Course summary

This course will equip you with the practical, academic and professional skills required to develop your own freelance practice, shoot on location or in a studio, or work within the wider creative industries. Students on this course are also provided with membership of the Royal Photographic Society and encouraged to take advantage of everything on offer at the organisation’s new facility in Paintworks, Bristol. The course is taught by photographers experienced in a range of styles and techniques in the studios, classrooms, darkroom and editing suites at UCW’s Loxton Campus – a bespoke facility for the creative arts. Students on this course can also study at the new University Centre in the Winter Gardens in the centre of Weston. By studying on this course, you will also be inspired by expert guest lectures at no extra expense. In recent years we’ve welcomed Richard Billingham, Lua Ribeira, Laura El-Tantawy, Jessa Fairbrother, Amak Mahmoodian and Alejandro Acin to talk to our students about what it takes to be a successful and influential photographer. While there is an expectation that by enrolling on this course you will purchase your own camera, the cost of using our photography equipment is covered by the course fees. So you will have access to Canon 5DS, Nikon D800, Nikon D7000 cameras, medium format rangefinders, twin and single lens reflex cameras, a wide range of lenses, Elinchrom location lighting kits and wireless studio kits. You will be taught business and marketing strategies and work on client commissions alongside developing your practical photography skills and gaining a greater understanding of the discipline through its key theories, histories and practitioners. The course culminates in the opportunity to showcase your work under your own branding to members of the public, with previous end of year shows being held in Bristol and London. You will also be offered the opportunity to curate the UCW Photography Competition, which involves seeking submissions from across the region and working with your peers and guest judges to pick the winners.