MA Photography

Mode of study: Full- or part-time
Study location: AUB Campus
How to apply: Apply directly to us

MA Photography course information

The course allows you to undertake advanced study in a wide range of areas including advertising, documentary, editorial, fashion, portrait and fine art photography.

By a combined approach of practice, theory and professionalism, the course will provide a challenging and stimulating environment in which you're able to develop to your full potential, with the aim of becoming a practitioner at the forefront of the profession.

You're encouraged to make industrial links across a broad range of organisations relevant to your chosen professional specialism. Using these links, you'll learn to manage and exceed client expectations through the application of your new academic understanding to the production of inventive saleable work.

Whilst studying on the course you have the option to add a ‘Named Award’ to your degree title from the list below. The specialisation doesn't need to be decided before you start the course, as the selection is made during the first unit. Choosing a 'Named Award' is entirely optional, and if you decide not to select one, the qualification will be titled MA Photography without any additional description.

MA Photography (Fine Art)
MA Photography (Commercial and Advertising)
MA Photography (Fashion)
MA Photography (Landscape and Environmental)
MA Photography (Social Documentary)

MA Photography course is a balance of art and commerce and is founded on the assertion that photography is a powerful form of communication that potentially connects with an audience of millions.

The course offers the opportunity to make professional work within, or crossing genres, whether it’s for publication, or the gallery. What defines it as professional, is that it's conceived and created with a specific audience in mind and is conscious of how meaning is affected by socio-political criteria.

The course is designed for ambitious photography graduates, or experienced photographers who wish to develop their knowledge and expertise in order to reach the very top of their field. We look for individuals with a passion for the subject and who are willing to take risks, and in doing so, push themselves to new heights. From expressing challenging, thought-provoking opinions on the complexities of our world, to promoting commercial ventures, the course provides fertile ground for creative thinkers to make a lasting impact and build careers, whether in the realm of gallery exhibitions or publication.

Distinctive features of the course include:

Balance of art and commerce: The course uniquely empowers students to undertake projects that blend artistic expression with commercial viability.
Career-focused: Throughout the course students are encouraged to plan an approach that helps them build or direct a career. They're encouraged to collaborate with external organisations and participate in prestigious professional awards to attain recognition at the highest level.
Highly specialised pathways: You develop advanced specialist knowledge, leading to 'Named Awards' that reflect your particular expertise.
Highly practical: Unusually for a Master’s course, it provides numerous hands-on-workshops with access to state-of-the-art facilities, both digital and analogue.

The course structure allows for a flexibility of approach, as an MA Photography student, you'll be a creative practitioner in the broadest sense of the term and be involved with emerging technologies as well as heritage media. Either way, you'll hone your skills and develop your own visual identity as a professional practitioner.

You'll be encouraged to develop a systematic and comprehensive understanding of techniques and knowledge relevant to that specialism of photography you choose and to combine this with a critical awareness of developments in that area of professional practice.

Professional photography draws upon many subjects including graphic design, illustration, film, animation, fine art and fashion, all of which are AUB Master's programmes. Thus, the AUB Master's community offers you an outstanding opportunity for collaboration within a postgraduate context and encourages links that may well develop further after graduation.

The course encourages you to make industrial links and work on live projects as part of your Master's study. This may include you working very closely with external organisations to achieve a highly creative postgraduate level outcome and these links may lead to career development opportunities.

The course comprises three equal-sized units:

Master’s Project 1: Methodologies, Contexts and Experimentation
Master’s Project 2: Investigation, Exploration and Collaboration
Master’s Project 3: Resolution, Presentation and Evaluation

Although the course comprises three units, these should be seen as one integrated body of study. Depending upon your own individual approach you will be given the opportunity to run one major project across Master’s Project 2 and Master’s Project 3, or produce a different project for each unit.

The course is project focused and builds towards the completion of a major portfolio of work through self-initiated practical assignments, which are supported by written commentaries.