Photography

Kickstart your photography career on this immersive three-year course. With two-thirds of your time dedicated to hands-on experiences, you'll develop creative and technical skills in both contemporary and traditional photography. You’ll also gain a deep understanding of production outcomes for print and web platforms through various techniques.

Bridge the gap between theory and practice with access to our industry-standard facilities including a black and white darkroom, a Colenta colour processor and three versatile shooting studios, complete with backdrops and lighting. Our dedicated professional photography print room will ensure your creations are showcased with utmost precision, and our skilled photography technicians are on hand to help.

Explore and study photography at university level, cultivating your unique style and preparing for a career as a professional photographer in the creative industry.

Course Overview
The BA (Hons) Photography degree offers the opportunity to explore your creativity and photographic practice, encouraging you to experiment across genres such as studio portraiture, documentary, editorial, commercial, and landscape photography. Whether you're capturing compelling narratives or crafting striking visual compositions, you'll build a strong creative identity, and a versatile skill set that reflects the demands of today’s photography industry.

Studying at our specialist arts campus, you’ll be immersed in a supportive creative community and spend two thirds of your time developing hands-on skills in both digital and analogue photography. With expert guidance, you’ll explore image-making techniques, visual storytelling, and the professional workflows needed to produce work for both print and digital platforms.

We operate an open-door policy and will be on hand to help you hone your work whenever you need us. Our experienced tutors bring real-world insights from current industry practice, helping you stay ahead of trends and technologies. Regular guest lectures, workshops, and industry-led projects provide valuable exposure to professional perspectives. You'll also have the chance to take part in inspirational field trips, collaborative projects, and public exhibitions—preparing you for a successful career in the fast-evolving creative industries.

On this course you will...

• Develop your photographic and editing skills while experimenting during workshops and outdoor activities.

• Work with students across the creative arts, collaborating on projects and exploring new mediums.

• Be taught by industry experts with experience working freelance and within creative organisations.

• Have the opportunity to exhibit your work publicly alongside the work of classmates across the arts.

What you will learn

Photography is a fantastically versatile discipline and as such offers many routes into employment within the creative industries.

At the University of Cumbria, we have designed a programme that allows you to experiment with techniques, develop your practical skills, study through critical thinking and enquiry.

Informed by the clear integration of practice and theory, and by an expectation of your intellectual engagement in Photography practice, you will develop transferable skills.

Year one
In your first year, you will focus on The Photographic Environment which deals with the cornerstone craft of photographic image capture, both analogue and digital, in application to and investigation of, your photographic interests.

Research and contextual skills will be established at this level as we introduce the work of significant photographers and explore how influences and themes can be tracked through history, thereby setting the stage for the development of your own work.

• Photographic Image Capture
  An introduction to technical skills in digital & analogue photographic contexts.
• Cultural Contexts
  An introduction to the cultural, historical and social contexts in which creative work from a range of disciplines will be considered
• Picturing Place: Culture & Identity
  Explore the idea of place; different environments, cultures and identities informed by locale.
• Collaborative Practice
  Develop your ability to collaborate in professional scenarios through problem-solving and project-based learning.

Year two
In your second year, you will explore the Relevant Photograph. This attends to socially engaged practice. Working with the local community and culture with input from industry professionals you will learn to apply your craft to a greater purpose. You will also develop your contextual explorations into photographic theory, critical thinking, and analysis.

We have developed an enrichment module in year two where you can experience and practice traditional techniques and cutting-edge technologies.

Creating the space for experiment and play is enormously valuable in promoting creativity, problem-solving skills, risk-taking, and imagination. The module is intended to expand your practice skills midway through your degree enabling you to explore your own potential and readying you for a more focused journey through your final year and employment beyond that.

• Networks & Narratives: Photography in the Community
  Explore contemporary themes in photography.
• Immersive Image-Making
  Enrich your personal photographic practice by experimenting with both traditional and cutting-edge technologies.
• The Photographic Interface: Industry Experience
  An opportunity to explore your practice through a range of briefs set by industry professionals.
• Theorising Photography
  Develop the skills to think critically and generate original ideas informed by examples of influential scholarship.

Year three
Your final year will revolve around an Independent Showcase where you will take full charge of your own practice and bring it into the public domain.

Research, practice and professional skills come together in the final year of study to refine and showcase your personal vision and expression of photographic practice. At this point, you will be an independent, intelligent and competent practitioner with a personal portfolio representing the breadth of your skill and the depth of your engagement.

• Blueprint of Practice
  Refine your autonomous photographic practice through the synthesis of research and creativity.
• Independent Research Paper
  Develop specialised and focused knowledge and understanding of a subject of your own choice.
• Resolution of Practice
  Carry out a self-designed, in-depth, and investigative personal project.

A range of graded and non-graded assessments will take place throughout the course. Our programme is designed to encourage inquiry, curiosity, and the exploration of personal interests, allowing you to tailor briefs as you become more confident in your practice. Work and learning outcomes are in tune with industry demands, preparing you for professional practice through portfolios, exhibitions, photo books, and mock interviews.

You’ll be continuously involved in the assessment of your own work and that of your peers; developing critical interpersonal and team-working skills. Examples of the assessment types you will tackle include: Class critiques, written essays, peer review, portfolio reviews, mock interviews, and exhibitions.