Commercial Photography Welcome Guide : Preparing for your course

Our aim is simple: to help you begin thinking like a photographer before you arrive.

One of the most important skills you can develop is resourcefulness. The ability to create strong, engaging work using what you already have around you. This project has been designed to encourage exactly that.

You do not need specialist equipment, access to studios, or elaborate locations. Instead, we want you to observe carefully, think creatively, and make the most of your environment.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it,” as Martin Parr once said. For this Summer Project, we’re interested in what photography means to you and how creative you can be when working within a simple set of constraints.

This is an opportunity to explore your ideas, experiment with your surroundings, and share your perspective with others. We will look at all submissions during induction week. This project is not assessed.

Good luck and enjoy the process.

You will create a mini project of 3–5 images.

First, choose one pathway to work within. Your images should relate to each other and show a clear idea, theme, or approach. If you can’t decide on one pathway, do multiple! These briefs are open to interpretation or you can make up your own.

Create images that promote or communicate something.

You could:

• Photograph an everyday object as if it were part of an advert
• Create a strong, eye-catching image with a clear message
• Think about audience, style, and purpose

Lifestyle approach:

You might create images that show a way of living or a feeling, rather than focusing on a product directly. For example:

• A moment between people (friendship, leisure, routine)
• A scene that suggests a mood, aspiration, or identity
• A subtle, story-led image that could belong in a brand campaign

Create images that observe and tell a real story.

You could:

• Photograph a person, place, or small moment from daily life
• Capture something honest or meaningful
• Show a sense of narrative across your images

Create a styled series of images.

You could:

• Work with clothing, styling, or personal identity
• Photograph a friend, or create self-portraits
• Use location, light, pose, and mood to shape your images

Alternative approach:

You might choose to create styling without traditional clothing, using materials you can find around you such as:

• Paper, card, or cardboard
• Plastic or packaging
• Recycled or found materials

This is an opportunity to be inventive and experimental with how fashion can be constructed and represented.

Please submit your work in advance via email to Level 4 Tutor and Course Leader Rob Payne at rpayne@aub.ac.uk.

• 3–5 images (JPEG format)
• First name_lastname-1.jpg etc
• Send as attachments
• Include your full name in the file names and email subject

We will view all submissions during induction week.

Deadline: Tuesday 22 September 2026, 12.00

Once you've been sent your AUB e-mail address and password, you'll be able to use the Library online collections.

When you start the course, reading lists will be provided and you'll be shown how to access them. If you're feeling adventurous, here are some ebooks that you can find on the Library catalogue and view online. You don't need to purchase these.

• Bate, D. (2009). Photography: The Key Concepts. Oxford: Berg.
• Bull, S. (2009). Photography. London: Routledge.
• Wells, L. (ed.) (2015). Photography: A Critical Introduction (5th edn). London: Routledge.

• British Journal Of Photography
• Aperture
• Hotshoe
• Photoworks
• Foam Magazine
• Source
• It's Nice That
• Aesthetica Magazine