MA Photography (Online)

Underpinning the entire MA Photography (Online) course is one of the most important, versatile and transferable skills that every Master’s graduate should acquire: rigorous self-reflection. You’ll be encouraged to document your progress, methodologies, creative processes and the challenges you encounter in a reflective journal.  

By the end of the course, you’ll have a profound understanding of contemporary photography, and a sharp awareness of how it's being shaped by emerging trends. You’ll be able to articulate your creative identity with confidence and draw on a vast range of knowledge for inspiration. 

Join our vibrant cohort of like-minded creatives from across the globe and embark on our transformative academic journey. There’s no limit to where the connections you make with your peers and tutors will take you. They could unlock future job opportunities, creative collaborations and mentorship in the future.

Many of our students join the course as active professionals, or photography graduates seeking to expand their practice through flexible, part-time study. We also have many students that arrive as graduates from adjacent, complimentary subject areas including animation, film, fine art.

Across a variety of photographic disciplines, the course encourages you to further your ideas and realise your aspirations of future employment and/or freelance careers in the creative industries. You will be part of an international network which encourages you to develop your skills in a supportive, diverse environment. Through our diverse, rigorous course we will support you to critically examine the emergence of approaches that challenge your relationship with and definition of photography and its pivotal position in our contemporary image culture.

Progress through the course happens in three stages:

• Stage 1 – An introduction (15 credits)
• Stage 2 – A carousel of seven short projects (each is 15 credits)
• Stage 3 – A thesis proposition (15 credits) and a final project (45 credits)

You'll all begin with the Positioning Practice unit, which serves as the course introduction, encouraging exploration and the development of a creative point of view by reviewing earlier practice, beginning to position and contextualise work by understanding relevant fields or references, and establishing a reflective journal.

The second stage of the course is a series of carousel units that foster distinct processes of making, thinking, and reflecting. These carousel units are self-contained and designed to be non-linear so they can be taken in any order as determined by the intake and time of year.

Within the carousel, the Exploratory Practice (15 credits) unit explores photographic processes, encouraging you to experiment with new creative approaches, materials, and ideas through iteration as well as rigorous self- and peer critique. The Researching Practice (15 credits) and Future/Interdisciplinary Practice (15 credits) units introduce practice-based research methods while enhancing contextual and critical understanding of photography in relation to wider creative industries and visual culture. Two more practice-oriented units Looking In (15 credits) and Looking Out (15 credits) challenge you to question your photographic practice. You'll use these broad themes as springboards, which will encourage you to experiment with your position within, or viewpoint upon the contemporary world during the creation of short projects, which may also serve as test sites for your final thesis project.

The remaining carousel units explore aspects of professional practice. Presenting Practice (15 credits) focuses on collaboration and transferable skills, challenging and supporting you to work with your peers to explore the dissemination of practice and presentation of work to an audience. Professional Practice (15 credits) introduces and directly supports you in understanding the different worlds of professional photography. From working as a freelancer, through the generation of self-initiated projects to negotiating and developing relationships with clients, partners and collaborators.

The third and final stage of the course revolves around the individual thesis project. In the Thesis Proposal (15 credits) unit, you'll undertake research and development processes that support you in conceptualising an original, innovative concept for the final project, communicated in a detailed proposal and presentation. This is followed by the Thesis Resolution (15 credits) unit, in which you conduct a self-initiated practice-based enquiry. During this final unit, you'll be provided with individual tutoring and support.