Masters Degrees (Ma Photography)

Introduction

MA Photography at London College of Communication has created many celebrated photographers and artists around the globe. This fine art photography MA has an international reputation for conceptually driven, research-led practices. Based in the still image, an interdisciplinary approach encourages students to explore the ever-expanding boundaries of the photographic medium to develop a distinctive body of work that is contextualised within a wider critical framework.

Content

MA Photography is a fine art photography programme aimed at developing a personal, distinctive and conceptually strong practice grounded in research and critical thinking. While based in the still image it embraces cross-media and cross-genre practice. Recent alumni have won awards such as the Dazed/Converse Emerging Artist, Magenta Flash Forward Emerging Photographers and IdeasTap/Magnum Photographic Award, and have been selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries.

MA Photography at London College of Communication is renowned for producing some of the most successful contemporary emerging photographers and artists. Part of the School of Media, the course offers a unique opportunity for photographers to develop a major body of research-based practice in the context of a critical understanding of contemporary photographic culture.

The course encourages students to work experimentally and produce work that tests the boundaries of the medium, encompassing the still image, video, installation, performance and digital media, and culminating in a public exhibition. The School of Media offers a longstanding tradition of photography education with a highly regarded research culture, and the course has close ties with the Photography and the Archive Research Centre and the Kubrick Archive, both based at LCC. Located close to central London, the course has excellent links with galleries, museums and archives.

MA Photography attracts a broad range of practitioners, from backgrounds in fine art photography, documentary photography, commercial photography and other areas of media practice. They are united by a desire to develop a distinctive personal practice with a high level of conceptual resolution. Graduates of the course go on to be successful fine artists as well as documentary and commercial photographers, gallerists, curators and writers, academics and teachers, and arts organisers of various kinds. Many prefer to find ways of supporting their art practice through combining it with teaching, commercial photography or other related activities. Students who may wish to progress to practice-led PhD are encouraged to develop their practice as research.
There are both analogue and digital photography facilities at LCC, including colour and black-and-white darkrooms, photographic studios and a Mac-based digital suite including Imacon scanners, as well as medium and large format analogue cameras, digital cameras, HD video cameras and lighting equipment. Students also have access to other technical facilities such as a 3D workshop or screenprinting.

Structure

Unit 1 - Exploring the Possibilities

Unit 2 - Taking an Idea Forward

Unit 3 - Collaborative Unit

Unit 4 - Resolving Outcomes

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Develop your creative practice, knowledge and understanding with our MA Photography. You'll gain a broad theoretical understanding of the medium of photography and establish a critically reflective practice through experimentation, creativity, risk-taking, research and authorship. Self-set projects and assignments, along with the collective breadth offered by our portfolio of exit awards, means you will graduate with an individually tailored award within a field of contemporary photography.

This programme is also available as a Research Masters (ResM). Further details are available on these pages.

Key features

-Choose your exit award - the core MA Photography, or one of our specialist routes: MA Photography and the Land, MA Photography and the Book, or MA Photography and Writing. This programme is also available as a Research Masters (ResM).
-Engage in experimental practice and become part of a broad research environment, supported by our internationally renowned staff, including Professors David Chandler, Jem Southam and Liz Wells.
-Study the course one year full-time or two years part-time; you’ll attend the same sessions, collaborating and sharing skills and knowledge.
-Experience a dynamic research environment which includes an extensive visiting speaker programme – a number of whom contribute to small, directed seminars, workshops and tutorials. Recent visiting speakers include Martin Barnes, Kate Bush, Clare Grafik and Michael Mack, and Ron Jude. Upcoming speakers include Stephen Vaughan, Laura Pannack and Anna Fox.
-Special events that highlight the aspects of the taught programme are organised each semester including intensive study days and symposia. We have held study visits at the Victoria and Albert Museum, at Martin Parr’s studio and at Garry Fabian Miller’s studio.
-Interrogate the relationship between theory and practice, with opportunities for a residential field trip and study trips both in the UK and abroad - we have previously visited Paris, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
-Benefit from a city centre campus with excellent library and photographic facilities including a bespoke daylight studio, analogue and digital imaging and printing resources, C41 processing, letterpress, printmaking and silkscreen workshops.
-Explore the rich urban and rural landscape offered by the South West peninsula – diverse towns and cities, industrial heritage and urban regeneration, coastal and marine environments, dramatic moorland and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Course details

You'll enter the programme with an initial project proposal that you will continue to develop throughout your study. The theme will evolve through your engagement with, and understanding of, the scope of the nature and context of your project. This will be linked to an explorative approach to the use of the photographic medium, challenging you to develop a fluent dialogue between your ideas and practice. You are given the opportunity to graduate with an individually tailored award within a field of contemporary photography: MA Photography, MA Photography and the Book, MA Photography and the Land, and MA Photography and Writing. You will apply with a specific exit award in mind, from which you’ll develop your MA project. All awards allow you to develop your creative photographic practice. By ‘practice’ we refer to a photographic practice that is inclusive of a wide range of making and working with photography: as photographers, curators, editors and writers.

Core modules
-MAPY705 MA Project
-MAPY701 The Practice of Research
-MAPY702 Photography: Histories and Criticism
-MAPY703 Experiment and Practice
-MAPY704 Photography: Interdisciplinary Practices and Contexts

Every postgraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the programme aims, the programme structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

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The MA Photography course focuses on the fields of international photojournalism, documentary and travel photography, and is designed in particular for postgraduate students who wish to develop their knowledge and skills to pursue a career in these areas.
You will explore issues of photographic culture, image economies and visual representation, and develop an understanding of how the practice of making photographic images is affected by these issues in terms of both your approach to the subject and the style of your photographs. You will apply your learning through a series of practical assignments.

The course is designed to be accessible to professional photographers and photo educators studying part-time as well as those wishing to study full-time and complete in a single year.

What will you study?

In term one you will consider a range of practical and ethical issues that have an impact on the practice of photography by researching four research questions. You will explore these issues through readings, lectures, discussions and practical assignments.

In the first half of term two, you will plan for two picture stories, one travelogue and one issue based, which you will then go on to shoot in the second half of the term. This work will be based on a further four research questions. At the end of term two, you will edit and discuss your projects with professionals, peers and tutors leading to preparations for continuing one of the two projects into term three.

In your final term you will have 10 weeks to expand your work in progress into a substantial body of work with ‘The Book’ module in which you will have the opportunity to develop a photographic book on a personally researched theme. You will negotiate a learning contract with your tutor from which the final project will be assessed.

The type of issues you will study include image libraries and the commercialisation of the photo market, the changing nature of picture news gathering and photojournalism, issues of ethics and social responsibility in photography and the importance of meaning and context in photo images. The insight you gain from this study will inform your approach to taking photographs.

You will study the work of contemporary practitioners in these areas of photography and the relationship between their work and the markets they supply.

In addition, you will develop an appreciation of the practical requirements of planning, research and preparation for photography assignments.

Entry to the course is based on the assumption that you are a technically proficient photographer. It is important to note that it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the technical skills to complete the practical work.

For more information please visit http://www.bolton.ac.uk/postgrad

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Why take this course?

On this course you will extend your photographic work at postgraduate level, defining your own authorial voice within the context of the contemporary documentary environment and the theoretical debates that underpin this.

There is a strong ethos in social and cultural awareness, supporting projects that are embedded within research and professional practice. You will be encouraged to network, publicise and market your work outside the University, and enhance your skills for working in the creative sector.

What will I experience?

On this course you can:

Experience an intellectual challenge within a productive research community, aided by supportive supervision.
Engage with internationally renowned visiting speakers and practitioners.
Take part in study visits to galleries and photography festivals.

What opportunities might it lead to?

On this course you will develop strong academic, creative and technical abilities. As a result, you will have the skills to work in various areas of the current photographic industry or as part of the wider creative industries, from writers to curators, picture editors to educators.

The MA course may lead to opportunities in:

Freelance photography
Curating
Exhibiting
Assisting in a commercial photographic environment
Visual content provider
Picture editing
PhD research / Research related careers

Module Details

This MA course is offered over one year (full time) or two years (part-time). The course has units related to:

Research: This includes methodologies, analytical skills, visual analysis, research management and organisation, professional skills, networking and personal effectiveness.
Creative photographic practice: This includes analogue and digital skills, editing, project management, professional practice and industry links, peer learning, contextualisation and reflective practice.
Core units comprise:

Proposal
A Question of Research
Photography Major Project
Contemporary Documentary Practice in Context

Programme Assessment

The course informs and encourages our students to participate in project work that is built upon social and cultural awareness through engaging and collaborating with communities outside of the university, nationally and internationally.

Much of the teaching encourages students to have the ability to verbally articulate their ideas, peer exchange and participate in collaborative learning, with some workshops and lectures. You will benefit from being taught by practising professionals with extensive expertise in exhibiting, publishing and curating.

There will be regular contact teaching time including one-to-one and group tutorials and workshops. You will also have the opportunity to engage in the wider culture that develops within the subject area alongside the undergraduate students in Photography.

During the final stage of the course in summer the learning becomes more independent and self-managed making your timetable more flexible.

You will mostly be assessed by a mix of written and practical coursework, with regular feedback

Student Destinations

Through seminars, project work, training and work experience, the MA Photography course will help you to engage with the creative industries of photography and its ancillary industries to be better equipped for employment and further career progression.

Roles our graduates may take on include:

Research-related careers
PhD study
Free-lance photographers
Assisting work
Picture editors
Editorial photography
Setting up own businesses
Digital printing and retouching
News industry
Picture agencies
Publishing
Curation
Galleries and museums
Design
Media industry
Teaching

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This practice-based course considers photography within contemporary international society. You will examine the exciting, and at times challenging, cultural and contextual dialogues surrounding your practice. We'll provide high-level production workshops which will strengthen and extend your own photography within today's visual culture. You will produce your own plan, a Learning Agreement, showing how you wish to develop your practice as a professional photographer or academic researcher.

You will engage with either new technologies or traditional photography, or a mix of both, but you should aim to update and challenge your pre-existing skillset. The resulting photographic practice can be for whatever purpose you choose; art, commercial, documentary, fashion, landscape, moving image or perhaps something experimental.

Our Photography staff team have expertise across a wide range of specialist photographic practices, and will support you with flexible and responsive teaching.

Key features:

Develop a project tailored to your own personal interests and career aspirations.
Have the opportunity to engage with, and discuss the critical, historical and contextual frameworks surrounding your practice.
Go on a field trip to at least one photographic archive.
Benefit from visiting speakers, recently these have included Emma Bowkett, Francis Hodgson, Giles Duley, Martin Parr, Ophelia Wynne, Simon Roberts, Simon Webb and Sunil Gupta.
Take advantage of our excellent industry links, including companies such as Mamiya Leaf, Phase One, Genesis Imaging, Wex Photographic, Red Photographic and Calumet.
Benefit from our staff's international links and contacts across Europe.
Join the 75 years' worth of NTU graduates who have achieved success, won awards, or otherwise distinguished themselves in the field of photography.
Opt for an additional advanced research module if you're thinking of progressing to PhD or Professional Doctorate study.

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This Master’s programme provides the opportunity to experiment with new photographic processes and to explore photography as a tool to engage and stimulate social thinking.

While the photographic image remains fundamental to your study, the focus of this programme is social, cultural and political. To support your ongoing practice in photographic exhibition and scholarly research, the course includes seminars on cultural, media and philosophical theory, talks by visiting practitioners, group debates about different methodologies and workshops on photographic technique.

You will be encouraged to learn from, and collaborate with, experienced staff and your fellow students in order to develop your own creative style.

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Our MA Photography course approaches photography as an expanded visual discipline. You'll be encouraged to confidently produce complex and extended photographic projects and engage with experimental and speculative approaches to making.

We offer a dynamic and exciting environment for studying the critical theory of photography, and this course engages with practices of reading and writing about the image. MA Photography also pays close attention to the dissemination, exhibition and publication of photographic work.

We provide specialist digital and analogue facilities for large-format colour and black-and-white exhibition prints.

Our course offers a considered balance of support that develops practical skills and fosters a high standard of diverse critical approaches. You'll take risks, explore and develop your interest, and exchange, debate and discuss ideas. You'll respond to the diverse field of contemporary photography and explore practices of representation that engage with the still and the moving image, as well as performance and installation.

Your studies will be supported by a number of internationally renowned staff in a department that encourages experimentation. This will enable you to establish yourself as a rounded professional who can formulate ideas in a sophisticated framework whilst also being able to communicate to others, both visually and verbally.

We place a strong emphasis on publication, enabling you to find creative ways to disseminate your work beyond the academic context and into the public arena.

Facilities

Our range of equipment and technical support at UCA Rochester enables specialist and professional-grade work, whilst also encouraging experimental and speculative approaches to making.

Industry Partners

Our MA Photography course enjoys extensive links with a number of photographic, media and fine art professionals, curators, publishers, specialist printers and book designers. These connections enrich your experience through visiting lecturer and seminar programmes.

In the last three years, speakers on the course have included photographers and other creative practitioners such as:

-Ori Gersht

-Esther Teichmann

-Margaret Salmon

-Sarah Jones

-Matthew Stone

-Criodhna Costello

-Chris Coekin

-Carey Young

-Lisa Castagner

-Rod Dickinson

-Jo Longhurst

-Jason Evans

-Joseph Walsh

-Eva Bensasson

Additionally, creative professionals and industry links for our course include:

-Benedict Burbridge, editor of Photoworks

-Stuart Smith, book designer at Smith-Design

-Sarah James, writer at Art Monthly and Frieze

-Lucy Soutter, writer at Source

-Clare Grafik, curator of The Photographer's Gallery

-Jennifer Thatcher, Folkestone Triennial

-Jean Wainwright, writer at Art Newspaper

-Terry King, specialist printer

-Emily Pethick, directs The Showroom

-Robert Shore, editor of Elephant Magazine

-Edward Dorrian, organiser of Five Years

-Joyce Cronin, manages the Cubitt Gallery.

Careers

Our postgraduate degree prepares you for your career through professional practice units, talks by visiting artists and portfolio reviews with figures from across the photographic industry. Career opportunities include:

-Freelance photography

-Fine art

-Fashion

-Advertising and editorial

-Post production/digital imaging

-Picture editing and research

-Curating

-Image, arts and community arts management

-Gallery administration

Graduates of MA Photography have gone on to win the Jerwood Photography prize; to exhibit their work in The Photographers' Gallery, Photofusion, ArtSway and the Geffyre Museum as well as publishing their outputs in different venues ranging from The Sunday Times Magazine to monographs with Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Virtual Media Space

Visit our Postgraduate Virtual Media Space to find out more about our courses, see what it's like to study at UCA and gain access to our campus virtual tours.

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Introduction

MA Contemporary Photography is a fine art photography course that explores the possibilities of both visual and conceptual expression, merging research deeply with practice. The course is rooted in the idea that photography has no self-limiting identity or essence. In creating work that is visually exciting and intellectually compelling you’ll develop as an artist with photography at the core of your practice, defining, or redefining photography as the art form of the 21st century.

Content

MA Contemporary Photography understands photography as plural, trans disciplinary and multimedial global language that is situated at the core of contemporary visual art practice. The deep integration of theory and practice offers supportive environment in which to explore photography as form of expression that interlaces fine art, technology, aesthetics, politics and new media. Opportunities to research photography as a central component of discursive practices within the arts, the sciences and the construction of personal identities, provide students with tools to work in fields related to artistic production and the extended creative industries.

Unlike many other photography courses, this course is not committed to one notion of what photography is or to one form of media specific practice. Instead of working from a predefined notion of photography, the course aims to provide students with the tools to locate their own practice within a broad range of contemporary visual forms. 

Structure

MA Contemporary Photography is a two year (60 weeks) part-time course structured as two consecutive periods of 30 weeks each. Course attendance is three days in year one, and two days in year two. In year one we expect you to commit an average of 40 hours per week. In year two, your study is predominantly self-managed but we expect you to commit an average of 20 hours per week. Across the two years, you're expected to commit an average of 30 hours per week.

MA Contemporary Photography is credit rated at 180 credits, and comprises two units: Unit one (60 credits) and Unit two (120 credits).

Students successfully achieving Unit one may exit at this point with the award of Postgraduate Certificate.

Both units must be passed in order to achieve the MA, but the classification of the award of MA derives from the mark for Unit two only.

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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/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 encourage students to engage with the latest developments in photography, fine art and wider media culture, and to constantly challenge the limits of the medium. Work that crosses technological boundaries and engages with film, video, sound and installation is encouraged – but so is photography's engagement with performance, painting and sculpture.

More than anything, we are committed to an exploratory and thoughtful form of picture-making that is adequate to representing our experiences of the modern world.

Why study with us?

• Creative and critical environment in which to practise and think about photography
• Opportunity to build a professional profile as an independent practitioner
• Fine art approach to photographic practice
• Course tutors who are experienced professional photographers and photographic researchers
• Advice on professional development
• Chance to develop a sustainable individual practice, graduating with a body of work ready for exhibition, a publication and a piece of critical writing that will help to position your work

Areas of study

Practice-based projects are supported by briefings, 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:

• Experimental Practice(20 credits): a themed practice module designed to help you explore your own approach to practice in more depth

• Research Methods in Theory and Practice (20 credits): developing skills in research, experimentation and critical reflection

• Contemporary Debates (20 credits): a theoretical seminar considering how photography has developed as a reflexive medium straddling fine art practice and more documentary contexts

Semester 2:

• Photography Research Project, Part 1 (20 credits): laying the foundations and making initial work in your specialist area of practice

• Professional Practice (20 credits): built around lectures from visiting artists, curators and editors and a series of workshops teaching skills in public speaking, fundraising, research and web design

• Dissertation (20 credits): between 6,000 and 8,000 words exploring a theoretical or historical topic related to your specialist area of practice

Summer Semester:

• Photography Research Project, Part 2 (40 credits): developing and resolving a body of work for exhibition

• Photobooks and Publications (20 credits): realising your project as a publication

Photography in Brighton

Brighton has an established photographic culture. Photography has featured as a significant part of the Brighton Festival and has had a strong presence within the many visual arts spaces of the city. This continues to grow, particularly through the presence of the Brighton Photo Biennial and Photoworks, a commissioning and publishing organisation. Furthermore, the Brighton Photo Fringe, MiniClick and ArtsForum all organise regular events, exhibitions and talks, contributing to a lively photography scene across the city.

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.

Careers and employability

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 – successful artists in the world of contemporary photography who exhibit internationally and produce challenging new work.

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The Photography Arts MA is a new revalidated course, which replaces the former Photographic Studies MA (1996-2016). The programme helps you develop your own distinct photographic practice and visual research, and is designed to enable you to advance and focus your photographic practice in making new work, supported by a positive educational environment where you can accumulate new knowledge and develop new critical thinking. Students are fully supported by our internationally renowned photography staff.

In an open-minded educational environment you will be able to explore the dynamic range of your photographic practice, engage in innovative thinking and cultivate new independent creative strategies for your practice. Situated in the dynamic Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, you will draw on extensive photographic facilities and a wealth of inter-disciplinary expertise in this world-famous centre for the practice and critical research of photography.

The course has an open definition of photography as a medium and practice, recognising plural tendencies in its definition and identity. Different modes of practice may be developed and pursued on the course, which encompasses a wide range of methods and techniques: conceptualism, expanded documentary, video, archival, fine art, experimental, installation, fictional realism, and other performative modes of photographic practice. The course encourages open experimentation in the development of new ideas and work. You will advance your practical work choosing new or traditional techniques, digital or analogue forms, or a mixture of approaches. The course champions a long and proud tradition of new and challenging photography at the University.

This is the right course if you are highly motivated, excited to develop and expand your independent practice alongside critical research. Working with our highly experienced staff you can find new approaches and forms of thinking about photography. Alumni from the course (under the former title Photographic Studies MA) now work all over the world in a range of careers as photographers, artists, picture editors, researchers and careers in the creative industries. Do you want to join them?

Course content

The course aims to develop your practice, informed by research. The course sets out to stimulate thinking through practice as a way to generate new innovative work. Students make and actively present their visual work in exhibition, book and/or screen modes of presentation to explore ideas and experiments in new methods of practice and representation. Critical research modules help inform and elaborate the contemporary situation of photography as cultural practice, whether considered in the arts and/or media environment. Excellent facilities and technical workshops support the research and practice. Students write three short research essays during the course, each aimed at broadening knowledge of photography and its related histories and criticism. There is no dissertation on this course except as an option.

The course enables students to become independent practitioners, generating new and informed work. You will be empowered with new visual, practical and critical skills that culminate in the Masters Project, which you will show at the end of the course in the degree show. The final degree show will be in central London.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
-AESTHETICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
-CONTEMPORARY DEBATES
-MASTERS PROJECT
-PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICE
-RESEARCH METHODS
-THEORIES OF THE IMAGE

Associated careers

The course prepares graduates for a range of career paths in the arts, media and photography. Many successful graduates work as artists/photographers and also develop careers in related work within the creative industries. Graduate opportunities range from picture agency work, curators and as innovators of independent projects. Many also pursue careers in lecturing and teaching of photography. Graduates have a high success in developing their research work at doctoral level and the MA also has a high reputation amongst potential employers within the sector.

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This distinctive programme allows you to think about the critical and creative relationships between film, photography and the media, while developing your skills to produce projects of your own.

A major independent project sits at the heart of the course, supported by modules that put your practice into the context of contemporary debates. You’ll explore the different critical approaches to the making and consumption of photography and film, allowing them to inform the short film and photography projects you’ll work on.

It’s a flexible programme which allows you to choose from a range of optional modules to focus on topics that suit your own creative and critical interests. You could study cultural policy, international film industries, film and TV writing, feminism in the media and more.

You’ll be taught by leading researchers and practitioners in the field, and our cutting edge research will inform all your teaching.

Our School has a range of fantastic facilities to support your studies. The 58-seat Phil Taylor Cinema is equipped with Dolby Digital sound and high-definition projection facilities, as well as projectors for 16mm and 35mm film.

You can also work on your own projects in our 44 editing suites, equipped with Avid Media Composer editing software and Adobe Creative Cloud. The fully equipped TV studio also has a large green screen area, lighting and photo-flash facilities. We also have a track and dolly, sliders, Glidecam and various cranes, and you’ll have access to a new photographic dark room.

We also run a loans service where you can borrow a range of HD digital camcorders and various Canon stills cameras to help with your project work.

Course content

The whole programme is based around a major independent project. You can choose to complete a dissertation and take classes developing your knowledge of research methods to support your work. Alternatively, you can complete a short film or photography project that you’ll exhibit at the end of the programme.

The modules you study throughout the year give you the theoretical and contextual knowledge you need to inform your project, as well as developing your skills in filmmaking and photography.

You’ll study two core modules. One will explore the links between photographic creativity, optical science and the nature of cinema and allow you to work on a short film project. The other will look at the historical development of photographic practice, contemporary issues and debates.

Alongside these modules you’ll choose from a range of options to focus on topics that interest you, from film industries around the world to new media, cultural policy, communication and development, television narrative and more.

If you choose to study part-time, you’ll complete the MA over two years, instead of one, taking fewer modules each year.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Compulsory modules

• Cultures of Contemporary Photography 30 credits
• Cinematics and Photography 30 credits

Optional modules

• Feminism, Identity and Media 30 credits
• International Film Industries 30 credits
• The Media and Democratisation: Global Perspectives 30 credits
• Dissertation and Research Methods 60 credits
• Innovations in Political Communication 30 credits
• Politics and the Media 30 credits
• Communication and Development 30 credits
• The Cultural History of Promotional Communication 30 credits
• Identity, Culture and Technology 30 credits
• Final Independent Project 60 credits
• Urban Narratives 30 credits
• Rhetoric and Public Speaking 15 credits
• Managing Business Across Cultures 15 credits
• International Organisations: Context, Theory and Practice 15 credits
• Writing for Professional Purposes 15 credits
• Cultural Policy: Models and Debates 30 credits
• Critical Debates in Culture and Place 30 credits
• Writing for Film and Television 30 credits
• 'Race', Identity and Culture in the Black Atlantic 30 credits
• Researching Inequality in the Media 30 credits
• Reality TV: Truth or Fiction? 30 credits

For more information on typical modules, read Film, Photography and Media MA Full Time in the course catalogue

For more information on typical modules, read Film, Photography and Media MA Part Time in the course catalogue

Learning and teaching

We use learning methods that reflect the diversity of the programme, including workshops, lectures, seminars, group learning, tutorials and film screenings. Independent study is also a vital element of the programme, since it allows you to develop your skills and explore your creativity in practical work.

Assessment

We also use different methods of assessment, some of which will depend on the modules you choose. These are likely to include portfolios of practical work, group and individual projects and reports, essays, literature reviews, case studies, presentations, scripts and commentaries.

Career opportunities

This programme will give you a broad base of knowledge and skills across two important forms of communication. It will also equip you with cultural awareness and advanced skills in research, analysis, interpretation and oral and written communication.

Careers support

We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.

The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.

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This MA gives practitioners and theorists the opportunity to research and develop the new boundaries of image-making made possible by technological change within the context of post-industrial culture- http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-photography-electronic-arts/

This programme joins theory and practice, equipping you to develop and achieve highly effectively in the new image media culture. Practice uses both digital and analogue technology, still and durational as well as the study and production of interactivity.

The programme allows for specialisation in photography and/or electronic arts – which, in addition to still photography, can include interactive, durational and internet work – but encompasses a broader interpretation of practice.

You'll look at the meaning, production and distribution of images, and the relationship between theory and practice in the context of debates about post-modernism and beyond.

You also participate in enabling sessions in photography:

medium/large format cameras
portable and studio lighting technologies and their use
film technology
cinematography
digital imaging
output systems and processes
and/or in electronic arts:

computer and video graphics
post-production
computer-aided design
digital publishing
animation
animatics
2D and 3D computer animation
still and durational image production and manipulation
web construction
interactivity
There is an MRes which follows the MA into a second year, in order to develop your work/voice. This will count as the first year of a PhD. Find out more about the MRes.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact the convenor Nigel Perkins.

Modules & Structure

This programme uniquely joins theory and practice in a way that will equip you with the tools and the vision to develop and achieve highly effectively in the new image media culture. Practice uses both digital and analogue technology, still and durational as well as the study and production of interactivity.

You will study

Photography: Durational & Still; Analogue & Digital
Electronic Imagery: Motion & Still
Visualisation: Stand-alone & Interactive
The programme draws on a broad range of cultural references and technical practices. It offers the opportunity to take stock of evolving practices and developments in image media culture, and is structured to develop the intellectual imagination within each individual student. This is achieved through a combined study of practice and theory, with extensive instruction through ‘enabling sessions’ which engage technical familiarity; core tutorials; secondary tutorials; Issues in Media and Culture and additional theory course options.

Recognising the rapidly changing definitions and context of these practice areas,and the value/positioning of traditional practices, these categories may also be understood through a variety of practices which involve image construction and presentation both still and durational, including: film/video, animation, interactivity, installations, motion graphics, and hyperspace constructs, as well as evolving new exploratory categories.

The programme provides an opportunity to develop and/or research aspects of visual style, and draw on a broad range of cultural references as well as aesthetic and technical approaches engaged through ‘Practice Theory Sessions’, visiting lectures and the Issues in Media and Culture course. Fundamental to the programme is the space that it creates to make it possible for you to explore, question, change and consolidate your work and your ideas.

Assessment

Original portfolio submission; coursework and essays.

Tutorials

This course is interested in the development of the individual voice. To this end, there are two types of tutorial:

Core tutorials - which deal with overall development
Secondary tutorials - these are tutorials for each specific area of photographic media

Skills

You'll develop specific practice skills to a high level, and the articulation/understanding of the pleasures of media consumption.

Careers

Graduates from the programme are extremely successful, with finalists working commercially, developing as artists or continuing to enlarge their academic knowledge. During the course particular attention is given to the development of the individual voice. This, plus students' exposure to a range of technologies, means that our graduates can step into the arena of their choice, or sometimes of their making.

Here are just some examples of the sorts of careers graduates have gone onto:

Art Director
Artist
Animator
Senior Interactive Designer
Head of Creative Department
Head Technical Creative, Experimental Film and Dance
Commercial Photography (fashion, editorial, photobooks, social, advertising)
Director (commercial narrative)
Director Of Photography
Installation Artist
Interactive Artist
Producer
Curator

Funding

Please visit http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/fees-funding/ for details.

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The MA in Digital Media is unique in its combination of practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary media and technology- http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-digital-media-technology-cultural-form/

The established and exciting degree is designed to help you understand digital transformations in media, culture and society and apply this understanding in practice, in the media and creative industries and in further research. You will be equipped with skills that can be applied to current and future developments in digital media, social media, computing and other aspects of technology.

The MA in Digital Media educates aspiring media practitioners and academics as well as early and mid-career professionals who seek to reflect on their roles in a structured and stimulating learning environment designed to give all students up-to-the-minute knowledge of digital media and the skills to apply that knowledge to future developments.

The MA offers two pathways:

-Pathway 1 is a theory programme where you learn about developments in digital media and technology from a wide range of perspectives

-Pathway 2 is a theory and practice programme where you improve your skills, understanding and experience in one of the following areas:

Documentary
Image making
Journalism
Writing

Acclaimed academics and practitioners

Benefit from the experience and expertise of one of the world’s leading media and communications departments. You'll be taught by theorists and practitioners of international standing: Sarah Kember, Joanna Zylinska, Graham Young, Tony Dowmunt, Angela Phillips, Julian Henriques and David Morley.

Work placements and internships

The MA in Digital Media regularly attracts offers of work placements and internships. Recently these have come from Google, The Science Museum and N1creative.com.

Facilities

Our students have access to state-of-the-art facilities including well-equipped lecture and seminar rooms, exhibition spaces, computer facilities and digital media suites.

The department is also currently host to the renowned philosopher of media and technology, Bernard Stiegler and students will have access to his modulein Media Philosophy as well as priority access to the innovative and popular option After New Media. Designed to complement the MA in Digital Media, this course provides a framework for thinking about the current media environment as well as future forms of human and computer interaction.

An established record

The MA in Digital Media has been redefining media theory and practice since 2004. Our students become proficient in:

the history, sociology and philosophy of digital media
the application of critical conceptual skills to specialist areas and future forms of media
multimedia skills in image making (photography, video, animation, graphic art) script writing, journalism and documentary
MA Digital Media students have access the pioneering option ‘After New Media’, a non-assessed online module which explores the themes of self mediation, ethical mediation and intelligent mediation, and develops a framework for thinking about 'life' after new media. As befits a course of this kind we will be combining media, and exploring their pedagogic potential – uniting digital-online technologies with more traditional teaching formats, such as reading groups, seminars and an end of year symposium.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Sarah Kember.

Modules & Structure

The programme consists of:

Two compulsory core modules
Pathway 1 - between two and four option modules (worth 60 credits) OR
Pathway 2 - a two-term practice block (worth 30 credits) and either one or two option modules (worth 30 credits)
The dissertation or the practice/theory project

Assessment

Seen take-home paper; essays; dissertation or practice/theory project and other production work in the area of documentary, image-making, journalism or fiction.

Programme overview

This is an exciting programme which offers a critical, contextual and practical approach to digital media and technology. It problematises approaches to the 'new' media in academic and professional debate, especially those which overemphasise the potential for radical social change led by a homogenised technology itself.

The programme is defined by its resistance to technological determinism and its insistence on the importance of addressing the social and historical contexts within which a range of media technologies are employed. In order to provide a contextual framework and facilitate the conceptualisation of digital media and technologies as fully cultural forms and processes, the programme will draw on a range of disciplines including: media and cultural studies, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. However, the programme will remain focused on key contemporary concerns about the potential role of digital media in society and on refiguring the contours of the 'new' media debate.

The programme offers two pathways. Pathway 1 addresses central theoretical and conceptual concerns relating to digital media. Pathway 2 combines theoretical analysis and practical work, offering students the opportunity to explore new media theories and concepts in practice. Pathway 2 is primarily aimed at students who already have some experience in one of the areas on offer: documentary; digital photography and image making; journalism; writing. It is meant to appeal to media industry professionals who are keen to reflect critically on their practice within a structured learning environment, graduates of practice-based courses but also those who have gained their practical experience in documentary; digital photography and image making; journalism or writing in informal settings.

Programme structure

The first compulsory core course is Digital Media - critical perspectives and this is taught in a small workshop format in the Autumn term. This course functions as a foundation for the second core course and offers students a map of the key debates in digital media. The course is taught in ten two hour workshop sessions and is supported by the provision of one-to-one tutorials.

The second compulsory core course is Technology and Cultural Form - debates, models, dialogues and this develops questions of technology, power, politics and subjectivity which were introduced in the first core course. The first part of this course highlights the key conceptual concerns of a contextualised approach to digital media plus the relevant debates and models formulated by key figures in the field. The second part of this course aims to generate a dialogue between theoreticians and practitioners around some of the most intellectually stimulating, contentious and contemporary ideas in the field without necessarily seeking a resolution. This course is taught in ten two hour workshop sessions during the Spring term and is supported by the weekly provision of one-to-one tutorials.

Students are required to take options from the lists provided by the Media and Communications, Anthropology, Comparative Literature and Sociology Departments as well as the Centre for Cultural Studies. Examples might include: After New Media, Nature and Culture, Cultural Theory, Globalisation, Risk and Control, Embodiment and Experience, Political Communications. Options are taught primarily through lectures and seminars and take place in the Autumn or Spring terms.

Each student's option profile is discussed with the programme convenor in order to ensure that the balance of subject-specific topics is appropriate for the individual concerned. Option courses are taught primarily through lectures, seminars and tutorials and take place in the Autumn or Spring terms.

All students are required to produce either a 12,000 word dissertation on a topic agreed by the student and supervisor or a practice/theory project in the area of documentary, photography and image making, journalism or fiction. The length of the practical element is dependent on the media and the form used and will be agreed in advance with the supervisor. It will, however, be comparable with practical projects undertaken in practice MA programmes in the relevant field. Students undertaking the practice/theory project will also be expected to submit a 3-4000 word analysis of their practice which locates it within the theoretical debates explored in the MA as a whole. This essay may be presented as a separate document or as an integral part of the project depending on the nature of the project and by a agreement with both theory and practice supervisors.

Programme outcomes

The programme's subject specific learning outcomes require students to analyse and contextualise developments in digital media and technology with reference to key debates in the history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy of the media. Students who opt for the practice/theory pathway will also be required to produce material of publishable or broadcast standard and to evaluate the ways in which theoretical and practical insights intersect. All students will develop a wide range of transferable qualities and skills necessary for employment in related or unrelated areas. These are described by the Quality Assurance Agency as: 'the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility, decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations, and the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development'.

By the end of the programme students will be able to:

-Map and critically evaluate key debates in the field of new media
-Analyse and contextualise current and future developments in digital media and technology
-Evaluate and articulate key historical, sociological, anthropological and philosophical approaches to the study of digital media and technology
-Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of at least four differing areas of inquiry
-Demonstrate an advanced level of conceptual knowledge and (where relevant) practical skill appropriate for a sustained piece of work in the field
-Prepare and deliver clearly argued and informed work
-Locate, retrieve and present relevant information for a specific project
-Manage a complex array of competing demands and work effectively to a deadline
-Work resourcefully and independently
-Think critically and/or work practically within a given context

Skills

We provide graduates with skills that are cutting edge: in the critical analysis and/or creative production of digital media; in the disciplinary knowledge and conceptual frameworks necessary for current and future forms of media and technology; in the awareness of how digital media and technologies are re-shaping society from the ways we communicate (through social media and web 2.0) to the increasingly ‘smart’ environments in which we live.

Careers

Our programme provides a theory and practice pathway and prepares students for work in the following areas:

-media and creative industries; advertising, marketing and PR (graduates of the MA Digital Media have found work with Virgin Media, Google, the BBC and other leading organisations worldwide)
-research and academia (graduates from this programme have gone on to study for PhD degrees in higher education institutions around the world and also here with us)
-media production and new media art (graduates have exhibited, published and produced work in photography, journalism, TV, documentary, film and multimedia)

Graduate Ekaterina discusses her career:

"I work for a company, called Visual DNA, which already sounds like life happening After New Media. The company is the largest data provider in Europe and is totally multinational. We actually try to analyse human visual DNA, you memories, feelings, thoughts about the future, anticipations, etc by creating personality quizzes where instead of verbal answers we tend to use images.

My role is as Creative Developer. It involves working with images from concept to finding/shooting and post-production. My qualifications perfectly matched what they’ve been looking for, Digital Media rocks!

My tip for the new-to-be-graduates is this: physically go to places and companies and talk to people. It really opens up loads of possibilities, and when I tell someone where I’ve graduated from they look impressed, and there is some sort of respect coming from them."

Funding

Please visit http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/fees-funding/ for details.

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This course offers an opportunity for students to develop a major body of practical work that engages with the expanded boundaries of photography and hybridisation of the medium. It is concerned with a broad range of photographic practices and technologies and explores debates around the politics of representation and our role as image makers.

Key features
-You will have the opportunity to exhibit your work and take part in off-site visits to galleries, photography festivals and other cultural spaces, as well as study tours.
-Supported by a team of technical and academic staff, you will have access to a professional photography suite that includes two new digital-imaging areas, darkroom areas, two double-height photography studios and a general preparation, finishing and demonstration area. In addition, you will have access to 3D, screen printing and moving image workshops.

What will you study?

You will gain a thorough understanding of the history of photography and its continuously developing field of interrelated forms of image production and visual culture. You will explore the potential of the expanded boundaries of photography in unexpected and innovative ways through self-initiated research. Supported by taught modules and an experienced group of research-active staff, you will develop critical thinking and a sustained practice.

Assessment

Seminar and exhibition presentations, tutorials, individual and group reviews.

Course structure

Please note that this is an indicative list of modules and is not intended as a definitive list. Those listed here may also be a mixture of core and optional modules.

Modules
-Project 1
-Theory – Seminar
-Photography Practice – Applied Theory in Advanced Photography
-Photography Practice – Publishing
-Masters Project (Exhibition and Research Publication)

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The MA Commercial Photography course offers you the opportunity to enhance your practice with the aim of becoming a photographer at the forefront of the industry.

The MA Commercial Photography course offers you the opportunity to enhance your practice with the aim of becoming a photographer at the forefront of the industry.

This new exciting course is led by the renowned photographer and educator Paul Wenham-Clarke. MA Commercial Photography students will be engaged in a breadth of creative practice including advertising, fashion, editorial and documentary photography, with an strong emphasis on freelance working. Using still and/or moving image, you will define your own visual identity as a practicing commercial photographer.

WHO IS IT FOR?
The course is designed for ambitious photography graduates, or experienced photographers who wish to develop their knowledge and expertise in order to reach the very top of their field. We look for students with a passion for the subject and who are willing to take risks, and in doing so push themselves to new heights.

Whether you want to develop a strong commercial portfolio or test the boundaries of your creative practice, our photography postgraduate course offers a unique opportunity for talented practitioners to work with highly experienced award winning staff and to use state of the art facilities.

*Subject to validation

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