Studying photography at university will help you prepare for work in the creative industries, or for self-employment as a photographer or artist. Here at ARU, there's the chance to gain valuable experience and build a professional network through work placements.
All your creative work will be supported by academic staff working at the forefront of photographic research and innovation who have years of professional experience. This informs the design and delivery of our BA (Hons) Photography course, allowing us to respond to innovation in the sector, facilitate exciting industry-led projects, and speaker presentations. Our students are part of the organising committee for our Annual Public Photography Lectures which bring high-profile British and international photographers to ARU. Previous talks have featured Donna Ferrato, Laura Pannack, Anthony Luvera, Tom Hunter, Jane Hilton, Tim Flach and Hannah Starkey.
Through continuous experimentation, you’ll be encouraged to refine your photographic style and voice.
Critical and contextual studies will connect your own research and writing to your practice and will guide you to specialist resources in our campus library. Explore hundreds of photographers’ monographs and access technical and contextual texts, as well as other online resources, to underpin and expand your practice.
As part of your Photography course, you can expand your skillset with additional technical workshops including printmaking, 3D work and writing workshops. You can choose to take part in photography field trips too, and experience photographing different locations such as Venice and Prague.
You can also exhibit your work at exhibitions like Free Range in London, where industry reps will get to see your work. At the 2023 exhibition, two of our students, Mark Morgan and Erin Thorogood, were nominated 'Best in Show' by Amateur Photographer magazine. They follow in the footsteps of 2022 graduate Aliz Kovacs-Zoldi, who was selected as Student Photographer of the Year by the magazine.
While studying our BA (Hons) Photography degree, you’ll learn to adopt a professional approach to your work, covering aspects of career management such as rights issues, project management and self-promotion through social media. You can choose to take up work placements that will help you establish your own professional network, including opportunities such as working for magazines, galleries and photographers, taking part in live briefs with our partner organisations. Our students recently worked with the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA), creating a selection of images and objects to enhance the understanding of their photography collection in relation to the Covid-19 Pandemic. You can also take an optional placement year as part of your course.
Course Director: Duncan Ganley
