BA in Photography
Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom
BA
DURATION
3 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 9,535 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* UK students: £9,535 per year | international: £21,400 for the first year
Key Summary
Develop your ideas and professional skills, within our multi-genre approach to photography.
As part of Kingston School of Art, you’ll benefit from joining a creative community where collaborative working and critical practice are encouraged. Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
You'll get to use a range of professional-grade facilities and equipment, such as high-end digital capture, dedicated photography studios and darkrooms (analogue and digital). Our faculty workshops, supervised by qualified technical staff, also support and enable further development and the production of studio work across all the areas of digital and analogue photography.
Our technical staff are practising artists who publish and present their work nationally and internationally and will support you in the bespoke photography workshop.
Why choose this course?
Photography plays a pivotal role in fine art, fashion, advertising, editorial and digital applications. This course is centred on the making and understanding of photographic production and critical thinking, applied to any subject area.
You'll study both analogue and digital photography. The key focus of this course is for you to develop your creative ideas alongside your professional skills, within a multi-genre approach to the medium. There will also be opportunities to work with historic manual processes, such as cyanotypes and salt prints, as well as other 'craft' processes, such as creating unique one-off photo books.
This course takes maximum advantage of Kingston's proximity to the vibrant art, photography and cultural life of London – one of the major photographic art and commercial centres of the world.
It also offers the opportunity for you to prepare yourself for employment and increase your workplace skills with an optional work placement. In the past, we have worked with industry organisations, including:
We want to ensure anyone with potential and drive has the opportunity to study with us, no matter their background or financial situation. That's why each year, we provide a number of bursaries to help our undergraduate students gain their degree.
- The Kingston bursary
- Bursaries for care leavers
- Bursaries for estranged students
- Bursaries for young adult carers
- Bursaries for Sanctuary Scholars
- Chancerygate Foundation bursary
- Salutem scholarships
- AVSH scholarship
What you will study
You'll develop your creativity and photography through workshops and self-initiated projects. A programme of seminars, lectures, workshops and tutorials will enhance your learning and prepare you for your professional future. Our teaching relates your own ideas and ambitions to the critical, contemporary and historical contexts of photography.
The degree programme sets out to structure your learning and appreciation of, and about, photography and i's potential through a process which identifies distinct aims and progresses each year.
Modules
Years 1 and 2 are made up of four modules, each worth 30 credit points. Year 3 is made up of three modules – two worth 30 credits and one worth 60 credits. Typically a student must complete 120 credits at each level.
Year 1
In your first year, you'll become aware and critical of the range of photography practices and the possibilities of personal photography practice. You will be encouraged to experiment with new approaches and techniques.
Core modules
- Independent Photography Practice
- Photographic Production Processes
- Modes of Presentation for Photographers
- Contextualising Contemporary Practice: Photography
Year 2
In Year 2, you will develop your own independent and self-directed photography practice with critical support. You will continue to develop your ideas, skills and folios in more depth.
Core modules
- Independent Critical Practice
- Photography and Process
- Professional Practice and Presentation
- Critical Issues in Photography: Research and Practice
Optional year
You can opt to study or work abroad through the University's Study Abroad programme or the Erasmus programme during your Photography degree.
Final year
In Year 3, you will become proficient, professional, assured, innovative and outward-facing through a more fully realised and engaged personal photography practice. You will refine your photography and define your ambitions more succinctly.
Core modules
- Professional Practice
- Final Major Project
- Dissertation: Research and Reflection
Please note
Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.
After you graduate
Our graduates work in a range of roles within photography and related industries. Many graduates also progress to study a range of related disciplines at the postgraduate level. These include photography, curating, book arts, conservation and advertising.
Examples of jobs:
- Editorial, fashion, advertising photographer
- Photojournalist
- Artist
- Curator
- Photographic assistant/technician
- Software trainer
- Studio and gallery assistant
- Stylist
- Picture editor
- Web designer
- Art director
- Art buyer
Boost your career
Embedded within every course curriculum and throughout the whole Kingston experience is our Future Skills programme. Future Skills is a response to the evolving demands of modern day employment. As a result, it will play a role in shaping you to become a future-proof graduate, providing you with the skills most valued by employers. For example, problem-solving, digital competency and adaptability.
As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills. You’ll also learn to demonstrate and articulate to employers how future skills give you the edge.