Masters Degrees (Photography)

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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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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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.

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Introduction

MA Photography is an international 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 21st Century. The course is led by Daniel Rubinstein, recipient of a 2014 UAL Teaching Award. 2014 award nominations: Sina Michalskaja, Nova Award winner and finalist for the Celeste Prize; Daniel Silva shortlisted for Saatchi 2014 Sensations Prize.

Content

MA Photography is a course for those who want to explore photography as fine art and to benefit from studying in an environment driven by curiosity, experimentation and play underpinned by practices and methodologies of fine art research. Our understanding of photography is not bound to either photojournalism or media studies, instead we believe that the recent transformation of photography's technical and cultural form is deeply significant not only for those who want to understand the present and to anticipate the future but also for those who want to explore photography's pre-digital past.

Students are encouraged to find out for themselves what photography means as an art practice. Taking on board such broad and diverse notions as digital aesthetics, practice as research, screen cultures, the document, still and moving image, philosophy, performance, sound, writing and electronic arts this course offers the ideal environment within which to explore photography as visual art in the 21st century.

Structure

MA Photography lasts 60 weeks structured as two consecutive periods of 30 weeks each (i.e. two academic years) in its 'extended full-time mode.'

MA Photography is credit rated at 180 credits, and comprises 3 units:

Unit 1 (40 credits) and Unit 2 (20 credits) run concurrently and last 15 weeks.
Unit 3 (120 credits) follows after the completion of Units 1 and 2 and runs for 45 weeks.

Students successfully achieving Units 1 and 2 may exit at this point with the award of Postgraduate Certificate.

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, therefore, you're expected to commit an average of 30 hours per week.

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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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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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Content

Graduate Diploma Photography will give you the practical skills you'll need to define yourself as a leading photographer and by encouraging the development of a strong conceptual approach to your personal practice, achieve a defined identity in you work.

The course will give you an invaluable understanding of the photography industry and the business aspect of professional photography, as well as introduce you to key contacts and help you build relationships.
Building on the rich heritage of photography teaching at London College of Communication, Graduate Diploma Photography will open a variety of career opportunities in professional photography.

During your studies, you'll work towards developing a high quality portfolio suitable for presentation when approaching clients for future commissions or industry roles. In addition, you'll work on set and self-initiated projects which promote learning through discovery, interaction and response to change.

For those wishing to continue their study the theory and research elements of the course will also prepare you for continued learning at a higher level of study. The Graduate Diploma in Photography is taught within the School of Media at LCC.

STRUCTURE

During the first two weeks, there will be an induction programme in which you will:
Get an overview of the structure of the course and the structure of each unit
Get to know the facilities on offer to you at course, College and University level, including those provided by the Learning Resources department, Student Services and Students' Union
Learn how to use the technology in the Library and open access
Get to know your tutors and colleagues
Learn about the difference between working at postgraduate and undergraduate levels
Discover the ethos of the course

Autumn, Term One (11 weeks)

Unit summary:
Unit 1: Professional Photography in Practice (Photographic Technology and Applied Production Skills) (40 credits)
Through a series of workshops and project briefs this unit will to enable you to develop and utilise specialist photographic skills and knowledge to solve photographic problems. Through planning, implementation and review, and engagement with industry, you will be able to apply your photographic skills in a realistic professional context and identify areas in which you may wish to develop your practice.
Unit 2: Critical Approaches (Photographic Culture, History and Theory) (20 credits)
This unit will give you the opportunity to study major developments and critical approaches in photography. To enable you to gain an understanding of the contemporary significance of photography and to place your own work in a historical cultural context. This unit is particularly useful to those students wishing to bridge to Master level study.

Spring, Term Two (10 weeks)

Unit summary:
Professional Photography in Practice (continued)
Critical Approaches (continued)

Unit 3: Personal Project (Research and development) (20 credits)
Through the research and development of a comprehensive project you will be able to recognise creative influences in your own work and develop an understanding of your own creative ambitions.
Unit 4: Professional Identity and Portfolio Development (Professional Context and Progression) (40 credits)
This unit is a culmination of your previous units, offering you the hands-on opportunity to develop a professional body of work that showcases your personal identity. This is the most significant unit in that you are expected to produce a professional portfolio of work in which you will be required to demonstrate a rigorous and critical analysis of your interests in professional photography, strongly influenced by your area of specialism.

Summer, Term Three (10 weeks)

Unit summary:
Personal Project (continued)
Professional Identity and Portfolio Development (continued)

You will explore and gain working knowledge of contemporary business practice with an emphasis on operating as a freelance practitioner. The process for all units will involve you in original applications of knowledge, together with a practical ability to use and critically assess existing photographic techniques and formats. You will also, in the process of the critical evaluation of your own and others work, develop innovative solutions to creative challenges.

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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.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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This is an advanced practice-based research programme for students wishing to extend their research into the areas of film, photography and electronic arts- http://www.gold.ac.uk/pg/mres-filmmaking-photography-electronic-arts/

The programme is particularly relevant for students who have an MA degree and are looking to postion and develop their research and practice work.

It will be tailor-made to your individual research area and practice, giving you the opportunity to develop research skills and pursue your own area of interest.

You'll work closely with a personal supervisor to develop your work in the areas of filmmaking, photography and digital arts.

You’ll also receive training and guidance in ethical and legal obligations, and be encouraged to accommodate feminist, anti-racist, decolonising and other appropriate approaches to your chosen subject.

The programme meets the needs of two groups:

students who have completed an MA in Filmmaking, Photography, or Electronic Arts and cognate programmes (for example, our MA in Photography: The Image & Electronic Arts)
film, photography and electronic arts professionals who wish to extend their research-based practice

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Sean Cubitt.

Structure

A personalised programme
The programme is personalised for each student, and is based on your individual research into your chosen practice. It gives you the opportunity to develop appropriate research skills and to pursue a research practice project of your own design, developed and reworked in discussion with a personal supervisor.

The curriculum is personalised for individual students, but all students will share a common curriculum and receive training and guidance in ethical and legal obligations, and be encouraged to accommodate feminist, anti-racist, decolonising and other appropriate approaches to their chosen subject.

The course will add value to recent MA practice graduates and to film, photography and electronic arts professionals by giving a deeper and more specialised engagement in a major research project supervised by staff experienced in both creative and professional research. Research training will give you the skills to design and complete your own research and to work to research briefs.

All students undertake the Practice-Based Research Methods Seminar in the first term, producing a detailed 5000 word project outline at the end. They will also take in the second term one of a selected range of optional modules to help develop their critical and theoretical awareness. In the first term, they begin work with their personal supervisor on the design and execution of their project. Supervision will determine the specific means used: some students will embark directly on a single piece of work; others may undertake a series of workshop-based activities.

Aims

The programme's subject-specific learning outcomes require you to think critically about a range of issues concerning the media, understood in the widest sense, and to be able to justify their views intellectually and practically. The central outcome will be to design and conduct a substantial practice-based research project.

As appropriate to each individual project, you will be encouraged to analyse, contextualise, historicise, and theorise your chosen medium with reference to key debates in history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy of film and the media. You will learn to produce high quality research under time constraints, by working independently.

All students will develop a range of transferable qualities and skills necessary for employment in related 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’. You will be guided to work independently and to think through the intellectual issues.

Progress is carefully monitored, to make sure that you are making progress towards the achievement of the outcomes. Different kinds of practical and intellectual skills are required for each part of the programme. In consultation with supervisors, you will be guided to the most appropriate practical and intellectual approaches, and to the most appropriate technical and critical sources.

Structure

You take the following modules:

Practice-Based Research Methods (30 credits)
This module provides research methods training for the MRes in Film Photography and Electronic Arts, and may be taken by practice-based students in the MPhil programme in Media and Communications. In all years it will address the legal and ethical constraints operating on research by practice. In any given year, the syllabus will address such topics as technique (colour, composition, editing, post-production, sound-image relations, text-image relations), anti-racist, feminist and decolonial critique; hardware and software studies; environmental impacts of media production, dissemination and exhibition; media critical approaches to art, political economy, and truth. The interests of students and supervisors will guide the selection of specific content of the course in its delivery, whose aim is to inculcate advanced thinking on the making, delivery and audiences for research-based practice.

Research Project (120 credits)
The project in the MRes Film, Photography and Electronic Arts comprises a portfolio of practical work (such as photographs, video, film, installation, websites or other digital/print material) alongside a textual component. The work submitted should be original, and be as integral to the research aims, processes and outcomes of the project as the textual component. The final project as a whole will therefore demonstrate the integration of its practical and research components, so that text and practice reflect critically on each other. The length of the textual element should normally be between 5,000 and 10,000 words. The practical component should be a ‘substantial’ body of work. Given the potential range of media that can be used, and their differing potential relationships with the research process and the textual component, it is impossible to be precise. In the case of film/video it would normally entail the submission of a work (or works) of about 25 minutes in length (or more), but detailed requirements will be worked out on a case-by-case basis.

Students will undertake to design and conduct a substantial practice-based research project in collaboration with their supervisor. The project will be informed by research, as appropriate, into the materials, techniques and critical contexts of production, distribution and exhibition in audiovisual, electronic image and allied arts. As appropriate to each individual project, students will be encouraged to analyse, contextualise, historicise, and theorise their chosen medium with reference to key debates in history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy of film and the media, especially in relation to anti-racist, decolonial, feminist, environmental and other key ethical and political dimensions of their aesthetic practice. They will learn to produce high quality research under pressure, by working independently. The exact conceptual and methodological direction of the research must initially come from the student, though this will be developed and reworked in discussion with the personal supervisor. Areas of research can be drawn from a wide remit, including the full range of media and cultural forms of contemporary societies and may be theoretical or empirical; technically- or more academically-based. Projects which are conceptually coherent, and practicable in their aims and methods can be considered, subject only to the in-house expertise of staff. The module encourages the development of knowledge and skills specific to the production, distribution and exhibition of contemporary media.

Assessment

There are two assessment points:

A: You are required to write one 5,000 word essay linked to the Practice-Based Research Methods seminar. The exact theme and title will be decided in discussion between you and your supervisor and relate to your specialist field of research, but as a guide it will demonstrate your readiness to undertake the project through critical evaluation of legal, ethical, critical and reflexive parameters and functions of practice-based research.

In addition, you will be assessed in the option module you undertake during the Spring Term.

B: The project in the MRes Film, Photography and Electronic Arts comprises a portfolio of practical work (such as photographs, video, film, installation, websites or other digital/print material) alongside a textual component. The work submitted should be original, and be as integral to the research aims, processes and outcomes of the project as the textual component. The final project as a whole will therefore demonstrate the integration of its practical and research components, so that text and practice reflect critically on each other.

Department

We are ranked:
22nd in the world for communication and media studies**
1st in the UK for the quality of our research***

**QS World University Rankings by subject 2015
***Research Excellence Framework 2014, Times Higher Education research intensity subject rankings

We’ve also been ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top graduate universities for media professionals, because so many of our graduates go on to find jobs in the industry.

The department includes some of the top academics in the world for this discipline – the pioneers of media, communications and cultural studies. They actively teach on our programmes, and will introduce you to current research and debate in these areas. And many of our practice tutors are industry professionals active in TV, film, journalism, radio and animation.

We also run EastLondonLines.co.uk – our 24/7 student news website – which gives students the opportunity to gain experience working in a real-time news environment.

And we run regular public events featuring world-renowned writers and practitioners that have recently included Danny Boyle, Gurinda Chadha, Noel Clark and Tessa Ross. So you’ll get to experience the latest developments and debates in the industry.

Skills & Careers

The course is designed to support students who wish to strengthen their opportunities in professional media, including the media industries and creative practice, private sector firms, public sector institutions and civil society organisations with communications departments.

We envisage that a small proportion of graduates will seek careers in teaching, including secondary and higher education, in which case their projects and supervision will be tailored to that end.

Funding

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

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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 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.

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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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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 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.

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Taught by award-winning professional photographers and leading academics in the field, our distinctive, practice-based MA in Photography will allow you to explore the diverse applications of the medium and to deepen your understanding of photography as a discipline.

Through a course of intense study, creative practice, and professional partnerships, you will develop the passion that brought you to photography in the first place and be supported to produce innovative work, whilst also building skills to maximise and contextualise your creative outputs.

This course will enable you to contextualise your practice within relevant professional environments, such as research, education, exhibition, curation, project management, marketing, art direction, publishing and design.

It is relevant for graduates wishing to progress from BA study in an arts or humanities subject, who want to focus their practice in the medium of photography as well as for professionals already working in the field, looking to develop and underpin their practice in an academic, theoretical context.

Key benefits

The course is affiliated to and accredited by the Association of Photographers who are the leading professional organisation representing photographers both nationally and internationally.

Course detail

The course includes intense practice-led study weeks and the chance to work with creative industry partners, with professional practitioners running lectures, workshops and mentoring activities.

By taking advantage of a specially designed collective agency featuring a publishing imprint, editing bureaux and exhibiting forum, you will gain hands-on experience of collaborative practice. These skills will allow you to channel both project based personal work and your response to live briefs, initiated by a range of sources such as business clients, curators, picture editors and design agencies, to successful outcomes. You will also benefit from the practice-led research within the department, with links to the Photography Research Group, the Centre for Fine Print Research, Digital Cultures Research Centre, and Centre for Moving Image Research.

Modules

• Enquiry and Context
• Developing Practices
• Consolidating Practices
• Dissemination in Professional Contexts

Format

Through a series of lectures, seminars, tutorials and presentations, you will explore relevant concepts underpinning the theoretical and contextual basis of the photography work you will undertake on the course. Through location orientated workshops and studio based sessions, you will develop lines of enquiry through practical exploration and research, and test out your ideas and techniques in a highly supportive academic and technically excellent environment. You will undertake active research, to critically engage with your chosen practice and produce a body of photographic work on a self-directed theme. You will also learn how disseminate this work via outward facing networks and events, with the help of focused tutorials and workshops.

Assessment

We will make use of different types of assessment, including project reviews, essays, reflective diaries, presentations and reports, as well as assessing your portfolio of work. Your portfolio can take a diverse range of forms, including a photo-book, film, installation or commercial photography portfolio.

Careers / Further study

This MA Photography course will enable you to contextualise your practice within relevant professional environments, such as research, education, exhibition, curation, project management, marketing, art direction, publishing and design.

You will be ready to work professionally and independently, using the experience, networks and opportunities offered by the course to act as a springboard to obtain commissions. You will also be equipped to go on to work in other fields such as studio production, publishing, art direction, curating or picture editing.

How to apply

Information on applications can be found at the following link: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/study/applyingtouwebristol/postgraduateapplications.aspx

Funding

- New Postgraduate Master's loans for 2016/17 academic year –

The government are introducing a master’s loan scheme, whereby master’s students under 60 can access a loan of up to £10,000 as a contribution towards the cost of their study. This is part of the government’s long-term commitment to enhance support for postgraduate study.

Scholarships and other sources of funding are also available.

More information can be found here: http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/students/feesandfunding/fundingandscholarships/postgraduatefunding.aspx

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The MFA Photography has an international reputation and is available for study on campus in Belfast (Thursday delivery) and fully online (eLearning) for students living and working outside Ireland. A Master of Fine Arts degree is a creative degree, which centers around practice in a particular field, in this case Photography. The qualification provides students with a high level of specialisation and allows graduates to teach at University level.

Visit the website: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/course/mfa-photography-ft-bt

This course is also available as an online programme: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/course/mfa-photography-ft-e

Course detail

- Description -

The MFA Photography degree exposes students to key critical debates in photography and offers a dynamic environment in which to develop a major body of photographic work for exhibition and publication. Staff are leaders in the field of photography. Internationally recognised photographers, artists and researchers regularly review student projects, give lectures and critique photographic work.

- Purpose -

The course looks to recruit photographers that are serious about challenging their working methods and extending their visual vocabulary. The course has excellent links with galleries and museums and draws on an exemplary network of artists to create a study environment that is stimulating and encourages experimentation.

- Teaching and assessment -

The programme is delivered through a range of learning methods, including seminars, presentations, tutorials and group critiques, to enable students to acquire the cognitive skills of a self-reflexive independent learner. There are optional exit points for students to exit with a PGDip or MA.

The primary assessment method is the evaluation of photographic work in progress. Students work over the duration of the course on a major body of work that is subjected to regular and rigorous critique by staff and internationally renowned visiting photographers. Other assessment methods are visual presentations, seminar presentations, essays and a final year dissertation. There is an interim exhibition which is assessed at the end of the first year, usually in a public gallery.

- Work placement / study abroad -

The programme is complemented by a series of master classes and advanced skill workshops; an annual field trip to Paris and regular site visits to a variety of cultural institutions such as museums and galleries in Ireland, the UK and Europe.

Career options

Graduates are prepared for advanced careers in the field of photography. Graduates work as photographers in the fine art and commercial sector, as well as industry professionals. An MFA develops the ability to perform research related to the photographic arts, while also building communication skills and introducing students to new aesthetics and new technology. Such key skills enable graduates to work as photographic curators, editors and critics, within museums, galleries and in publishing. MFA graduates may also pursue a career in education.

How to apply: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/apply/how-to-apply#pg

Why Choose Ulster University ?

1. Over 92% of our graduates are in work or further study six months after graduation.
2. We are a top UK university for providing courses with a period of work placement.
3. Our teaching and the learning experience we deliver are rated at the highest level by the Quality Assurance Agency.
4. We recruit international students from more than 100 different countries.
5. More than 4,000 students from over 50 countries have successfully completed eLearning courses at Ulster University.

Flexible payment

To help spread the cost of your studies, tuition fees can be paid back in monthly instalments while you learn. If you study for a one-year, full-time master’s, you can pay your fees up-front, in one lump sum, or in either five or ten equal monthly payments. If you study for a master’s on a part-time basis (e.g. over three years), you can pay each year’s fees up-front or in five or ten equal monthly payments each year. This flexibility allows you to spread the payment of your fees over each academic year. Find out more by visiting https://www.ulster.ac.uk/apply/fees-and-finance/postgraduate

Scholarships

A comprehensive range of financial scholarships, awards and prizes are available to undergraduate, postgraduate and research students. Scholarships recognise the many ways in which our students are outstanding in their subject. Individuals may be able to apply directly or may automatically be nominated for awards. Visit the website: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/apply/fees-and-finance/scholarships

English Language Tuition

CELT offers courses and consultations in English language and study skills to Ulster University students of all subjects, levels and nationalities. Students and researchers for whom English is an additional language can access free CELT support throughout the academic year: https://www.ulster.ac.uk/international/english-language-support

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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.

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