BA (Hons) - Photography

Year one

In your first year, you will focus on The Photographic Environment which deals with the cornerstone craft of photographic image capture, both analogue and digital, in application to and investigation of, your photographic interests.

Research and contextual skills will be established at this level as we introduce the work of significant photographers and explore how influences and themes can be tracked through history, thereby setting the stage for the development of your own work.

• Photographic Image Capture
  An introduction to technical skills in digital & analogue photographic contexts.
• Cultural Contexts
  An introduction to the cultural, historical and social contexts in which creative work from a range of disciplines will be considered
• Picturing Place: Culture & Identity
  Explore the idea of place; different environments, cultures and identities informed by locale.
• Collaborative Practice
  Develop your ability to collaborate in professional scenarios through problem-solving and project-based learning.

Year two

In your second year, you will explore the function of the photograph, examining socially engaged photography that responds to real-world issues and themes. As you broaden your photographic horizons, you will develop the strategies and methods needed to create work that resonates with and impacts audiences.

You will also deepen your engagement with photographic theory, critical thinking and visual analysis, building a greater understanding of how photographs are viewed, interpreted and influence visual culture.

The enrichment module, Immersive Image-Making, provides space for experimentation and play, exploring both traditional and alternative processes alongside cutting-edge technologies.

By enhancing your creativity, problem-solving abilities, confidence in taking risks and imaginative thinking, the second year of your studies will expand your practical skills and creative confidence. This will enable you to realise your full potential, preparing you for a more focused final year and supporting your transition into employment and professional practice beyond university.

• Networks & Narratives: Photography in the Community
  Explore contemporary themes in photography.
• Immersive Image-Making
  Enrich your personal photographic practice by experimenting with both traditional and cutting-edge technologies.
• The Photographic Interface: Industry Experience
  An opportunity to explore your practice through a range of briefs set by industry professionals.
• Theorising Photography
  Develop the skills to think critically and generate original ideas informed by examples of influential scholarship.

Year three

Your final year will revolve around an Independent Showcase where you will take full charge of your own practice and bring it into the public domain.

Research, practice and professional skills come together in the final year of study to refine and showcase your personal vision and expression of photographic practice. At this point, you will be an independent, intelligent and competent practitioner with a personal portfolio representing the breadth of your skill and the depth of your engagement.

• Blueprint of Practice
  Refine your autonomous photographic practice through the synthesis of research and creativity.
• Independent Research Paper
  Develop specialised and focused knowledge and understanding of a subject of your own choice.
• Resolution of Practice
  Carry out a self-designed, in-depth, and investigative personal project.