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The Photography Department at Edinburgh College of Art has a strong international reputation, with students achieving at the very highest level. Recent major awards won by students include the John Kobal Prize, The Jerwood Prize, Fuji Student Photographer of the Year, the Audi Award for Contemporary Photography and the ICI/Olmec Student Digital Photographer of the Year.

The MA and MFA programmes provide graduates of photography, or graduates from another discipline with some demonstrable skill in photography, to use the medium to examine and explore a theme of their own choosing and to produce a resolved body of practical work allied to rigorous research and professional practice.

At Edinburgh College of Art, photography is viewed as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. It is a path to self-expression through the production of considered and resolved work. The range of practice within the Department is as wide as we can make it and includes advanced level documentary, landscape, portraiture, constructed imagery, installation and video.

These programmes are primarily designed as a means of developing and extending creative practice and are intellectually and critically underpinned by theoretical study. Students who wish to concentrate on theory will find the programmes offered by the Centre for Visual & Cultural Studies more appropriate; Contemporary Art Theory, Visual Culture and Visual and Material Culture.

The Simon’s Rock program in Photography considers technical knowledge, historical background, and critical and analytical skills to be key elements in the education of each photo student. Our curriculum is designed to foster a disciplined approach to independent, self-generated work in each course, whether it be the core studio or a Senior Thesis project. We provide a comprehensive facility with professional equipment, as well as exposure to working artists, historians, writers, and critics, to support the growth and development of each student photographer. We feel that photography by its very nature is a tool which promotes interdisciplinary study. Our program offers a wide range of courses that allow the exploration of the medium of photography by students with interests in the arts and humanities, the sciences, and the social sciences.

Students interested in this concentration should take the core course, Photography, in the first year. It provides each student with an introduction to basic camera and darkroom skills, a background in the history of photography, and a thorough exploration of image making. We recommend that Lower College students in this concentration also take two semesters of basic art history and at least one design module or course.
Curriculum
Three intermediate courses in Photography are required for the concentration. Students are introduced to a variety of photographic approaches and technical skills through courses such as the Writing and Photography Studio and Experiments in Photography and other intermediate visual arts courses that use photo media such as Intermedia Studio, Designing with Computers, Intaglio Printmaking and Silk Screen Printmaking. Either History of Photography, Theories of Photography, or Critical Issues in Contemporary Photography is required, and it is recommended that students in the concentration take two of these courses. Advanced courses include Color Photography Studio, Documentary Photography, Photographic Portrait/Self- Portrait, and the Artists’ Books Studio. Students are required to take at least three of these. The total minimum credits required to complete the Photography concentration is 24.