4 Year Programme

For students who wish to gain a greater understanding of Photography at the start of their degree course we provide a comprehensive introductory 'Zero Level' in this 4 year programme.
Entry qualifications are the same in academic points, but you will not require a portfolio 
at interview

Why choose Photojournalism and why at SMU

For most of photography's history its relationship to documentary practice both in its capacity to report, tell stories, describe, and yet also subvert the, often assumed, truthfulness inherent to the medium, has been paramount to photography's success.

The Photojournalism degree course promotes well-established skills associated with this practice: projects emphasise the construction of photo-essays, the use of image and text and the application of journalistic principles to self-initiated ideas, for example.

In addition you will be challenged to find your own voice as a photographer by being made aware of photojournalism's contextual position within contemporary culture and by experimenting with the medium itself. Students engage with notions of subjectivity and expression leading to an extensive and sustained practice.

You will study photography in a creative environment with an emphasis on research, the development of practical skills and the construction of self-initiated, narrative-driven projects. The course not only prepares students to meet the constantly shifting challenges of contemporary photojournalistic practice, but also allows space for students to explore areas that have opened up for documentary practitioners in recent years: gallery and art documentary contexts; web and multimedia applications; the use of documentary skills in commercial spheres including advertising, corporate, fashion and travel photography.

This happens in a department with small class sizes allowing plenty of space for students to interact fully with both staff and their fellow students. We have an open-door policy that helps to create a friendly and informal atmosphere within the photography department. The Staff have their own areas of practice that add to this creative atmosphere with skills not only in photography but also journalism and business practice. Our aim is to produce graduates with individual creativity but also the knowledge and confidence to work in an exciting but highly competitive field.

• The development of a unique personal voice in your work
• Analysis of, and feedback about your work by tutors and fellow students
• Development of appropriate individual and team-based skills to aid interaction in professional environments
• Emphasis on research strategies to enable the successful completion of ideas
• Provision of workshops to encourage the development of practical skills that will aid your creativity

More about the course

Students on both the photography programmes will regularly interact with professional contacts through the exciting series of visiting lecturers, where artists, photographers, curators, editors, writers and agents present their work and talk about their professional experiences. Recent examples include: Richard Billingham (artist/photographer), Clare Grafik (curator The Photographers Gallery), Simon Roberts (photographer), Emma Critchley (photographer), Mark Power (Magnum photographer), and Victoria Lukens (picture editor).

In a more formal way you will also be encouraged to contend with industry standards within the External Project, where you have to find a client to work with. This project allows you to start your professional career whilst receiving supported tuition from academic staff on subjects such as contracts and costings, as well as technical and creative issues.

Previous project examples include: NHS, Atkins Rail, National Trust, Sunday Times, Penguin Books, Corus, Channel 4, The Royal Ballet and Dazed and Confused.

Also the Marketing and Self-Promotion Module continues this dialogue with the professional industry when a photographic agent and curator are brought in to advise the students on their personal practice before returning to assist with interview style assessments. Recent collaborators include: Jason Shenai (Millennium Images), Pippa Oldfield (Impressions Gallery), Susan Bright (free-lance curator and writer) and Helen James (National Portrait Gallery).

The four-year BA (Hons) programme has an embedded HND qualification at the end of the second year.

Course structure & content

The Faculty has excellent industrial links and there is a regular programme of visiting speakers and professionals. Live projects are an integral part of the course and these help you to engage with professional bodies before you graduate.

All work is project based. Students are expected to demonstrate their understanding in the form of practical project work. All assessment is based on 100% coursework.

As well as formal lectures there is also a programme of individual tutorials throughout the three years.
Theory is a major part of your coursework and final degree, constituting about 20% of your studies and marks. There are also workshops to help you enhance your technical studies and creative enquiry.

Year One (Zero Level): The initial year acts as a specialist foundation course for the study of lens-based media. You are introduced to the technical, conceptual and theoretical principles of photography and video practice via workshops, group seminars and short practical projects. Group sizes for this year are kept low, ensuring the opportunity for individual guidance within a relaxed learning environment, to prepare you to join the first year of the three-year programme, which is structured as follows:

Year Two, students initially complete an intensive series of assigned and self-initiated (personal) practical projects that:
Introduce them to the department
Diagnose and improve key techniques in black and white processing and printing, introduce c-type colour processing and printing
Introduce them to various learning environments through lectures, critiques, seminars and tutorials in which they will discuss and critique their own work and that of fellow students
Provide students with an opportunity to engage with contemporary debates related to their subject area including, for example, the roles of documentary photography and photojournalism, legal and ethical considerations, contexts and markets
Aid the development of important practical and interpersonal skills such as time-management, research and negotiation

In the second semester, assignments specific to Photojournalism introduce the techniques (and question the assumptions) of the photo essay and study photography's long-standing relationship with text. Students will also produce a semester-long self-initiated practical project.
Other modules: Historical and Contextual Studies; Visual Studies

Year Three, students start the year with a Site-Specific Group Project. The ability to research, negotiate - both with fellow group members and external agents - and create work in appropriate yet often experimental contexts leads to a further maturing of their work. A self-initiated project (or projects) reinforces this development leading to the production of a book in the first semester and a presentation, exhibition and portfolio in the second.

Professional Studies introduces students to vocational outcomes for their work. In the second semester, the Visual Studies module includes the ‘article' project in which students have to both write and produce images for a story of their choosing. Historical and Contextual Studies continues, preparing students for the dissertation they will undertake in the third year.
Year Four involves a major practical module that includes both self-initiated Personal and External work that dominates the, largely self-directed, third year.

The External project requires students to contextualise their work with clients or in the public arena as appropriate to their current practice and ambitions after graduation. Contacts made at this stage are often the starting point for professional contacts after.
The Personal and External projects are negotiated through tutorial contact with staff and provide the basis for the students' portfolios, for the Marketing and Self-Promotion module in which students present their work to either a stock agency director or gallery curator, and exhibitions in both Swansea and London (Exhibition module).

Practical work is underpinned by ongoing visual research and students undertake a Dissertation that both supports and is often informed by their photography. This emphasis of the final year - the culmination of your degree - is crucial in allowing you the freedom to explore your chosen area of practice but also to prepare for a life as a practitioner when you leave.

Journalism Practice

Although this programme is broad in its approach, making it appropriate for people who want to explore highly visual documentary photography, we offer a solid grounding in contemporary journalistic practice.
From the first year you will engage in projects that demand solid research skills, a systematic approach to workflow and cataloguing of images and text, written proposals, an ethical approach and an awareness of the various contexts appropriate to this kind of work. You will learn about building a story, captioning and writing for print, web and exhibition outcomes. Lectures and workshops support these practices in the Image and Text, Event and Spontaneity and dedicated article projects in Year two and then within Professional Studies in Year three.

In Year Four you will have the freedom to negotiate and explore a sustained body of work of your own choosing. The areas of practice explored in the previous three years will have provided you with the necessary platform to make a fully informed choice for your major project.

Facilities & Resources

As a photography student at Swansea Metropolitan University, you will have access to industry standard facilities.

In addition to our extensive black & white and colour darkrooms, our digital provision includes MAC computers running the Adobe Creative Suite linked to professional proofing and inkjet printers, a colour-managed digital darkroom with Hasselblad Flextight scanners and large format printing.
A store facility gives you access to medium and large-format film cameras, professional digital SLR, medium format Hasselblad digital cameras and location lighting equipment.

Beyond this specialist photographic equipment, you will also have access to an extensive range of facilities including an excellent library, open-access computer suits and optional workshops in other areas within the art school.

We believe that it is essential for your work to have a professional finish and to this end practical projects are supported by workshops. Having access to additional practical knowledge ensures that you can use the University's excellent facilities with confidence, make informed choices about method and equipment, and ultimately produce work to a professional standard. Workshops cover processing and printing including historical print methods, C-type colour, fibre-based black & white; the use of various camera formats from medium format roll-film and 5 X 4 film, to digital (including medium format); digital workflow and printing; video (shooting and editing); studio and location lighting.

• Colour-managed digital darkroom with large-format printing
• Traditional B&W and colour darkrooms
• Store facility with medium and large-format film and digital cameras
• Technical workshops throughout the course

UCAS Codes, Entry requirements, How to apply, Open days & Fees

UCAS Code: WP65

Course Code Title: BA/PhJ

Study Options: 4years Full Time/8 years Part-Time

Information on Entry Requirements, How to Apply and Open Days can be found on our main Faculty Page

Information on Fees can be found here

Contact

Paul Duerinckx
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01792 481285 ext: 3114