MA Photography and the Land is a thematic award that offers you the opportunity to develop your photographic practice, knowledge and understanding through research and photographic projects exploring issues related to land, landscape and the environment.

Programme highlights

· Staff team with significant international experience in diverse landscape practice
· Southwest location with unique mixture of rural, urban, industrial and leisure landscapes
· Arts faculty energetically developing its inter-disciplinary links
Entry requirements

A good honours degree in photography or a related visual communication subject. Appropriate professional experience may also be considered. An interview, portfolio and written piece of work will be required. IELTS of 6.5 or equivalent.
Duration

1 year full time or two years part time
Contact email

artspostgrad@plymouth.ac.uk
Contact details

Postgraduate Admissions
Faculty of Arts

Tel: +44 (0) 1752 585100
General programme structure

Photography: the practice of research examines models of photographic practice-based research methodology and gives an opportunity to initiate fields of individual visual and conceptual enquiry. You begin a process of consolidating technical understanding relevant to your practice.

Land, landscape and photography historic and contemporary: through critical examination of photographic landscape practices, you familiarise yourselves with, and question, ways in which you can investigate, respond to and engage with issues associated with land and the environment.

MA project proposal: through practice, research, seminars, tutorials and workshops you consolidate the work begun in the first module, defining your MA project proposal and testing this thoroughly through practice.

Interdisciplinary interpretations: landscape practice examines and reflects upon interdisciplinary approaches to the study, interpretation and understanding of land, landscape and environment, linking photography with others fields of knowledge: geographical, ecological, historical, philosophical, etc and provides the opportunity to extend the conceptual frame of your project.

MA photographic project: asks you to resolve an individual project presented in an appropriate form and context to consolidate your MA photographic research practice. A written report provides critical commentary to your practice.

MA Photography and the Book is a unique award that offers you the opportunity to develop your photographic practice, knowledge and understanding through the resolution of individual projects where the dominant but not exclusive form of dissemination is a book or bookwork.

It is also intended to provide those with an editorial or curatorial photographic practice with the opportunity to develop and resolve original projects in book forms.

The programme has an ethos of experimentation, creativity, risk-taking, research and authorship which, combined with extended practice, leads to the development of a critical and theoretical understanding of the medium of photography.

Programme highlights

Staff team with extensive international experience of photography and editing, designing and publishing
Full range of new photographic resources in a complex alongside media, design and print resourses
Links with an established Publishing MA

The Scott Building, where you will be based and where these resources are housed, also contains the Faculty’s Printmaking and Letterpress workshops.
Entry requirements

A good honours degree in photography or a related visual communication subject.
Appropriate professional experience may also be considered. An interview, portfolio and written piece of work will be required. IELTS of 6.5 or equivalent.

Duration

1 year full time or 2 years part time
Contact email

artspostgrad@plymouth.ac.uk
Contact details

Postgraduate Admissions
Faculty of Arts

Tel: +44 (0) 1752 585100

General programme structure

Photography: the practice of research examines models of photographic practice-based research methodology and gives an opportunity to initiate fields of individual visual and conceptual enquiry. You begin a process of consolidating technical understanding relevant to your practice.

The photobook: historically and now considers the book as a mode of dissemination of ideas and images, through critical examination of photography books, and books illustrated photographically, historically and now.

MA project proposal: through practice, research, seminars, tutorials and workshops you consolidate the work begun in the first module, defining your MA project proposal and testing this thoroughly through practice.

The photobook: production and publishing develops an understanding of the arenas of editing, design, copywriting, print, binding and the distribution and marketing of photographic books within the contemporary fields of book publishing, through seminars, tutorials, exercises, workshops and visits.

MA Photographic project: asks you to resolve an individual project in the form of a photographic book or bookwork/s, with a report or dissertation providing a critical commentary to your practice. The module therefore provides you with a context to consolidate your MA practice.

MA Photography and the Land is a thematic award that offers you the opportunity to develop your photographic practice, knowledge and understanding through research and photographic projects exploring issues related to land, landscape and the environment.

Programme highlights

· Staff team with significant international experience in diverse landscape practice
· Southwest location with unique mixture of rural, urban, industrial and leisure landscapes
· Arts faculty energetically developing its inter-disciplinary links
Entry requirements

A good honours degree in photography or a related visual communication subject. Appropriate professional experience may also be considered. An interview, portfolio and written piece of work will be required. IELTS of 6.5 or equivalent.
Duration

1 year full time or two years part time

Postgraduate Admissions
Faculty of Arts

MA Photography and the Book is a unique award that offers you the opportunity to develop your photographic practice, knowledge and understanding through the resolution of individual projects where the dominant but not exclusive form of dissemination is a book or bookwork.

It is also intended to provide those with an editorial or curatorial photographic practice with the opportunity to develop and resolve original projects in book forms.

The programme has an ethos of experimentation, creativity, risk-taking, research and authorship which, combined with extended practice, leads to the development of a critical and theoretical understanding of the medium of photography.

Programme highlights

Staff team with extensive international experience of photography and editing, designing and publishing
Full range of new photographic resources in a complex alongside media, design and print resourses
Links with an established Publishing MA

The Scott Building, where you will be based and where these resources are housed, also contains the Faculty’s Printmaking and Letterpress workshops.
Entry requirements

A good honours degree in photography or a related visual communication subject.
Appropriate professional experience may also be considered. An interview, portfolio and written piece of work will be required. IELTS of 6.5 or equivalent.

Duration

1 year full time or 2 years part time

What our students say

“Tutors put great effort is put into making links among the subjects’ Richard Boulton, current student.

‘Enjoyable and Rewarding’ Tom Northcote, former student and Procurement Specialist with the Department of Health.’

What it’s about

Philosophy, fine art and photography are all important and complementary ways of understanding the world around us. It is rare, however, to have the chance to study these subjects together, in a genuinely interdisciplinary single honours degree.

On the philosophy side, you will have a series of taught modules that will explore the underpinnings of human thought, experience, ethics, perception and expression. These are taught by staff who are active researchers in the field but who also provide a welcoming and supportive environment. If you are tired of being pigeon-holed as either an ‘arty’ or a ‘thoughtful’ type then one of these new programmes is for you.

What you do

Both of these degree programmes are interdisciplinary — that is, they are not two halves of a degree sitting side by side. Instead, the modules you take are designed to ‘talk’ to each other by encouraging reflection on the inter-relation between philosophy, fine art and photography; several modules, including the final year project, are co-taught by members of staff from the different departments. The philosophy part of your award includes modules on ethics (how should I live my life?), metaphysics (ie the nature of reality, freedom), epistemology (what can be known, and how?), and the nature of the self (who am I?). In addition, you will be taking modules specifically on visual modes of thinking, such as ‘Philosophy Goes to the Movies’ and ‘Thinking with Hands and Eyes.’ Here, it is our practice to learn philosophy by doing it: by talking, writing, debating and reading the important original texts. Assessment of modules is normally by written work, such as essays – there are no examinations.

Students in Photography and Philosophy will be involved in the production of practical work from the beginning of the first year. The core approach of understanding ‘visual communication’ is developed through study of the many and varied conceptual and analytical approaches to photographic practice. You will be learning how to use the latest technology from high-end digital equipment to the studio environment, but with access to traditional processes as well. You will also participate in lectures and seminars that encourage lively discussion of ideas in photography. This work will enable you to become a skilled and creative photographer, with an in-depth awareness of how photographs communicate.

Where next

As a graduate you will be able to think clearly and critically, be adaptable and open-minded and able to communicate and collaborate with others in analysing and solving problems. All these are skills highly prized by employers and have led past philosophy students to careers in business, law, teaching, management and the Civil Service, among others. The photography or fine art side of your degree means you are eminently employable and entrepreneurial in a whole range of creative industries, including promoting your personal or professional practice, or working in publishing, museums, galleries or visual industries such as advertising. Production skills, communication skills,
team-working skills, initiative and an innovative approach to problem solving are desirable attributes to employers and individuals alike.

Fact FileQualification:
BA(Hons)
Faculty/School:
Faculty of Arts, Media and Design
Location:
Stoke Campus
Course Length: Normally three years full time
Entry Requirements: All applicants will be invited for interview to include a discussion about your portfolio of practical materials. All applicants are individually assessed on their qualifications, skills and experience. However a typical three A level or BTEC National Diploma offer will be 200 UCAS tarriff points.
UCAS Code:
Route A VW56, Route B Awaited