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Image by Photography MA student Joss Williams

Photography MA

  • Intro
  • Course
    content
  • Careers
  • Entry
    criteria
  • Fees
  • Location
  • Stay in
    touch
  • Related

Intro

Photography at Brighton is taught within the context of the fine arts and oriented around the development of individual projects.

The aim is for you to develop a strong and sustainable artistic practice and body of work that you can confidently exhibit and publish. This will give you a strong foundation for developing a career as an independent photographer or artist, or alternatively for more commercial or community-based activities.

The course has a strong theoretical component, as we believe all students should understand how to conceptualise and contextualise their practice and communicate it clearly to a variety of audiences.

We are committed to an exploratory and thoughtful form of picture-making that represents our experiences of the modern world.

Key facts

Location Brighton: City campus

Full-time 1 year
Part-time 2 years

Join an online event

Apply online

Please review the entry requirements carefully and if you have any questions do get in touch with us.

Apply now for your place

Art and design at Brighton is ranked 8th in the UK and 51st globally by the QS World University Rankings 2020.

Course content

How this course is delivered

We've made some changes to the way our courses are taught to keep everyone safe, connected and involved in university life.

At the moment, students have a blend of on-campus and digitally enabled remote learning that provides lots of opportunities to interact and engage with lecturers and other students.

Find out what these changes mean for this course

Why study with us?

  • We take a distinctive fine art approach to photographic practice and encourage work that crosses technological boundaries and engages with film, video, sound and installation, performance, painting and sculpture.
  • You will be practising and thinking about photography in a creative and critical environment, working in a modern building with specialist facilities.
  • We will encourage you to engage with the latest developments in photography, fine art and wider media culture, and to constantly challenge the limits of the medium.
  • During the course, you will build a professional profile as an independent practitioner, graduating with a body of work ready for exhibition, a publication and a piece of critical writing that will help to position your work.
  • We offer guidance on professional development.
  • Brighton has an established photographic culture. Photoworks, a commissioning and publishing organisation who run the Brighton Photo Biennial are based on-site.
  • You will be learning with course tutors who are experienced professional photographers and photographic researchers.
Working in the dark room

Areas of study

Areas of study

Practice-based projects are supported by introductions, tutorials, lectures, seminars and technical workshops. Workshops include demonstrations in the latest digital and traditional analogue processes, involving camera use, lighting, and black-and-white and colour printing. Key professional practice sessions include talks and seminars by photographers, artists, writers and other professionals concerned with commissioning, publishing and exhibiting photography.

Semester 1

  • Research and Experimentation (40 credits): a practice module designed to help you explore your own approach to practice in more depth and develop related skills in research, experimentation and critical reflection.
  • Contemporary Debates (20 credits): a theoretical seminar series leading to a 4,000 word essay considering the essence, apparatus and medium of photography in visual art and related documentary contexts.

Semester 2

  • Photography Research Project, Stage 1 (20 credits): a practice module laying the foundations and making initial work in your specialist area of practice.
  • Professional Development (20 credits): offers an understanding of professional structures and career options in the specific area of photography within the broader field of visual art.
  • Dissertation (20 credits): a 5,000 written dissertation exploring ideas related to the area in which your own photographic practice is situated.

Summer Semester

  • Photography Research Project, Stage 2 (40 credits): developing and resolving a body of work for exhibition
  • Photography Books and Publications (20 credits): realising your project as a publication

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.

Meet the team

Fergus Heron, Course Leader

Fergus Heron is Course Leader for MA Photography at the University of Brighton. He teaches photography practice and theory across the course. He 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. He is also a registered Research Student Supervisor.

His work as an artist involves photography as a form of picturing exploring ideas of place. Exhibitions featuring his work have included shows at the Museum for Contemporary Art (Roskilde, Denmark) K3 (Zurich, Switzerland), Pitzhanger Manor House and Gallery (London), Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Royal West of England Academy, and the first major exhibition of Photography at Tate Britain, How We Are: Photographing Britain.

He edited Visible Economies published by Photoworks and is a contributor to The Companion to Photography published by Blackwell. His photographs and writing are included in the anthology Emerging Landscapes published by Routledge. He has curated exhibitions in partnership with galleries and museums and as part of festivals, chaired artist talks and panel discussions and reviewed portfolios for artist development events and organisations across Europe. His practice-based research has been presented at numerous university conferences on photography, landscape, architecture and wider themes of place. He is also a trustee of Brighton Photo Fringe.

See Fergus's work at fergusheron.com.

Find out about our other teaching staff.

  • Francis Hodgson
  • Xavier Ribas
  • Daniel C. Blight
  • Asa Johannesson
Fergus Heron Portrait 2017

Facilities

The following resources are exclusively for MA and BA(Hons) photography 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
  • A selection of 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.

Roundme logo for 360 tour

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

Our latest news

Thinking about preparing your portfolio?

Thinking about preparing your portfolio?

Watch these two short films where art students talk you through how they put theirs together.

Interested in taking a photography degree?

Interested in taking a photography degree?

Photoworks, a leading agency based at the University of Brighton, is running a free online photography workshop exploring the relationship between photography, archaeology and climate change for people aged 13 – 18 on 30 October 2020.

Our Photography degrees are now on Instagram!

Our Photography degrees are now on Instagram!

Follow the new account @uobphotography for the best of our student and staff photography, recommendations, exhibitions, events and more.

Photography graduate chosen for Crane Kalman showcase CREAM 2020

Photography graduate chosen for Crane Kalman showcase CREAM 2020

Matt Hughes, who has recently graduated from Brighton’s Photography BA(Hons), has been selected as an exhibiting artist in the show which runs during October.

Read more from our blog

Careers

Our Photography MA has led to students developing strong portfolio careers in the field of the arts and gaining considerable recognition for their work through prizes and exhibitions. Many of our students have gone on to do doctoral study or take up lecturing posts in higher education; others have developed roles working in galleries, publishing, picture editing and community projects.

Alumni include Lisa Barnard, Corinne Silva, Virgilio Ferreira, Matt Henry, Stephen Vaughan, George Avetisyan, Alexandra Lethbridge, Gin Rimmington Jones, Ignacio Acosta, Greta Lorimer, Lee Copleston, Sarah Le Brocq, Martin Seeds and James William Murray.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2021. They should be used as a general guide. 

Degree and experience
Normally an undergraduate degree in a visual arts discipline, for example photography or fine art. Applicants who do not match this criteria but who show great potential for development in their work may also be considered.

English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

International students whose language skills do not match the IELTS scores set out here should consider applying for this course through the Extended Masters programme at the university's Language Institute.

International requirements and visas

International requirements by country
Country name
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

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

Visit our language centre

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For degree preparation courses.

Visas and immigration advice

Applying for a student visa

Check out our step-by-step guidance.

Portfolio

Online portfolio

When you apply, please upload a digital portfolio. You may have a website you want to link to, or you may want to prepare your portfolio as a PowerPoint file or on Tumblr. Make sure there is some brief text explaining and contextualising the work so we can understand the thinking behind it. We are not interested in lots of striking single ‘images’ but want to see evidence that you can sustain an idea through the development of a body of photographic work, so we would expect the portfolio to be organised thematically. We would also normally expect to see 15-25 images.

Interview

Due to COVID-19, we expect interviews to be online and the processes may change slightly – check back here for updates. If you've already applied, we will tell you about any changes.

Gallery

Fees

Course fees

UK (full-time) 8,676 GBP

International (full-time) 15,300 GBP

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies, although we have tried to keep this to a minimum. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in your fees, while studying a course in the School of Media are listed here.

  • There will be opportunities to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but you can budget approximately £30–£700 for these. The nature of the costs vary from provisions for a packed-lunch to flight and accommodation costs for international field trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
  • Typically, practice-based courses incur more costs than text-based subjects. These costs are normally associated with specialist equipment and materials for making work and for the public presentation of work.
  • Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning. Students may choose to buy their own specialist equipment, these may include cameras, or computers and software. Budgets can range from £50–£2,000. Buying specialist equipment is best undertaken in consultation with our academic and technical staff. This expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
  • For some courses you will need to budget up to £200 for printing and publishing. Photography courses may incur higher costs (£500–£2,000) when printing and framing images of professional standard for public presentation.
  • Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.
  • For some courses you will need to budget up to £150 for stationery.
  • Final-year graduation shows are opportunities to present your final, independent project work to the public. Practice-based courses will typically incur higher costs. Depending on the specific nature of your final project you will need to budget between £20–£2,500. 

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2021–22.

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.

Location

Local area

About Brighton

The University of Brighton is at the heart of our city’s reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. Brighton is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year. Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements, live briefs and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

We provide support and venues for key events in the city’s arts calendar including the Brighton Festival, the Festival Fringe, the Great Escape, the Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton Photo Biennial and the CineCity Brighton Film Festival. Other annual highlights include Pride, the Brighton Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate Show transforms our campus into the largest exhibition space in the South East as we celebrate the outstanding talent and creativity of our students.

As a student you’ll get lots of opportunities to experience these events at first hand and to develop your skills through the volunteering and other opportunities they offer.

You'll find living in Brighton enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

It's only 50 minutes by train from Brighton to central London and less than 40 minutes to Eastbourne. There are also daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Map showing distance to London from Brighton
Brighton Beach sunset

Campus where this course is taught

City campus

Located in central Brighton, this campus is home to 3D design and craft, fine art, graphic design and illustration, digital music, digital media design, fashion and textiles, history of art and design, humanities, media, photography and film.

The facilities for making and designing, the theatre, galleries, workshops, studios, archives and the independent arts organisations based on site provide a unique and inspiring environment where creativity thrives.

St Peter’s House library and Phoenix halls of residence are close to the exhibition and learning facilities in the Grand Parade main building where you will also find the student centre with careers, counselling, student advice service and disability and dyslexia support. Edward Street provides extensive teaching and gallery space for media, photography and film.

Also on site are Photoworks, Screen Archive South East and University of Brighton Design Archives. Leading visual arts agency Photoworks runs the Brighton Photo Biennial and a national programme which frequently features the work of our graduates, staff and students. Screen Archive South East holds a wealth of material capturing life, work and creativity from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Our Design Archives received the Sir Misha Black Award for Innovation in Design Education in recognition of our contribution to design history scholarship and the quality of primary materials about British design held in the archive.

The Brighton Pavilion, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, the iconic pier and beach are a very short walk away. The independent shops and businesses of the North Laine and Kemptown, and Brighton main line station, with frequent express services to London, are 10 minutes walk.

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Grand Parade exhibition space

Accommodation

Brighton: City campus

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students.

Halls of residence
We have halls of residence across Brighton in the city centre, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • You'll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
  • City campus is linked to Phoenix halls.
    • Phoenix halls are self-catered, but if you prefer you can add in a food and drink plan.The halls are a short walk from City campus in the centre of Brighton. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there's a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.

Want to live independently or in a university-managed house? We can help – find out more about unihomes and unilets or private renting.

Phoenix Brewery Halls Accommodation

Accommodation for City campus is in the nearby Phoenix Halls

Student kitchen in Phoenix Halls

Student kitchen in Phoenix Halls

Relaxing in nearby Pavilion Gardens

Relaxing in nearby Pavilion Gardens

Maps

City campus map

Stay in touch

Join an online event

Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

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