Description
Program Overview
We welcome students with a broad range of interests and open minds. In today’s industry, it is vital you embrace broader practices. Photographers are increasingly employed across genres, from fine art and documentary to fashion and commercial work. This is an outward-looking course designed to maximize your employability or freelance success on graduation.
You will critically consider every aspect of this art form in this course, from composition to the audience and post-production. You will work in industry-standard facilities using sophisticated lighting and camera equipment. Besides learning extensive technical skills, you’ll also benefit from enterprise and business skills including networking, mentoring, and work experience opportunities.
Internationally renowned speakers have wowed past students, including Martin Parr, David Brandon Geeting, Erik Kessels, Ewen Spencer, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Sohrab Hura, Julian Germain, Anouk Kruithof, Cristina De Middel, Guy Martin, Thijs Groot Wassink (WassinkLundgren), Simon Roberts and Kevin Cummins.
We place emphasis on international employability and collaboration, with previous study trips to Paris, Los Angeles, Berlin, Shanghai, Tokyo, and New York, plus day trips within the UK and to the Format International Photography Festival in Derby. Educational visits can take various formats, including physical and virtual experiences.
What You'll Study
Year One – The course begins with a focus on developing your technical photography skills and historical and contemporary perspectives on photography. You will gain knowledge about iconic photographers and image impact while developing practical competencies across all aspects of photography, from lighting to photographic workflow.
Year Two – This is a more conceptual year that builds on your specialist photographic practice and interests. You’ll learn business skills for freelancing or running your own business, and professional guest speakers will relate their own experiences and insights. You will respond to live commercial and community briefs and are encouraged to arrange work experience in the industry.
Year Three – In your final year, you will continue to build an extensive and impressive portfolio of work. Collaborations with students on other creative courses will help you build a diverse breadth of experience and contribute to your end-of-year show. You will develop your professional practices through specific degree modules and be encouraged to seek feedback from the industry on your work. Our impressive sector networks and focus on employability give you a great platform as a skilled photographer starting out in this exciting field.
Work Experience
Work experience covers a broad range of activities and students are encouraged to undertake work placements during their time at the university. As well as guidance from the course team our Careers, Employability, and Enterprise teams offer support that enhances employability skills and underpins engagement with the industry.
Destination Careers
Graduates have gone on to work as freelance photographers, for agencies, in galleries and curating, and in post-production. Graduates may also continue to postgraduate study.
Requirement
- 112 UCAS points from any combination of A Levels/T Level/Extended Diploma/Foundation Diploma. One qualification should be in a relevant subject; or
- BBC from three A Levels; or
- A minimum of one Distinction and two Merits (DMM) from an Extended Diploma or a Merit from a UAL Extended Diploma or T Level in a relevant subject; or
- 112 UCAS points from a recognized Access to Higher Education course specializing in art and design with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3; or
- An international equivalent to 112 UCAS points in a subject related to your proposed course of study. Please see our Information by Country pages for more information.
All home applicants aged under 21 must have GCSE English at Grade 4/Grade C or above, or English Functional Skills Level 2 at Pass. International applicants must have a minimum IELTS overall score of 5.5, with no individual component below 5.5 (or recognized equivalent).
Examples of work
For all BA (Hons) degree courses (with the exception of BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance) you will need:
- To set up your portal
- You will then be asked to submit a maximum of six examples of work from your portfolio for consideration. The files should be no larger than 30MB in total and it is essential that no more than six examples of work are uploaded.
- Guidance on what to include in your examples of work can be found here.
For BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance you will need:
- 112 UCAS points from any combination of A Levels/Diploma/Extended Diploma. One qualification should be in a relevant subject, this may be a Rockschool Level 3 Music Practitioner qualification.
- A Level of performing ability equivalent to ABRSM/Rockschool/Trinity Grade 8
- Music theory understanding to Grade 5 level
Performing ability and theoretical understanding will be assessed through a practical performance of (1) a set piece relative to a specific instrument or voice and (2) an original song, instrumental composition, or arrangement of an existing song that has been uploaded to a suitable video sharing platform (YouTube, Vimeo or Weibo) for remote review.
For BA (Hons) Creative Writing and BA (Hons) Creative Advertising:
- For these courses, an interview forms part of the Admissions process. Providing that you meet our entry requirements for these courses, and submit your examples of work within the required deadline, you will be offered an in-person or remote interview.
For BA (Hons) Creative Writing you will need:
- Evidence of your writing interests in the form of samples of your work. Your work should demonstrate your developing, imaginative, and creative skills.