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BA (Hons) Photography

Overview:

The BA Photography course is a gateway to a variety of creative careers.

Our course recognizes and embraces the dynamic nature of the field, where new tools and techniques lead the way and trends emerge with lightning speed. We aim to ensure that our students not only master the fundamentals but also become agile and adaptable photographers capable of thriving in any work environment. This includes advertising, fashion and art photography as well as a whole range of related career paths. It’s a broad course capable of sustaining the journey and transformative growth of each and every one of you.

We do this from our enviable purpose-built Creative Industries campus right in the heart of Cardiff, comprising state-of-the-art studios and equipment; and a community of passionate people fully engaged in shaping the future of visual culture. In short, we genuinely couldn’t be better located!

Before we go any further, just take a look at the work of our recent graduates.

At our core, we believe photography is for everybody and that it’s not just about learning the skills and negotiating how to apply those skills in the world of employment; we aim to nurture your own unique vision and help you to grow as photographers and as individuals. We foster an environment that is encouraging and community driven so that you can learn from each other, exchange ideas, and inspire one another’s growth. We want you to explore your passions and challenge your preconceptions. We know from what our past and present students tell us that this is a rewarding journey of self-discovery, so it could be for you too!

We actively promote flexibility, responsiveness, and innovation and we’re constantly updating our curriculum and extending our industry partners to reflect the shifting demands of the ever-expanding photography landscape, ensuring that you receive the most relevant education available. We aim to nurture your potential, helping you to locate and develop your interests both in terms of subject matter and the specific area of the industry in which you decide to work. We help you to explore the latter through our numerous industry connections, including notable course Alumni; all of whom are there to offer advice, guidance, and support as you move toward embarking on your career post WFC.

WFC has a long and notable history of delivering innovative photography courses that prepare graduates for the real world. Graduates will be employed in a variety of roles as highly skilled photographers, independent artists, photographic assistants, art directors, producers, photography managers, stylists, retouchers, printers, medical and forensic photographers, curators, writers, publishers, agents, educators, marketeers, and media consultants.

BA (Hons) Photography

Typical A-Level Offer
CCC to include a relevant art and design subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Welsh BACC Offer
Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C in the Skills Challenge Certificate and CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

Typical BTEC Offer
BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit in a relevant subject (this is equivalent to 96 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Access to HE Offer
Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points

Additional Requirements
GCSEs: The College normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances

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Entry Requirements

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions. WFC prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access College. Here is a link to our Contextual Admissions Policy.  

Other qualifications and experience

We can also consider combinations of qualifications and other qualifications not listed here may also be acceptable. We can sometimes consider credits achieved at other universities and your work/life experience through an assessment of prior learning. This may be for year one entry, or advanced entry to year two or three of a course where this is possible.

To find out which qualifications have tariff points, please refer to the UCAS tariff calculator.

If you need more help or information or would like to speak to our friendly admissions team, please contact us here

Applicants in the UK

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application. If you do not meet the entry criteria, you may also be required to provide a portfolio of your work to help us assess your suitability for the course.

Applicants outside the UK

Selection for this course is based on a suitable application and submission of a portfolio of your work which the Course Leader confirms is suitable for an offer to be made.

WHAT YOU WILL STUDY

You’ll be closely supported to become a professional documentary photographer/ photojournalist by staff with extensive industry experience. You’ll be mentored to research subjects that really interest you and have the opportunity to experiment with a full range of technical processes including high-end digital and analogue cameras, scanners and large format printers in our bespoke department.

We specialise in ‘long form’ documentary photography which gives you scope to work on ideas you are passionate about over extended periods. Live projects and workshops include collaboration with internationally active visiting experts, curators, commissioning editors and photobook publishers/ designers. We host networking events and trips to directly connect you to the industry. Unlike many courses, our modules are completely focused on documentary, to give you scope to explore all aspects of this exciting genre. We are completely focused on you, via small-class interaction and individual support of your journey through the course. The final year of the course is seen as a professional year and many students will travel internationally to produce portfolios during this time. You’ll produce one or two ambitious bodies of work in the final year and respond to a live professional brief to prepare you for the photographic industry.

Year 1 – Documentary Photography degree

What is Documentary?

This module explores what documentary/ photojournalism can be today- giving a chance to experiment with some of the exciting ways in which photographers can explore the world. You might be surprised by what documentary can be. The module is accompanied by technical training in a range of equipment to start your journey with confidence in software processes and workflows, the amazing range of cameras and other facilities we have, beginning to experiment with using flash lighting and printing your images. Alongside this, we will run special events and collaborative projects so you can get to know other students and go on exciting field trips to explore the world of photography together. Your contact with visiting experts starts here as you are immersed in the professional world from day one.

Photographer as Observer

This module develops your training further to begin to research topics and gain access to stories you care about. Beginning to learn how to deal with your subject matter ethically and legally from photographers with experience of doing just that. Being a great photographer involves creating images with creativity clarity and impact, and you will practice with achieving this, whilst learning to select the best images from your shoots to set you apart. You will have opportunity to engage with social topics of your choice within this carefully structured, short assignment.

The Narrative

This module is an extended 12-week project in immersive documentary storytelling, which gives you the chance to bring together your skills and passions from the first modules to go into depth with your ideas. You are given freedom to work with whatever topic and approach you want, and students engage with a wide range of topics, from classic magazine picture stories to craft-based landscape stories in black and white to everything in-between. Alongside this your training continues in range of skills in research, planning and getting access, and you learn strategies to tell stories in ways that are original and exciting. You learn to shoot and fine print analogue and digital of various formats and experiment with our extensive range of cameras from media stores, as well as learning the skills of sequencing, editing and structuring long-form documentary stories / photo-essays.  

Digital Storytelling

This module gives you opportunity to engage with short form digital storytelling on a subject of your choice. You gain training in moving image, sound recording, interview skills, video production, and editing using industry standard kit taught by experts. You can choose to experiment with a wide range of styles, from journalistic documentary reporting to avant-garde documentary film as reflects your own passions and use amazing equipment from our media stores.

Documentary Themes

This module looks at some of the most exciting and important photographers in the world, and why they have had such an impact. It introduces some of the major debates that have shaped the development of photography, including the challenges posed to the medium by the rapid development of digital technology, examining the parallel histories of photography as document and art, and its role in exciting photobooks and gallery shows. Students are encouraged to think carefully about the complex range of ideas behind this work; and about the issues including audience and ethics. Alongside this, you are supported to research photographers and ideas really interests you- this involves accessing our world-leading library collection of documentary and photojournalism as well as a specially curated electronic database.

Documentary Contexts

This module builds on your research skills to explore the wide world of documentary ideas in all its forms. Amongst other topics, it considers the role of documentary in social change and advocacy, and its potential to represent the urgent issues and ideas of our time. Photography’s potential to speak about race, the environmental crisis and gender are considered, as well as more niche world of documentary in photobooks, moving image, and in digital worlds.

Year 2 – Documentary Photography degree

Framing documentary (exhibition production)*

This is a major module exploring production of documentary for exhibitions with impact. You work on a topic of your own in whatever process you choose (analogue, digital, moving or still image). You are mentored to consider challenging existing forms and approaches to documentary and to forge your own distinctive path as a contemporary photographer. As a group of students, you are mentored to produce a full exhibition (including ultra large format fine-print and installation) and to fabricate and install in a community venue off campus. You will be taught skills of exhibition design and fabrication and have access to our workshops and industrial fabrication machines, tools and experts. You will learn to promote and market your work to engage your intended audience. You can use any method of exhibition you choose (inside or outside!) including incorporating moving image or sound installation. The exhibition opens to the public with a special event attended by all three years of the course, staff, family and friends and the public. You learn technical skills in advanced location lighting for interior and exterior with our professional lighting battery kits and be able to experiment with both medium format digital (Fuji 6X7) and large format film cameras.  

Documentary and the Publication (photobook production)

This is our full on ‘photobook’ module. You will work to produce work on a topic of your choice to develop your own professional project for a photobook dummy or maquette. You build your storytelling skills to tell innovative and original stories on topics with meaning, and you learn to design, sequence, scale and sequence your images for publication. You engage with the photobook industry and explore a range of publications and publishers. You also learn the specialist skills to print, construct, mount and bind books using a range of experimental methods which helps your book stand out and find an audience. Some of the photobooks produced on this module have subsequently gone into commercial production.  

Documentary Industries

This module focusses on the varied professional practices of Documentary Photography. It considers the changing roles of documentary within a wide-ranging industry, and the emerging forms of storytelling possible within the digital world. The module requires the student to research and deliver a detailed Case Study of an aspect of professional practice that interests them and might represent a future career path. The Case Study will examine the link between the working methods of the photographer, how the work has been published or otherwise disseminated, and importantly, how it has been received by viewers. Social and ethical issues of engagement with the subject, and the nature of institutions in commissioning are be considered. Areas of study will respond to the student’s own interests, but can include long-form documentary commissioning, photojournalism, multimedia, photo-book production, visual anthropology, documentary, film etc. 

Research for Practice and Dissertation

The module deepens your understanding of the readings and critical theories that have previously been studied, and connects these to how students make, describe and rationalise their own practice. The module links theories from photography, fashion, film, art and advertising through a programme of lectures and seminars. As such, it is both a preparation and planning for final year studies and also lays the theoretical foundations for their final year major project. Lectures, seminars and readings will introduce the student to a range of different approaches to the study of photography and how it connects to practice and wider visual culture. Key texts by important writers in each area will be examined and placed in a historical and cultural context. Students will be asked to select a particular field of enquiry for further exploration and undertake a close examination of that field, looking at a range of sources: this will involve the use of the library, database searches and the internet. 

*25% of this module can be studied in Welsh

Year 3 – Documentary Photography degree

Negotiated Practices

This is a module in two short parts; firstly, a short unit on a professional assignment / live brief to develop your ability to in originate, access and produce a project in a set timeframe. The ability to do this is key to your employability as a photographer. How you do this and the topic you choose is up to you, and responds to the area of the industry you are most interested in. You will be supported to craft and perfect a meaningful and visually striking small project and enabled to immerse yourself completely in it! Part 2 of the module is completely open to your own interpretation, and by now you will have experienced the full range of possibilities of documentary, so we support you to begin to spread your wings and look towards that big idea you have been waiting to develop. This module can lead through into the next module (Project Portfolio Development) to become an even more extended project. Many students will undertake some travel at this point and we will be flexible to allow this in an organised and structured way to achieve your goals. You can work with the full range of facilities and equipment you have experienced and been trained in on the course.

Project Portfolio Development (final portfolio production)

This is our full industry preparation and portfolio production module. The world is your oyster here and the work made here will be showcased in our graduation events, exhibitions and / or publication. Global or local issues or idea, a more personal lyrical issues of identity or passion project. The module reflects the true range of ideas and identities of documentary today and again, you can work with the full range of facilities and equipment you have experienced and been trained in on the course.  

Preparation for Industry*

This module encourages the student to research areas of practice that are pertinent to them and facilitates a detailed understanding of the fundamental aspects of business practice that complements the making of the work. This is an outward facing module that expands the foundations of business practice, creative strategies, marketing and distribution networks that are key to the photographer working today. The student will gain an understanding of the aspects of central business workflow that are integral to a sustained professional practice. The rationale for this module has, at its core, the ambition for students to take forward the sophisticated and refined practical work that they achieve in wider modules and deploy knowledge gained in this module when establishing their position within the creative field. The module will be built on a series of lectures, seminars and practical workshops that consolidate aspects of creative workflows that are fundamental to the organisational structure of the contemporary practitioner. The student will carry out industry-based research on an area that they feel pertinent to their own professional development and, through research, site visits or onsite experience, prepare a case study that offers a significant contribution to their understanding of the aspect of the industry that they aspire to. 

Critical Paper

This module provides the opportunity for students to evaluate and critique the contexts of documentary that are most pertinent to the interests engaged in own their practical work. The text should draw upon skills developed in earlier contextual modules. You are going to be dependent on a range of strategies to move through the transition phase as emerging professionals, and the process of applications for funding, project presentations to clients and submissions for developmental support are all key areas in which a critical authority over contexts and ideas is paramount. This module focuses on the production of a text that will articulate a critical positioning of documentary, and present a consideration of applicable philosophical, formal, contextual, and ideological issues. The text should interrogate issues of authorship, audience, and reception, as well as specific contexts of institutions of commissioning, publication, and distribution. The text will address issues specific to documentary but should also draw in wider social and cultural questions, as appropriate. The production of the text should involve substantial research that indicates new knowledge and scholarship appropriate to final year study at undergraduate level.

*25% of this module can be studied in Welsh
 

Assessment

Throughout the Documentary Photography course you will be assessed on practice-based modules, supplemented by self-reflective and context-based analysis. You will receive clear and detailed feedback that will help you reflect on, and develop your strengths.

This is supported by individual tutorials, seminars and workshops around business practice and professional skills.

COURSE DETAILS

Accreditations

BA (Hons) Photography at WFC is the only course in Wales officially accredited by The Association of Photographers (AOP). The AOP is one of the most prestigious photography associations in the world whose aim is to promote the worth and standing of photographers. It brings professionals and students together and provides an important community for all.  

This industry stamp of approval means that this Photography course meets all of the relevant criteria for reinforcing best practice and incorporating key elements of the AOP’s industry guidelines as defined in their publication Beyond the Lens. 

This relationship offers students a free 4-year membership, considerable added value and further support and guidance, from access to additional learning materials, talks, discounted entry to awards and competitions, a free digital copy of Beyond the Lens, free legal advice, portfolio reviews and more.

Placements

We take pride in our notable links with industry and provide numerous opportunities for our students to work with creative professionals through live projects and industry facing modules such as Finding Your Place in the 2nd year and Making Ready in the 3rd year.

Direct engagement with individuals and organisations from industry, including the possibility of undertaking a placement, forms a major part of the 2nd year of the course, through which you begin to hone in on areas of the industry that are of particular interest to you.

You also have the option to undertake a Sandwich Year between years 2 and 3 of the course during which you can undertake a longer placement within a relevant area of the industry.

Our network of notable photography alumni, working in numerous professional industry positions, often generously give their time to further support current students and the next generation of creatives.

Field Trips

The collective act of seeing things and visiting places together and discussing the experience as a group can be hugely valuable, rewarding and enjoyable, so for us, trips are an important part of your education, locally, nationally and internationally. These can vary from places of interest to inform your work to key exhibitions of notable themes or by leading photographers.

Recent international trips, pre and post covid, have included visits to Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam. For us, it is important that these trips are available to as many students as possible, so we work hard to make them as cost effective as we can. In addition to this, we also link up with industry contacts in these cities to further enrich your experience and introduce you to the ins and outs of the Photography industry further afield.

Facilities

As a Photography student here at WFC, you will have access to all of our amazing industry standard facilities, the majority of which are located on our dedicated photography floor, which we share with the Documentary Photography course.

 

These facilities recreate the environment of industry and include two large professional photography studios, one with an impressive three-sided white infinity cove, an editing suite, high-end print room, analogue darkroom, and a really well-stocked equipment store, as well as a fabrication workshop with laser cutting and 3D printing facilities. You will have access to these spaces 7 days a week and can work well into the evening when the teaching day is over. This provides you with incredible access to the tools you need to develop as photographers and to fulfil all elements of this carefully designed course.

 

Our photography store includes a wide range of both digital and analogue cameras of all formats. This includes high-end cameras produced by leading manufactures such as Phase One, Fuji, Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad and Sony. You will also have access to a number of lighting solutions including flash and continuous options produced by companies such as Profoto, Dracast and Aputure. Once inducted, students can loan equipment from our store at no additional cost, simply by making a booking using their online Connect2 account.

 

The photography floor also features a creative space with numerous sofas where students can meet to collaborate, continue working, host meetings, network, socialise and relax. This area helps to form a really tight knit community around the course where 1st, 2nd and 3rd years mix and offer invaluable support and guidance to one another.

 
All of our spaces are designed to make you feel comfortable and at home, so that you’re free to be inspired, to be ambitious, and to push the boundaries of the medium and your own personal ability.

Additional Costs

As a student of WFC, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

CAREERS

It’s really important to note that this degree can lead to a whole host of related career paths within the creative industries for which the creation and understanding of images takes centre stage.

The diversity of the courses content ensures that you graduate with a comprehensive understanding of photography and its relation to a range of other media and visual culture in general. We also work to grow your confidence, especially with regard to presenting your ideas, collaborating with others and building your own personal and targeted industry network.

Graduates have gone on to a wide range of career paths within the photographic or broader creative industries. These include commercial fields such as advertising and fashion, as well as art contexts such as work for the gallery, museum, community and other cultural sectors. Graduates will be employed in a variety of roles as highly skilled photographers, independent artists, photographic assistants, art directors, producers, photography managers, stylists, retouchers, printers, medical and forensic photographers, curators, writers, publishers, agents, educators, marketeers and media consultants. A number of our graduates also go on to further study at postgraduate level at notable institutions, leading to a range of enhanced opportunities within the creative industries.

Our valuable relationship with The Association of Photographers (AOP) also provides further guidance and support with regard to your career development. This support continues for free for a full year after you have graduated.

Our Careers and Employability Service

As a WFC student, you will have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate.

This includes: one-to-one appointments from faculty based Career Advisers, in person, by email through our ‘Ask a Question’ service, or through virtual online meetings. We also have extensive online resources for help with considering your career options and presenting yourself professionally to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, interview simulator and application guidance. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting WFC students and you can receive weekly email alerts for jobs.

Our Careers service has dedicated teams: A central work experience team to help you find relevant placements; an employability development team which includes an employability programme called Grad Edge; and an Enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Fees

Full time

Complete your degree in the shortest possible time and study flexibly – when and where suits you!
 

£7,250

You’ll study 9 modules in total (approx. 37 hrs/week).

Part time option one

Study for a degree whilst fitting it around your work, care and other life commitments.
 

£4,250

You’ll study 6 modules per year (approx. 25 hrs/week).

Part time option two

Take time to study and spread the tuition fees over a longer period – at no extra cost.
 

£5,500

You’ll study 4–5 modules per year (approx. 19 hrs/week).

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