Do you want to capture the world around you? Are you full of ideas and how to create powerful and innovative photographic images? Whether you want to specialise in editorial, fashion, product, portrait, documentary or arts-based photography, you can develop your skills and unleash your ideas at BNU.
With this AOP accredited photography degree, you will have the opportunity to turn your passion into your future career, with technical skills training, theoretical grounding, and practical opportunities.
Why study BA (Hons) Photography at BNU?
Accredited Degree
The photography degree is an accredited member of the Association of Photographers (AOP). The course meets the AOP’s criteria for the appropriate professional development of students during their studies. This accreditation also offers all students on the course their own free AOP membership for the duration of their studies, providing them with additional support and networking opportunities.
Expert facilities and equipment
At BNU we offer state-of-the-art photography facilities where you’ll have access to industry-standard lighting studios, wet darkroom, professional scanning suite and print bureau at our High Wycombe campus. As well as this you’ll benefit from your own mac suites, which host the full Adobe Creative Cloud, and professional printing area.
On quiet days you’ll find yourself spending time in the courses very own break out and teaching area, a light and open space to help you focus and let creativity flow.
You’ll also have access to a range of cameras and equipment (analogue and digital) available for loan to support their practice, including:
- Nikon and Canon lenses
- 5x4 Linhoff, Horseman and Cambo cameras
- medium format Bronica, Fuji, Mamiya film cameras
- medium format Pentax and Hasselblad digital cameras
- Godox, Neewer, Mecablitz and Canon camera top flash
Industry links
Led by a dedicated and experienced course team, you’ll benefit from their industry knowledge and the industry links they bring to the course. You’ll get direct access to guest lecturers, who are specialists in the sector, and can benefit from live project briefs, master classes, and networking opportunities.
We’re proud of the many achievements our students and staff attain at BNU. Throughout your course you will have the opportunity to take part in competitions and exhibitions as well as the BNU Summer Show in your final year.
Network
Although our classroom sizes are small, as part of the Art, Design and Performance School at BNU, you’ll benefit from a practiced-based course, supported by contextual studies. You’ll also have the opportunity to work collaboratively across the school with other courses, ensuring you develop your engagement and networking abilities, as you would in the real world. Past collaborations have included Hair and Make-up, Costume Design and Set Design for Stage and Screen.
Location
Our campus is situated in the middle of the rolling Chiltern hills, meaning you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get out and explore landscape photography.
We’re also only 30 minutes by train into London and close to Oxford and Reading. Meaning you can immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of the city. You can also visit exhibitions, museums, and galleries, where you’ll find inspiration for your projects.
What will I study?
This BA (Hons) Photography course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.
This photography course offers a contemporary curriculum that is engaged with social, technological, environmental, ethical and cultural perspectives, enabling you to become a ‘thinking practitioner’ or a socially responsible entrepreneur.
We will help you develop a conceptual and contextual understanding of photography, so you can find new ways to express yourself, and take your practice to a more dynamic level.
We’ll help you explore the concepts and contexts behind photography work, so you can find new ways to express yourself, and take your practice to a more dynamic level. You’ll also undertake research to develop a theoretical and critical underpinning of the subject, learning new ways of thinking and working, and pushing traditional boundaries of the medium.
In addition to learning about commercial and design applications (such as in editorial and advertising photography), you also will develop your knowledge of photography through its interactions with other creative subjects; for example, working in 3D environments to produce Computer-Generated images (CGI), exploring wet printing and alternative print-making techniques or experimenting with moving image and sound as a means of personal expression or visual communication.
As well as having the space to explore different types of photography, to see where your interests lie, we’ll make sure you understand the business side of working as a professional photographer.
You’ll learn how to best promote your photography and how to set yourself up as a freelancer, dealing with important aspects such as your own branding, marketing, to tax and finance. You’ll learn about the professional bodies that exist to protect photographers’ work and rights, such as the Association of Photographers. We’ll also look at how to develop your presence and present your work on different platforms, from the physical exhibition space to online websites, and how to evolve your practice to cater for different audiences.
