I just walked into the office to meet the concerned person to discuss about the fees structure. Then during the discussion itself, I got to know about the fees, I wanted to learn the advanced photography course and they asked me to pay nearly 50k. Initially I thought it was too expensive, then later only I came to know that in some academies they charge more than this, i.e. nearly 1 lakh for the same course. After that I realized that this fee is okay and it is okay to be paid. It is not really necessary to pay the fees at one instant itself, you can take your time and you can pay it in installments. But you need to first of all talk to the academy about your mode of fee payment. In some institutes they will not having such facilities and they will become rude to you when you don’t have the said money. That is pathetic and so inhuman. So it is very very important to talk about the fee structure in some well-known institute because they will value your time and effort and will give you enough space to pay the fees.
Loan/ Scholarship Provisions :
When we talk about the scholarship or loan facilities here, we should also talk about the discount rates. Here the academy would give the fees amount on discount for previous or old students. For students who couldn’t afford the mentioned money, the academy itself gives them the necessary support to pay the fees. They will allow them to pay the fees in breaks. Sometimes, they even reduce the fees amount for those students who are very passionate on photography. I would say that many people would have benefitted from Visualite academy. They are doing a wonderful job and they give discount prices for women students, in order to motivate them to take up the photography course and to excel in the field.
Campus Life :
For this question I would say that, Visualite Academy has enough campus space to teach photography. As we know, this academy is slowly emerging and produced more than 500 students as photographers, videographers, audiographers, etc. So, it is really awesome to know their strengths. When we talk about the gender ratio, men are more than women. In other words, men outnumbering women, this is because; women are not coming out from their comfort zone and taking up the course. Since this course involves lots of field visits, group activities, no fixed timing, etc, many girls are not taking the course. On the other hand, some girls are very much interested in learning photography and wanted to become a professional photographer. And mostly to women who like travelling, they too studying the course and becoming a traveler photographer. So to some extent, now only women are recognizing that photography gives opportunity to do your desired work. About the extracurricular activities, so far there are no such things here. Because the courses here itself makes students exciting, exercising, creative thinking, etc. Here they will conduct some group discussions and debates, where students will be talking about the latest technology, latest trends and so on. It was being an healthy debate and discussion. So here even the teaching faculties will also get involved into the discussions and obviously it will turn into a quality discussion where more realities and facts will come out. The teachers will share their own knowledge and experience which really worth the time.
Hostel Facilities :
In visualize academy, there are neither hostel facilities available nor the mess food. But I remember that there was one Non-Resident Indian (NRI) student joined a photography course here in a visualize academy and he was having constraints in finding the right hostel and food for him. Then the academy staff only arranged the hostel for him and also the other facilities like the basic amenities. So they will arrange you the hostel and food facilities for you even though they don’t have a separate hostel and mess facilities for students. I think the other reason why they don’t plan for a hostel or food here is because, students are minimal and mostly they are coming from their home so they don’t need any hostel or food facility for them. I think if the students ask them to have a hostel and mess facility, then after sometime they might think about building a new hostel and mess facilities for the students. Since only few students are looking for a hostel or food facility and I don’t think it would be worth to have a separate hostel and mess for those few people alone. Finally, the point here is, visualise academy don’t own a separate hostel and mess food facility for their students now, because the students studying there are also not wanting them. But if any single or few more students are looking for a hostel or food facility then immediately the academy can help them by arranging the right hostel and food facility based on their budget and needs.
Alumni/Alumna :
About the alumni network and the senior students, there was once a photo exhibition happened where all the old students joined the occasion and made it a wonderful memorable evening. Since then, there were no such facility happened again. Since many students are passing out each year, it is very hard to find them again as some people go out of station and start their own business and some people are turning busy by working in some film or movie production as assistants and associates. But when they all meet once, it really helps the academy as well as the students to interact with each other and to discuss about their progress in various industries. So such get-togethers are really valuable to all the students and teachers and some people turned out to be a part-time teaching faculty only after they gain such knowledge and experience.
Exam Structure :
The major plus point here we have in Visualite Academy is that they don’t conduct any exams. They teach all the concepts of photography and let you to work on the practical sessions. I guess, they leave their students without writing any test is because they teach them fully through practical sessions and hands-on. People who find difficult to memorize will easily memorize here through more hands-on training. That is the beauty in this program. Let me tell you how the class works here, that will give you a clear picture of their pedagogical style. In every class, we will first come to the class; our teacher will ask us to take some shots indoor and sometimes outdoor by giving some inputs in the beginning. They will ask us to adjust the camera lens, shutter speed and some more tools once in a while. So we will be taking some shots here and there and come back to them with our pictures. Now the real teaching starts, they will analyze with our pictures and help us to understand what kind of stories it tells. And how to see each and every picture and what to find out in it, thus it gives us a wide view over our pictures and how to take our next photos. These are some of the teaching methods they carry out with us. And it is really worth to our money. I personally think that what Visualite Academy believes in every student is what others should also believe. We cannot judge a person by his marks in the exam. So it is the real time experience that teaches him a lot.
Admission :
The admission in this institute and the admission process were very smooth and easy. People might have a might be having a perception that the admission and its process would require lots of formalities and constraints, but in this case it is not the same. Here the process is very simple and quick, you need to provide your educational proofs and ID proofs. Both need to be submitted in photocopy (xerox) and the originals can be taken by you. If you are under 18 years of age, you need to bring either both the parents or one of them to sign in the form that my son/daughter will study here. After getting enrolled into the desired course, the students will be taken an overview about photography and its history. This is to make them understand that how important the photography is. During the admission process, the teaching and non-teaching staff will be guiding you with the formalities and how to make you feel comfortable and ease. Here in case if you need any guidance or support from them, you can very well contact them and let them know that you need help. If you don’t have a clear idea or no future plans also, they will suggest you on what courses can be taken at this point. And based on the course, you can plan and decide about your future plans and prospects. Finally about the Admission process, there won’t be any form of abuse or misunderstanding happens with them. They are well-versed in handling students of different age groups and they know how to give them the right guidance.
Faculty :
The next vital part is the faculty of the academy. Generally, when it comes to teachers to teach photography, it will be mostly from the beginners or people having few years of experience in the field. But here, all the faculties are highly qualified professionals and they are very knowledgeable at the same time very pleasant to the students. When I first met my teacher, he started with jokes and funny stories followed by the lessons. As people might feel happy and exciting after witnessing such moments, they might lose concentration on the subject. But here, the students need not worry about it, the instructors who talk about a story; it will be their own experience while working in the field. So it is very important to understand the concept behind it. Secondly, they will teach you some unique methods of learning. For instance, they will ask the students to grab a spoon and pour water on it. Now the students should walk steadily without dropping the water from the spoon. So it was very interesting yet challenging for students to learn. These are some of the methods that help you to hold your camera or a tripod without any shake and difficulty. No matter, how hard it is, it makes me feel so enlightened. I felt happy about the course faculties. They were funny sometimes, might pull your legs, so be alert. Apart from that, they take extra care about your career, they will provide some life skills like punctuality, dedication, determination etc, that’s worth your effort and time.
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