Art Degrees Online

Photography is connected to every facet of art, society and culture. Exploring the ideas, history, contexts and techniques of visual representation and communication, this programme provides students with the opportunity to become contemporary photographic practitioners who explore the dynamic and passionate relationship between critical theory and contemporary practice. This course of study encourages students to acquire the professional practices, and the reflective and visual skills required to become a successful photographic artist.
Why study Photography at Chester?

The course is taught by an experienced and respected group of full-time and visiting academics, all of whom are practising, publishing and exhibiting artists. The course also regularly hosts renowned guest speakers and visiting artists. The photography programme’s philosophy develops exemplary practical skills alongside an understanding of complex critical issues involved in the making of photographic images. The Department of Fine Art at Chester allows each student to develop an individual approach to the medium. The goal of the programme is to produce students who are responsive and confident individuals, and are able to practise successfully as photographers within a wide range of related contexts.

In addition to the educational, cultural and employment opportunities available to students in the nearby cities of Manchester and Liverpool, the programme also includes trips to important national/international photographic events and festivals (Paris, Berlin, London, New York) as well as providing the opportunity to study abroad through the Erasmus student exchange programme.
What will I learn?

In this three-year full-time programme, students will learn how to apply practical and critical skills to fully explore the creative and intellectual potential of traditional, experimental and digital photographic techniques. Students will develop independent research skills and document their continuous progress as photographic artists through the production of an extensive visual and contextual research journal.
Level 1

Students attend practical workshops which focus on both essential and experimental elements of contemporary photographic practice covering all formats of photography from pinhole to 8×10 negatives. Critical theory lectures and seminars develop knowledge, intellectual rigour, visual literacy and research skills. From this base of practice and theory students will develop and discover a personal relationship with the medium. Subject areas may include:
Visual Research
Contextual Studies
Photographic Practices – Traditional, Alternative and Digital
Histories and Theories of the Photographic Image
Level 2

In the second year, students begin to hone their developing practice and critical skills through personal folio development, written assignments and research presentations. Students will also have the opportunity to collaborate on a project with other students in the production of a major external exhibition. Students can undertake a professional placement within areas such as: public education organisations, photo-libraries, photography galleries, photographic publishing, studio assistantships or in the wider photo-industry. Subject areas may include:
Advanced Photographic Practice Workshops
Advanced Critical and Contextual Studies
External Group Exhibition
Professional Practices
Experiential Learning/Work-Based Learning
Level 3

The culmination of studies involves the production of a major self-directed photographic project. Students may also complete a critical essay module and/or a professional practice module particularly designed for the challenges facing artists/photographers on graduation. Students are expected to demonstrate the capacity to plan, develop and execute a significant body of work through images, that evidences a personal, prolonged and dedicated engagement with their photographic practice. Students will plan, market and arrange a final graduate group exhibition. Subject areas may include:
Critical Essay
Professional Development and Communications Project
Major Folio Preparation
Major Exhibition
Visual/Contextual Research
Where will I be taught?

You will be taught at the Kingsway buildings, the University’s home for Arts and Media students. A 20 minute walk from the Chester campus and linked by a minibus service (limited seating), the Kingsway buildings offer 6,920 square metres of floor space including a 200 seat lecture theatre, a virtual library with DVD viewing screens, 11 subject-specific IT labs housing over 200 Macs and PCs, and two catering outlets. All library catalogue items can be reserved and ordered electronically and collected and returned from the Kingsway reception. Depending on your programme of study, at the Kingsway buildings you will also be able to make use of:
A multi-purpose performance venue
Three further performance studios
A large Fine Art studio
Rooms for sculpture and 3D, textiles, printmaking and a hot room for castings
Two Graphic Design laboratories
Graphic Design studio space
Sound and video editing suites
A photographic studio with processing and dark rooms
A reprographics room
Three interactive Journalism newsrooms
How will I be assessed?

Assessment includes specific folio projects, individual and group presentations and visual/contextual research journals. Workshops and set outcomes, group and individual case studies as well as written assignments will also be assessed.
Career Opportunities

Graduates will be prepared to pursue rewarding careers within a range of photographic and related artistic disciplines. This may, for example, include studio, newspaper or web-based professional photographers, museum and gallery curators, writers, photo-historians, teachers, picture editors and researchers, academics, advertising agency creatives, education officers, community project workers, or graduates may decide to pursue further study to MA or PhD level in photography, art history or fine art.

Printmaking is a process-oriented medium that involves drawing on or carving into one material, usually wood, stone or metal, and then transferring that image onto another material, usually paper. The Plattsburgh State Printmaking program cultivates a balance between process and concept in a cooperative workshop environment.

Students explore a variety of printmaking media including intaglio, lithography, relief, letterpress, and creative bookmaking. Both unique prints and multiples are produced. While engaging in the practical study of printmaking techniques, students also look at the history of the discipline and discuss related critical issues in contemporary art.

The print shop is very much a working and social community, with a wonderful spirit of cooperation. It is a place where students are taught to master basic technical skills and then encouraged to pursue their own aesthetic path. Students often work collaboratively, producing shared works of art in the form of books or portfolios.
Printmaking Facilities

The printmaking facility consists of a well-lit and ventilated studio equipped with three etching and two lithography presses. There are thirty or more lithographic stones varying in size and color, and a good selection of rollers and brayers. Additionally, there is a small letterpress shop and a book-binding room equipped with foundry type, a book press and other bookbinding tools.

The Photography program at Plattsburgh State offers students the complete spectrum of hands-on creative experience from the introductory to the advanced level. Emphasis is on students’ development of their individual expressive capabilities.

A forum for the exchange of ideas and evaluation is provided in group and individual critique sessions. Students are also taught the essentials of portfolio production and presentation. The history of photography as well as critical issues within the medium and the aesthetic concerns of current practitioners of the art are integral aspects of course study.
Photography Facilities

There is a photography critique classroom, a general-purpose workroom, a lighting studio, a large group darkroom, and two advanced darkrooms. Advanced courses include digital imaging and the view camera.