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

Read less

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.

Read less

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

Read less

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.

Read less

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.

Read less

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.

Read less

The Photography Arts MA offers a dynamic mix of photography practice and research to support your development as an artist. In an open-minded educational environment you will expand the boundaries of your photography, advancing your own distinct visual and conceptual approach. Students are fully supported by our internationally renowned photography staff and inspired by an exciting range of prominent visiting photographic artists and thinkers. 

Situated in Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, you will have access to extensive photographic facilities and a wealth of inter-disciplinary expertise. You will be part of a world-famous centre for photography research. 

The Photography Arts MA is a recently revalidated course, which builds on the former Photographic Studies MA (1996-2016). The course champions a long, proud tradition of cutting-edge photography pioneered at the University.

The course has an open definition of photography, encompassing a wide range of approaches and forms. We encourage free experimentation in the development of ideas. You will advance your practical work choosing new or traditional techniques, digital or analogue forms, in work that may extend beyond the traditional boundaries of wall, page or screen into other modes including moving image, installation and performance.

The research components of the course are tailored for the needs of the contemporary artist photographer, and allow you to focus on the lines of inquiry that will be most productive for your own development. Your progress through the course will be supported with one-to-one tutorials with a personal tutor.

This is the right course if you are highly motivated and excited to develop your independent practice alongside critical research within a rapidly changing field. Working with our experienced staff and a group of peers drawn from all over the world, you can discover your own future working with the most contemporary approaches to photography.  

The course is structured to develop your practice, informed by research. Throughout the course, students make work with great attention to how it will be presented in a range of modes including exhibition, book and/or screen. The practice modules provide a framework for developing and testing new approaches and establish a foundation for your future independent work. Students write three short research essays during the course, each aimed at broadening knowledge of photography, contemporary art and related histories, theories and criticism. Content for these assignments is led by the student’s own research interests. The course is unusually flexible in that a dissertation is not required, but can form an optional part of the final master’s project.

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

Course structure

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.

Core modules

• Photography Practice
• Research Methods
• Dissertation or Masters Project

Option modules

• Contemporary Debates
• Photography and Aesthetics
• Theories of the Image

Option modules from Documentary Photography and Photojournalism MA

• History and Theory of the Published Page
• Writing Photography

Career path

An MA in Photography Arts is an unusually versatile qualification that prepares you to be an artist/photographer working at the highest level of ambitious contemporary art, and also gives you a range of transferable skills vital to twenty-first century creative industries.

Graduates of the course work as independent artist/photographers and also as writers, educators, critics, publishers, curators, gallerists, picture editors and researchers. A number of graduates go on to pursue their research at doctoral level.

Alumni from the course (under the former title Photographic Studies MA) now work all over the world in a range of careers requiring creativity, research skills and critical analysis of visual images

Read less

Behind every beautiful fashion shoot is a talented photographer. Be that photographer.

As a student of MA Fashion Photography, you’ll build upon your existing fashion and photography knowledge to identify, develop and manage a Masters project.

Throughout the course you’ll have access to UCA’s state of the art photography and participate in a variety of lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops, with regular off-campus visits to shoots and exhibitions.

Our MA Fashion Photography course offers you the opportunity to develop your practical fashion photography skills whilst giving you a solid grounding in critical thinking and theory.

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 courses enjoy 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.

Read less

The course explores documentary practices and photojournalism as exciting and developing mediums, through a combination of practice-based teaching and discussion of critical contexts.

We take each applicant on their own merit. This can include students of documentary photography or photographers in general who are interested in specialising in this area. Also welcome are artists who wish to focus their activities on a more social practice, and individuals from other disciplines, who wish to explore the subject area at post grad level.

The course builds on the international stature of the photographic and journalism departments of the University and is designed to equip you with an awareness of contemporary documentary and photojournalism, drawing on a variety of related media.

The course can be taken in full-time or part-time mode.

The Documentary and Photojournalism MA allows students to explore ideas of society through photographically related practice and within critically informed ways that maintain connections with the issue, yet also consider fresh visual approaches to the subject matter.

We approach photography as a social practice, situated within its own history, but also drawing on various discourses. We explore the idea that documentary practice and photojournalism may take many forms in the 21st Century.

Importantly, from your arrival, we emphasise the development of your own practice, through experimentation, critique and theory, and encourage analysis of practice through contemporary perspectives.

The course leads towards the Final Major Project, which is a consolidation of student learning into a high profile event in a central London exhibition space.

You will be taught by practising professional photographers, artists and writers, within a supportive course atmosphere. Technically, the course resources are equipped to the highest professional standards for both analogue and digital production of still and moving image.

Course structure

All modules involve classroom teaching, tutorials, seminars, workshops, group work and your own fieldwork and are designed to equip you with advanced ways of working and negotiating your practice. We take the view that the work you make from the beginning of your studies with us is potentially valid currency for external use.

We encourage you to explore production of a body of documentary/photojournalistic works through the development of personal practice in the real world by:

• Creating an informal learning agreement which emphasises a real world engagement
• Exploring appropriate responses to given situations
• Exploration of documentary methods
• Challenging expectations.

Students take the first four core modules below and choose from either Final Major Project or Dissertation as their fifth core module. Students choose one option module from those listed below.

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.

Core Modules

• Independent Practice
• The Photo Book
• History and Theory of the Published Page
• Writing Photography
• Orientation
• Final Major Project
• Dissertation

Optional modules

• Contemporary Debates
• Photography and Aesthetics

Career path

The emphasis of the course is on the development of your practice, through experimentation, and knowledge creation as understood within contemporary approaches to documentary, as well as many related practices such as critical and journalistic and collaborative practice.

In addition to the Skills acquired of photographers enabling the production of works this will also involve competent use of a variety of hardware, software, social media, presentation and production skills.

The MA will involve the development of various hard skills such as management of large and small scale projects, direction (either within film or theatrical modes) facilitatory methods (such as in educational or community roles), advocacy, effective social networking and experience of group and collaborative working. We intend that the student will be able to function as a still photographer, documentary film-maker, activist, artist and writer. We would imagine our graduate to be well rounded and confident individual with adaptability facilitating new ways of seeing.

Internship

The course is taught by experienced and practising photographers, publishers and writers whose extensive network of contacts in all areas of photography is accessible to students. We actively encourage work experience during the course and will advise on possible limited time internships and placements, providing these do not interfere the course work. Any internships or placements will be arranged by the students.

Read less

Are you a photographer who wants to further develop and broaden your knowledge and skills? Our Photography Master’s degree focuses on contemporary photographic practices across a diverse range of genres. You’ll be given the opportunity to explore and deepen your understanding of photographic practice and culture.

What will you study?

Our popular MA Photography course has achieved success through the production of student work of the highest standard. Some of the most important photo festivals and exhibitions, both national and international, have included University of Bolton photography students’ work. Their work has also been acquired/collected by local and national galleries and other collections.

We’ll encourage and guide you to develop a critical understanding of the key issues in contemporary photographic culture. You’ll look at ethics, social responsibility, meaning and context in photographs, and see how they are influenced and informed by these issues through a series of research-informed practical assignments. You’ll also explore the work of contemporary practitioners and the relationship between their work and the photographic market.

Our highly skilled and experienced teaching team will encourage you to develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of knowledge relevant to advanced photographic practice. We also offer opportunities to engage with external creative industry professionals across the full range of photographic cultures. Successful graduates have experienced career progression across a number of creative industry sub-sectors, as freelancers and curators, working for charities, and in broadcasting. Others have chosen to teach in higher and further education.

Course Highlights:

• Our custom-designed photography department offers outstanding facilities, including darkrooms, a dedicated computer suite with a high output printing facility and four studios with specialist lighting.
• We have strong, well-established links with a number of important institutions and organisations, including national Galleries, The Royal Photographic Society, Chetham’s Library, and The Worktown Archive at Bolton Museum & Art Galleries.
• Guest lecturers have included John Bulmer, Chris Coekin, Geoff Dyer, Francis Hodgson, Brian Griffin, Dewi Lewis, Ian McMillan, Simon Roberts, Pieter Van der Houwen and Tom Wood. Specialist masterclass workshops are run by invited practitioners.
• You’ll have the opportunity to develop a large-scale project resulting in an exhibition (online or in a designated space) on a personally researched theme.

Key Features:

• The MA Photography programme is practice-based and industry-focused, offering you rich learning experiences and discipline-specific and transferrable employability skills.
• As a successful postgraduate student you’ll be able to continue your studies to gain teaching qualifications or go on to study further for an MPhil/PhD.
• You’ll have access to an exciting visiting speaker programme, providing insight into industry experts’ professional practice and up-to-the-minute developments in the sector. Our specialist tutors and technical support staff have professional experience and industry connections.
• By the time you graduate, you’ll be practiced in the application of business management skills such as creating a business plan and writing proposal briefs for commission, exhibition and project work.
• We make use of e-learning through the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE). All modules will be supported via the VLE helping you to keep up-to-date with the module delivery, even if there are occasions when you can’t attend classes.

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

Read less

-The MA Photography degree allows you to develop your Photography skills and knowledge to a more advanced level
-The course is suitable for those interested in commercial and/or fine-art approaches to photographic practice
-You will develop a personal portfolio which in approach, style and vision looks to the forefront of current practices
-This postgraduate degree allows you to extend your theoretical and contextual understanding of photographic media, its audiences and culture
-Develop professional-level enquiry, research, creative invention, project planning and management practices

Why choose this course?

This MA Photography award deals with the unique blends of fact, fiction, distinctive style and technical practices that characterize the many forms of contemporary photography, whether that is form a commercial or fine-art approach. It is about the ways in which traditional practices and digital technologies are coming together, developing new forms of photographic practices and bringing new possibilities for the creation, publication and exhibition of photographic imagery.

This postgraduate degree is concerned with communicating truths, stories, facts and emotions, it deals with persuasion and comment and the aesthetics of the image in ways which are visually rich and diverse. The widespread adoption of digital technologies to capture, edit, display and distribute photographic images has brought many new possibilities for the creation, publication and exhibition of work to a wide range of audiences and for a wide range of purposes.

The same technologies bring questions about precision and accuracy, the role of invention and imagination, and the way that the photographic image is received, understood and consumed in today's culture. You will work with traditional wet, analogue photographic resources, digital workflow facilities, or a mix of the two which is most appropriate to your personal practice.

Careers

Particular emphasis is given to providing you with the skills necessary to further your career as a Photographer. The course is designed to help you understand and work within the contemporary media environment. Particular attention is given to helping you acquire enquiry and information handling skills, enterprise skills in the development and presentation of ideas, in communicating in the spoken and written word, and addressing particular audiences.

Teaching methods

On this programme teaching and learning emphasises enquiry led project work, developing the kind of independence and autonomy that is appropriate for postgraduate education. Lectures, seminars and other discussions bring students together in multi-disciplinary groups where ideas are shared, challenged, developed. Workshops and other activities develop specific discipline centered skills and understandings while tutorials develop individual study trajectories and responses to assignment tasks and briefs. Much of the time students are engaged in self-managed independent study, undertaking enquiries and research, developing skills, inventing and developing ideas, realizing project outcomes, exploring the cultural resonance of their work.

All students on the PG Media programme engage in an interdisciplinary project as a part of their MA study, giving them an opportunity to work with students from other disciplines in an experimental and creative way.

Work Placement

There are work related learning opportunities on this course.

Structure

Core Modules
-Creative Economies
-Major Study: Photography
-Media Discourses
-Practice 1: Media
-Practice 2: Media
-Research and Enquiry

Optional
-Creative Economies (Online)
-Research and Enquiry (Online)

Read less

MA Photography is a practice and research-based programme that will challenge you to explore, question and evolve as a photographer. The programme provides you with a creative and energetic working environment in which to produce a major photographic project, using some of the best traditional and state-of-the-art facilities in the UK, encouraged and supported by world class academic and technical staff.


Why you should study MA Photography at Middlesex?

At Middlesex we take a highly practical approach to Photography that ensures that you spend the majority of your postgraduate study behind a camera, in a darkroom and experimenting with both new and traditional technology. Drawing on the expertise of a diverse range of professional photographers, guest lecturers and technical advisers, you will enhance your knowledge and skills through a series of photographic projects using practice-led research and supportive written work.

Based in our University's £80 million Art and Design School, our course uses state-of-the-art resources to give you hands-on experience with industry-standard tools. With Apple Macintosh Pro workstations, A2 Epson printers, Hasselblad film scanners, studios, as well as a range of darkrooms including colour, black and white, and digital, you'll have everything you need to push yourself to the frontier of your potential and take the next step towards a stimulating and successful career.

Course highlights:

- Innovative facilities that allow you to experiment with contemporary and traditional techniques while preparing you for the equipment, tools, cameras, software and standards expected in creative industries worldwide.
- Regular masterclasses and workshops from high-profile guest speakers from diverse professional backgrounds, such as Simon Roberts, Dewi Lewis and Julian Calder.
- Access to some of London's best photography resources to enhance your research and inform your practice, including the V&A Print and Drawing Study Room
- Flexible module structure to meet the needs, ambitions and abilities of each student whatever stage you are at in your career.
- Opportunities to explore subjects through video as well as still photography, with several Abode Creative Suite and Final Cut Pro workstations.
- Strong focus on professional presentation skills, such as printing and mounting your work.
- Access to networking opportunities, world-leading research and expertise through the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts (LCEA) and Art & Design Research Institute (ADRI) on campus

Read less

This course is for you if you want to develop your individual style and explore photography as a means of creative expression. You will create an impressive portfolio of work, which you will exhibit in real gallery space and disseminate to potential employers.

Course overview

Through the MA Photography, you will develop a professional base for your future career. The course is tailored to your individual interests and we invite you to share your aspirations with us at interview.

During the course, we support the development of student-initiated projects in which individuals can implement, research and extend their practical and intellectual skills across the spectrum of photography, digital imaging and video. By the end of the course, you will have prepared a substantial portfolio of creative and written work and participated in a public exhibition and a publication.

At Masters level, the specialisms of tutors are an important factor. Sunderland’s academic team includes staff with world-class reputations whose research interests fall within the areas of landscape, documentary and diaristic photography, experimental and alternative photographic methods, and span a variety of themes, from representations of femininity, subcultures, curating and exhibiting art photography with a specialism in new photographic technologies and the networked image.

In addition, we operate the North East Photography Network (NEPN) which develops and promotes photography in the North East of England. We also have close links with major arts organisations such as the Arts Council, the Laing Art Gallery and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

Graduates from Sunderland have gone on to work throughout the creative industries and education. A Masters qualification not only opens doors in the workplace but also helps you progress more rapidly once your career is underway.

To find out more about the part time version of this course, please view this web-page: http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/courses/artsdesignandmedia/postgraduate/photography-part-time/

Course content

The content of the course is shaped by your personal interests with guidance and inspiration from Sunderland's supportive tutors.

Modules on this course include:
Photography 1 - Certificate (60 Credits)
-Self-negotiated Research Project (40 Credits)
-Revisiting Photography Theory (20 Credits)

Photography 2 – Postgraduate Diploma (60 Credits)
-Self-negotiated Portfolio Project (40 Credits)
-Issues in Contemporary Photographic Practice (20 Credits)

Photography 3 – Masters Degree (60 Credits)
-Exhibition (40 Credits)
-Research Project (20 Credits)

Teaching and assessment

Compared to an undergraduate course, you will find that this Masters programme requires a higher level of independent working.

We use a wide variety of teaching and learning methods ranging from technical workshops, research seminars, theory lectures, practical demonstrations, peer critiques, and group discussions. These are supported by a range of guest speakers from diverse academic and industry backgrounds. You will also have high levels of contact with tutors who give regular feedback and support.

You will have the opportunity to meet established photographers and hear about their work and careers. Past speakers have included Simon Norfolk, Liz Wells, Julian Stallabrass, Peter Kennard, Bas Vroege, Michele Sank. Portfolio review days allow you to discuss your portfolio with leading national and international artists, and photographic professionals, publishers, gallery and museum curators.

Assessment methods include project reports, research files, essays, your portfolio of work and the final exhibition.

Facilities & location

The University has invested in modern facilities in the recently refurbished Northern Centre of Photography that include:
-Chemical darkrooms for colour and black and white printing. You can print from 35mm to 5x4 with a large horizontal enlarger to create extra large prints
-Separate chemical darkroom for alternative printing methods
-Digital darkrooms with state-of-the-art scanners and digital production and printing
-Photography studios equipped with tungsten and flash lighting equipment
-Cameras ranging from 35mm to 5x4 Pentax, Nikon, Mamiya, Hasselblad, Fuji 6x7, Toyo, Sinar and Linhof. We provide Digital Nikons and Leaf backs for high-end digital studio work as well as HD video cameras
-Digital suites with open-access Apple Macs for editing video and digital images
-Digital studio with video, sound editing and screening facilities
-Project spaces
-Large wall screen with HD projection for film and video screenings
-Art gallery

Arts and Design Library
Our Arts and Design Library has a specialist collection of over 120,000 books, CD-ROMs, videos, slides and one of the largest electronic information networks in the sector.

Journals and research
We subscribe to a comprehensive range of print and electronic journals so you can access the most reliable and up-to-date articles. Some of the most important sources for your course include:
-Art Full Text + Art Abstracts, which is a major resource for media and arts information
-British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC), which provides resources for the production, study and use of film and related media

Employment & careers

Postgraduates are highly employable and, on average, earn more than individuals whose highest qualification is an undergraduate degree. On completing this course, you will be equipped for a range of positions within the creative sector which include professional photography and arts practice, curatorial, editorial and design work as well as education.

Recent Sunderland graduates are now working in art institutions, museums, community arts organisations, Further Education Colleges and the wider media industry.

A Masters degree will also enhance career opportunities within Higher Education and prepare you for further postgraduate studies.

Read less

In the MA/MFA Photography, you will be encouraged to test and push the boundaries of the photographic medium. You will explore approaches to visual narrative, including the photographic and cinematic, and evaluate the relationship between photography and texts/sound/space.

You will primarily use digital and analogue photographic technologies, but may also develop your practical skills through media such as moving image and bookbinding. Particular themes will explore photography in relation to context: portfolio, book art, gallery, screen and installed space. You will develop your own philosophy to photography and are expected to consider and evaluate your work in relation to the current photographic discourse on the shifting genres and boundaries caused by advancing technologies.

Features

Photography is part of the Department of Media at Manchester School of Art which has an established community of interdisciplinary staff, and research students with expertise in fields that include Animation, Filmmaking, Photography, Media Theory and Multimedia Digital practices.

The Department promotes a blending of arts practices responsive to current cultural and digital industries demands; inspiring students to engage with real world scenarios through creative and imaginative responses.

It has developed a framework that fosters interesting and diverse approaches to engage with external partners within the city, the region, nationally and internationally. Recent partners include HOME, BBC (Media City), CITV, Manchester City and Regional Art Galleries, Open Eye Photography Gallery, Red Eye Photography Network, International Anthony Burgess Foundation and international partnerships in China, India, Brazil, Russia and Europe.

Core to all of the teaching and research in the Media department is the continuing exploration of new modes of expression through digital technologies and support students in developing a robust and individual creative practice that has relevance to a diverse range of cultural industries.

Course Content

The MA Photography is made up of four units totally 180 credits.

You will develop the outline and first framework for a future large-scale project by investigating a range of practical research methods and experimenting with the innovative application of related media and theory content through visual and theoretical outputs, and display forms.

You will also explore the pre-production and prototyping phase of the specialist creative process and project development.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Photography award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This award is focussed on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Read less

The MA Photography programme offers an in-depth, creative and socially engaged postgraduate level education in the practices of contemporary photography. You will develop an appreciation of photography as a tool for personal expression, cultural storytelling and political activism. Under the guidance of professional staff you will experience extensive practical workshops and critical seminars in world-class facilities. In addition, you will learn an array of other complimentary skills such as sound, filmmaking and ethnographic fieldwork and be offered chances to work with professional partners here and abroad. The course aims to help you become a flexible multi-skilled, lateral thinker with a critical and vocational awareness of how photography works for a range of destinations and web-based platforms.

INDUSTRY LINKS

We have links with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Guardian Newspaper, Northern Rail, Lancashire Archives and the Mass Observation Project.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT

The course makes use of UCLan's outstanding new facilities available at the Media Factory. We now have industry standard digital cameras suitable for field work and studio work and a digital photography IT suite with large format scanners, exhibition quality digital printing facilities and a suite of Apple Macs with the latest software packages. We have three photography studios which are equipped to a standard that makes them comparable with any modern professional studio. In addition to this we have excellent darkroom facilities with colour and black and white enlargers for 35mm, Medium Format and Large format. Most of the teaching will take place at UCLan but there will also be field based teaching with visits to leading industry organisations.

Your work will be assessed in a number of ways: practical work, field work, presentations, essays, workbooks and a dissertation.

FURTHER INFORMATION

This course sits within the School of Journalism and Media’s postgraduate provision. It has key links with the MA Visual Journalism and the MA Media Innovation offering you a wide arena of approaches and practitioners to consult on professional and personal projects.

The course is delivered through a variety of methods both that are dependent on the required learning that will find you learning not only in a classroom but out in the field. Critically based lectures and seminars will give you a sound grounding in the current thinking about photography and how this impacts on the work of contemporary practitioners working in a politically and socially complex world. Intensive workshop sessions will enable you to attain the relevant skills and to undertake visual problem solving. Developing your understanding of industry expectations, skill levels and professional behaviour will further underpin the much of the course. Opportunities to take part in professional projects, to undertake placements or to work on client-based briefs will also help you to acquire relevant professional skills and experiences.

Read less