BA (Hons)Fashion Photography and Image Production

Core modules

Icons and Image

When producing editorial content intended for publishing, the creative process is vital in capturing an exciting and visually stimulating outcome. In this module, you'll learn the fundamentals of styling and concept development, understanding the practicalities of historical contexts, including photography, fashion styling and beauty related media. Through related technical sessions you'll build a foundation of skills to aid the production of photoshoots and design-focused layouts. Through this, you'll gain a vital understanding of processes important to the publishing industry, and thinking how an image will be used, to give you a deeper understanding of design contexts.

Style Cultures

It is important to look at cultural and socio-economic phenomena with a critical eye, and this module will teach you how to do just that. You will practice how to analyse and discuss contemporary culture and its historical foundations, and understand how art can interpret and reflect the worries and desires of a particular society.

Creating Beauty

You will learn the central skills required when capturing beauty image and moving media, the processes explored in seminar and through lectures will look at historical understanding of beauty and the contemporary industry imagery that informs trend-led ideas and outcomes. This will introduce you to fundamental knowledge of how to link your technical photography and fashion research when creating beauty-focused imagery for editorial and advertising purposes.

Making Pictures

Photography, studio, and post-production techniques are constantly developing and changing, thanks to the continuous advancement in technology and social and cultural trends in media and design. Gaining a solid foundation in the fundamental skills needed to shoot successful visuals in a photography studio environment, along with the introduction and exploration of post-production techniques are key to preparing you for your creative development. During this module, you'll be introduced to the vast array of approaches in image making, breaking down each element to form an understanding of how the parts make up the whole. You'll also discover the important relationship between lighting, model choice, and direction, along with post-production and make-up/hair/fashion styling, and how they complement or restrict one another. You’ll develop and hone your skills in moodboard design and concept development, helping you to visualise your initial ideas and create strong final outcomes.

Editorial Fashion

This module will provide you with an in-depth understanding of editorial fashion, target audiences and aesthetic principles. Understanding a broad range of aspects when it comes to magazine production and publishing, will equip you with the necessary knowledge needed to make well-informed creative decisions when creating work for any publication in industry.

Reading Pictures

This module will change the way you look at images. It will allow you to better understand the meaning of images and their place in the world. You’ll learn to read the content of images, going beyond the surface to the underlying message. You’ll also learn to look at images from a theoretical point of view and use this deeper understanding of images in the creation of your own written and practical work.

Core modules

The Fashion Story

Fashion editorial is about expressing trends. In this module, you'll learn how to identify, experiment with, and express trends in a variety of ways. You'll be given the opportunity to be playful with trends, and to develop a way of photographing editorial that best expresses your photographic style. You will learn how to craft a fashion editorial that conveys a sense of narrative. This encompasses all the production aspects of fashion editorial, from casting to location to equipment. But it also means developing a concept that expresses your narrative in an innovative way.

Photography in Theory and Practice

Through this module you'll work on how to read, compare and understand the writings and ideas in a given area of fashion and photography. You'll be introduced to different ways of looking at visual culture, and will be encouraged to voice your own, and appraise different attitudes to imagery. You will also be given the opportunity to explore your own ideas through the development creation of photography outcome.

Fashion and Film

During this module, you'll learn the craft of directing and shot selection for film - a key part of storytelling. Not only will you will practise how to storyboard, and how to anticipate which shots or angles are required to communicate your message, you'll also look at the technical aspects of shooting video, including studying the process of developing a film idea, as well as the physical work of making films. And after shooting your film, you'll learn advanced video editing techniques, and appropriate post production techniques. You will also develop your understanding of film theory and history and be given the opportunity to explore exciting aspects of this rich area of inspiration.

Professional and Personal Development

On this module you will be guided in the development of your professional identity for an industry that has become more fluid and flexible than ever, and you will discover how to navigate your way through the new and exciting opportunities available to you within the creative industries.

Print Matters

The printed medium is making a comeback; as Gen Z move away from a purely digital lifestyle, they are fuelling the return to physical magazines and publications with a broader desire for ownership over tangible objects. This module will introduce you to the essential skills and techniques for printed outcomes such as zines, photo books, and exhibition prints. Alongside looking at the image in printed form, we will explore a range of art movements, which will be used to help inform the conceptual underpinning of your work. We will look at visual narratives, sequencing, layout, scale, text and the inter-play between image and space.

The Styled Portrait

Fashion photography has an influence that stretches beyond shooting fashion stories or adverts. Increasingly, we see extended photo essays about artists, actors, celebrities or notable people, shot by fashion photographers and styled with a fashion sensibility. This work is partly about analysing or magnifying aspects of the subject’s character, partly about expressing or applying the style of the photographer, and partly about crafting eye-catching and fashionable imagery that will charm, challenge or astonish its audience. This module is important because it will develop your identity as an artist, affording you space to express your unique style. It also has an analytical component, requiring you to develop a process for shooting portraits and encourages you to experiment with bold and innovative techniques to enhance and build upon your existing studio and lighting skills.

Core modules

Final Major Project Proposal

This module is your opportunity to bring together all of the skills and knowledge that you have gained throughout your time on this degree. You can tailor your own project and focus on the areas that interest you most and best support your career aspirations. This proposal forms the basis of your final major project, where you can experiment and develop your ideas through practical testing and research, while desighing a considered proposal for your final creative project. Throughout the module, you'll be supported with tutorials and group discussions to give you feedback and help you progress.

Dissertation

A key focus of the module will be on the written structure and production of a critical paper and presentation methods of a viva voce presentation, that will allow you to utilise the knowledge and analytical skills that you have acquired throughout your study on your course.

Professional Perspectives

In this module you will refine your awareness of current industry-practice and will be supported to consider the scope of fashion, photography and new media roles as well as your own career pathway. You'll learn how to develop an applied outcome to a professional standard and you'll also research areas of industry relevant to your areas of interest and look to develop your work to help move towards this area.

Final Major Project

The Final Major Project is the culmination of all of your work over the three years. It is an opportunity to express your individual style, your take on fashion photography and its many related areas, and the ethos and methodology you have been developing throughout your time on the course. This module is important because it establishes your professional portfolio. After your degree, it will be your final major project that potential employers and clients want to look at in order to determine your ability and your specialist interests.

Industry Placement

This is your opportunity to gain real world experience and an understanding of working in the creative economy. Engaging in a professional environment will boost your confidence while providing an insight into the various job roles available to you. As you transition from a student to a graduate working in the industry this will be an invaluable process and will help equip you for the exciting career paths ahead. During this period you are expected to complete a minimum 100 hours requirement in industry. The weeks can run consecutively or as a series of individual placements. If you are unable to complete or secure an industrial work placement an alternative industry-focused placement brief will be set.