Fashion Photography

The BA (Hons) Fashion Photography course is designed to develop professional fashion photographers in preparation for successful careers in the creative industries.

There are three main components to the course, all of which run in parallel: Identity, Industry, and Context.

Identity 

The initial stages of the course encompass a broad knowledge and understanding of photography, fashion, design, collaboration and context, essential for any aspiring Fashion Photographer. We'll focus on your personal growth as a practitioner and help you identify your professional aspirations for employment/self-employment.

We place an emphasis on developing and advancing your practical skills and technical knowledge through an increasingly self-initiated, experimental and innovative programme of independent study.

Industry 

The course is designed to ensure that you, as a graduate, can apply your knowledge and skills with innovation and integrity in a professional context. Through placement and industry-facing projects, you'll obtain a comprehensive understanding of the changing demands facing the Fashion and Photography industries.

Throughout all levels of your study you'll engage with industry partners, advance your skills in marketing and networking, become increasingly proficient in presentation, promotion and project management.

Context 

We place focus on how the development of your increasingly sophisticated photographic portfolio is both critically and contextually understood. You'll engage with an in-depth theoretical study of still and moving imagery and the complex roles they both play within historical and contemporary society.

An emphasis is placed on the sustainable and ethical responsibilities you have as a globally conscious practitioner.

Year one

The course starts with an Introduction to Photography skills development. You'll gain an understanding of the principles of interpreting images, and the role a camera can play in establishing identity. You'll explore digital image production alongside analogue practices in our excellent Photography workshops and will be exposed to the variables at play when photographing on location and shooting within the studio.

Embedded within the development of technical skills is a grounding of photographic and fashion movements in a global context. This critical context for your study is established through an Introduction to Visual and Material Culture, Ideology, conceptual, historical, ethical and technical aspects of photographic and fashion practices. You'll explore the impact a fashion image can have in various digital or print forms by analysing the interpretation of images within different contexts.

Year two

You'll take part in independently-led research projects with a greater focus on industry collaboration. The course will require you to participate in lectures and seminars that are designed to establish the theoretical grounds in which your developing practice is located.

Alongside developing technical and image production skills to industry standard, you will begin to galvanise an understanding of the role your own practice plays within the world and within the fashion fraternity more specifically.

Year three

Your final year of study requires you to bring together the advancement of your technical and cognitive skills, alongside your gained experience of industry practices into a comprehensive portfolio of photographic work. This independent and innovative body of work will evidence self-initiated problem solving, an in-depth knowledge and understanding of your contemporary and critical awareness and will require you to regularly reassess your practice within cultural and social contexts verbally, practically and in written form.

Your study will end with a major professional project in the form of an exhibition.

The course delivery is varied and involves regular tutorials, technical workshops, lectures and seminars, as well as group critique. Alongside the development of your studio practice you will engage in critical and contextual forums, presentations and online learning.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

Assessment is continual throughout the course, and depending on the module could take the form of a portfolio of photographic work, an exhibition, an online journal, essay or presentation.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

From year one to three, you’ll have opportunities to participate in local and international fieldwork opportunities across the BA (Hons) Fashion Photography modules. Please note that you’ll have to pay for international study visits. Recent international destinations have included New York and Iceland.

You'll have the opportunity to take part in numerous industry-led projects and collaborations. The course works closely with a variety of businesses and organisations with regular opportunity for you to work on live project briefs, participate in work experience, and collaborate with a wide range of industry practitioners. Bath School of Art, Film and Media has affiliation with numerous associations such as the Royal Photographic Society and Fox Talbot Museum, Tate, The Freelands Foundation, Hauser and Wirth and The Fashion Museum in Bath.

The breadth of the course will equip graduates with the skills to pursue portfolio careers. You will gain experience to thrive in a shifting and fluid context – whether working for employers or as freelancers.

There are numerous awards and scholarships available to Bath School of Art, Film and Media students. For example:

• You can apply for The Porthleven Prize: an opportunity for Bath Spa University students to take part in a fully-funded ten day residency based in a Cornish Studio, with travel, accommodation and other expenses included.
• We run a residency scheme for recent graduates with studio accommodation in Bath or Bristol.
• We offer progression awards for high-achieveing students.

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.

As a BA Fashion Photography student you’ll benefit from access to comprehensive digital workshops and specialist art and design facilities, including:

• Our student service point at Locksbrook where you can purchase subsidised art and design materials, hire out equipment for free and collect Library resources
• Access to our well-stocked Library at Newton Park
• Specialist technical facilities across all of art and design
• Access to studio space where you can work on projects and refine your practice.

Our Locksbrook campus offers exceptional industry-level facilities. These include PC and Mac computer suites, extensive analogue photographic dark and developing rooms, lighting studios, a digital image manipulation workshop and extensive printing facility.