Photography BA(Hons)

Year 1

In the first year, there are four themed practice modules, each lasting six or seven weeks, and two historical and critical studies modules.

Modules

• Practice 1: Photography and Identity

  In this module you will be encouraged to consider the photographic portrait in the widest possible sense through making a body of work. The subject matter and approach can consider social, personal, gender, ethnicity, generational or family relations. Work may highlight importance of location - workplace or neighbourhood - on identity. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation in DSLR camera, studio and location lighting; Lightroom, Photoshop, digital printing and portfolio presentation.

• Practice 2: Photography and Place

  In this module you will be encouraged to consider the photograph as landscape in the widest possible sense through making a body of work. Subject matter and approach may consider relationships between nature and culture, habitation and environment, to creatively explore and imaginatively visualise contemporary landscape or a more broadly defined sense of place. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation in camera, and darkroom processes, printing and display presentation.

• Practice 3: The Photograph as Document

  In this module you will consider the photograph as document through making a body of work. Potential approaches can involve a drawing from social documentary, photojournalism or reportage, to conceptually based art practices that address cultural, historical, political and social issues through a critical approach to the photographic document or archive. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation in digital production of image/text, colour darkroom, scanning, printing and presentation as installation.

• Practice 4: The Photograph as Fiction

  In this module you will be encouraged to consider the photograph as fiction through making a body of work. Potential approaches can involve a range of possibilities, from collage or montage, to theatrical scenarios that form imaginary narratives, or address cultural, historical, political and social issues. Your final work should demonstrate aesthetic consideration, conceptual coherence, research through work in progress, technical realisation in studio flash (staged), digital printing, projections, light boxes and other forms of photographic image presentation.

• Historical and Critical Studies 1: Origins and Histories

  This module will provide you with an historical overview and analysis of the origins of photography. You will explore how and why history enables meaningful engagement in contemporary debates about photographic practices. You will develop your ability to conduct research - to acquire knowledge through the university’s learning resources, including libraries, studentcentral, the internet, public collections, museums and galleries. Your ability to interpret research, towards seminar discussion and presentation, correctly referencing authors and texts, is developed through this module.

• Historical and Critical Studies 2: Documents and Fictions

  This module will provide an analysis of the major cultural and critical developments related to photographs regarded as documents and as fictions from early modernism to the contemporary period. You will develop your ability to conduct research, to acquire knowledge through the university’s learning resources, including libraries, studentcentral, the internet, public collections, museums and galleries. Your ability to interpret research, towards seminar discussion and presentation, correctly referencing authors and texts, is developed through this module.

Students generally work in groups of ten to twelve with a tutor or tutors in each module. The group convenes weekly to review and discuss progress and share feedback. Over the module, students develop a body of work for review in a formal setting. In this final session, students learn to make a formal presentation of work to the group, help critique other students' work, and receive feedback from peers and tutors.

Practice modules are underpinned by a series of introductory technical demonstrations and workshops, by study support sessions, and by occasional lectures by staff and visiting lecturers. One day of the week is dedicated to Historical and Critical studies that take the form of a lecture as part of a series, followed by a group seminar and library study time. During the week students are expected to work independently on preparation for seminars and on the practice projects for the modules, making full use of the resources that include processing areas, dark rooms, computer suites and photography studios. 

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 2

In year 2, students choose the projects for practice modules from a range of possibilities informed by staff research interests. Themes vary from year to year. Past project themes have included Archives, Journeys, Traces, Unlikely Spaces. In the second year, students are also encouraged to experiment with other media such as moving image and sound, and they organise an exhibition within and outside of the university. At the end of the year, an independent project that prepares you for the self-directed rigours of the third year is undertaken, in realistic, professional working conditions. Again, lectures and seminars take place one day a week introducing key concepts and debates in contemporary practice.

Modules

• Practices 5 and 6: Photographic Strategies
• Historical and Critical Studies 3: Concepts and Theories in Contemporary Photography
• Practice 7: Practice as Research
• Practice 8: Practice Resolutions
• Historical and Critical Studies 4: Research Themes, Methodologies and Dissertation Proposal
• Option module

Assessment years 1 and 2

Each practice module is assessed through a combination of a portfolio of work and a development file. This continues in the early stages of the third year with the minor project.

Students are given detailed written feedback at the end of each module and a short feedback tutorial. Through this process, students deepen an understanding of the criteria of assessment and develop skills in critically evaluating their own work and that of others. For historical and critical studies, essays are written for assessment and feedback tutorials are held to explain the assessment result for all essays.

From the series 'Homeland' by graduate Georgs Avetisjans, one of ten winners of Magnum's Graduate Photographers Award 2017

Final year

In the third year, students consolidate their own personal work.

Modules

• Practice 9: Minor project

Options*

• Historical and Critical Studies 5: Extended Essay
• Historical and Critical Studies 5: Dissertation 
• Practice 10: Major project
• Practice 10: Major project, extended option
• Professional Practice

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Work from the minor and major projects are included in a degree show exhibition. For each of these modules, a tutor is allocated who supervises the development of the work. Tutorials are also offered with other members of staff. A student doing their major project would expect to have six or seven tutorial slots during a semester, either ‘one to one’, or with a tutorial group with whom they can share ideas about their work. An award-winning team of technical demonstrators support students’ work through technical demonstrations, ‘clinics’ and, where appropriate, one-to-one support. Professional Practice sessions are held regularly throughout the final semester, including talks by gallery curators, picture editors, and, advice on starting up as a professional to help prepare for life after graduation.

Assessment

A dissertation is written of 5,000–7,000 words, or an extended option of 8,000–10,000 words. This is the culmination of historical and critical studies throughout the course. It involves detailed supervision and submission of a draft paper that is given tutorial feedback prior to the final submission.

The minor and major projects are submitted for assessment.

Meet the team

Professor Francis Hodgson

Francis is a photography historian and critic. His non-teaching roles include critic for the Financial Times, gallerist, head of Sotheby's photography department and creative director of Photonica Europe and Eyestorm. He was one of the early specialist writers on photography in UK newspapers, with several hundred reviews to his name. He has written over 40 monograph texts on photography and often comments on photography on radio and television. Read Francis's full profile.

Rachel K Gillies

Rachel is an artist, educator and writer. Her practice encompasses both visual and literary outputs and looks at contemporary photography in relation to technology and aesthetics. She previously held positions as Senior Lecturer in Photography and Electronic Arts at Dunedin School of Art, New Zealand. Read Rachel's full profile.

Fergus Heron

Fergus studied photography at the Royal College of Art and the University for the Creative Arts and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching Higher Education from Plymouth University. His work as a photographer involves picturing aspects of the British landscape as strangely familiar places of different natures and histories. Read Fergus's full profile.

Xavier Ribas

Xavier's work explores notions of practice and experience of space, the relationship between centre and periphery, the built and the unbuilt environment, and the contemporary fragmentation of landscape. Read Xavier's full profile.

Martin Seeds

Martin is a trustee of Brighton Photo Fringe and co-founder of the artist-led project space, Niagara Falls Projects. He was nominated for the 2020 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize and has was awarded the Danny Wilson Memorial Award 2018 – Professionals choice for the best solo exhibition at Brighton Photo Fringe. Read Martin's full profile.

Daniel Campbell Blight

Daniel works on various forms of the essay, fiction and poetry, and has written for magazines and journals including 1000 Words, Aperture, Foam, frieze, the Guardian, Philosophy of Photography, Photoworks, Vogue Italia. His book, The Image of Whiteness: Contemporary Photography and Racialization, was published in 2019. Read Daniel's full profile.

Åsa Johannesson

Asa's practice explores the relationship between queer identity, representation, and materiality. It develops from a photographic portrait practice that explores the notion of gender as nonconforming. It has through experimentations using a large format camera most recently generated the body of work The Queering of Photography. Read Asa's full profile.

Other staff who teach on the course include:

• Sally Miller
• Julia Winckler
• Stephen Bull
• Zoe Childerley

Professor Francis Hodgson by Anton Corbijn

Rachel K Gillies

Facilities

The following resources are exclusively for our photography BA and MA students:

• fully equipped photographic studios
• dedicated photographic computing facilities
• a digital print bureau
• traditional colour darkrooms with enlargers that accept a range of negative sizes up to 10 x 8”, capable of enabling the production of exhibition-standard prints
• a traditional black-and-white processing area and darkroom
• film and digital single lens reflex cameras – and medium-format and large-format film cameras – to supplement your own equipment.

The university’s art and design library has a well-stocked photography area and provides access to a wide range of online resources.

Extra support for teaching and learning is provided through Student Services.

A tour of our Edward Street building where you'll see the foyer, atrium with computer facilities, gallery area, shared workspaces, photographic studios and photography workshop.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice 

Once we have received your application we will ask you to share a digital portfolio of your photographic work with us via your website or blog. This should show:

• the current stage of development of your creative photographic work
• your influences and artistic and photographic interests
• a critical essay on the work of a photographer or a photographic genre.

Portfolio images are expected to demonstrate appropriate consideration and organisation. We want to see images in your portfolio that show consideration and organisation. We are primarily interested in project work that explores your ideas. We are not interested in work that only demonstrates command of technique – we can teach that upon successful entry to the course, it’s our job to help you develop that once you are here.

Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Course fees

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

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Support and wellbeing

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