Fashion Photography (Top-up) - BA (Hons)

More about this course

The Fashion Photography (Top-up) BA degree channels aesthetic understanding and creative development through industry-linked project briefs. 

As a final year student you'll also have the opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in depth in the honours-level dissertation. Our dissertation students all belong to a themed dissertation studio that offers a supportive group context for planning and writing your dissertation, and specific academic tutoring about how to manage the project.

Keep up to date with the course on our Instagram and check out Eight Magazine, an online publication set up by our students to showcase their work.

Assessment

There are no exams on this course. Instead, you'll be assessed through practical and written coursework. You’ll be given valuable verbal and written feedback as your work progresses.

Entry requirements

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have one of the following:

• 240 credits from a Higher National Diploma (HND), Foundation Degree (FdA/ FdSc) or equivalent international qualification in a relevant subject
• 240 credits from years 1 and 2 of an undergraduate degree (BA/BSc) in a relevant subject at a different institution
• a portfolio interview

We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications. We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Portfolios and interviews

Your portfolio should be selective, but have enough work to show a range of your interests and talents. We are interested in seeing how you develop a project from beginning to end, not only finished work.

If you cannot bring certain pieces of your work to your portfolio interview, please take photographs and include them.

Physical portfolio

If you are coming in person to your interview we strongly suggest bringing a physical portfolio of work.

Things to bring:

• Sketchbooks – we love to see your sketchbooks with ideas and notes, even if they are messy.
• Examples of the development of a project from start to finish and the final outcome.
• Some work that you are really proud of and want to talk about.
• Some work that shows you experimenting with different processes.

Digital portfolio

If you are submitting an online application, please follow these guidelines.

Things to include:

• Scans or photographs demonstrating items from the list above.
• Storyboarding for motion-based work.
• Also include scans of sketchbook pages showing development.
• Be sure to check the resolution and overall quality of your image to ensure submissions are not pixelated.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

English language requirements

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Modular structure

The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.

Year 3 modules include:

Critical and Contextual Studies: Dissertation (Photography and Fashion Photography) (core, 30 credits)

This module currently runs:

• autumn semester - Wednesday morning
• autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon

Critical and Contextual Studies: Dissertation in Level 6 offers you an opportunity to develop a sustained enquiry into a topic you choose because it particularly interests you. Building on critical and academic skills gained during two years of previous study, the module encourages you to develop an awareness of issues around which there is some debate, uncertainty or contest. Based on this awareness, you will develop a set of research questions which constitute the topic of your study. This topic can be theoretical, historical, or technical and you may, with guidance, decide to engage with an area of scholarly interest outside the territory of your degree course.

You will develop your topic and respond to your research questions in the form of an extended critical study or Dissertation (6,000–7,000 words). Through this study you demonstrate that you can thoroughly research a topic, use appropriate methods of investigation, and work in a methodical and organised way to develop a coherent argument or line of thought. Teaching and Learning on the module is designed to support you in this process through a combination of seminars, workshops, academic skill sessions and one-to-one supervision; as well as a series of formative and summative assessments which prepare you for the final submission.

The final form and presentation of your Dissertation can reflect a broad range of approaches to research and writing. It may include visual materials or other non-written forms of presentation as long they support your enquiry and comprise an integral part of the whole. By prior approval at the start of the module, your research can be part practice-based, and include primary research and fieldwork.

By virtue of the sustained, independent nature of the learning and substantial final output, the dissertation is also intended to prepare you for possible postgraduate study

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Looking and Making 3 (core, 30 credits)

This module currently runs:

• all year (September start) - Monday morning

The PH6001 LOOKING AND MAKING 3 module consists of seminars, talks, visits and workshops. Students build on the critical and thematic basis for their personal creative, critical and contextual practice explored and expanded at Level 5.

Within this module students are required to both build and consolidate a contextual and creative framework for their practice as well as critically evaluating their wider research and creative interests in order to place and understand their own practice within photography as a contemporary discourse.

In investigating Looking and Making 3, the module will require students to consolidate and develop ideas that reflect upon trends in current practice as well as historical models. Case studies and seminar sessions with practitioners are intended to encourage engagement with and understanding of photographic practices. Students will explore these both through open ended research as well as practical making.

The module is shared by, serves and sustains the Honours awards in the BA Fashion Photography and BA Photography courses, delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core modules in the level.

Allied to Critical and Contextual Studies modules, the intention is for PH6001 LOOKING AND MAKING 3 to form the basis of the students creative, critical and contextual framework for their practice.

The module aims to enable students to apply key skills and knowledge in critical thinking as well as in the concepts and principles of photography. The module also aims to provide students with information about Looking and Making for later recall in the application of critical thinking for the building of the practical, conceptual and contextual
boundaries within which they then create and make their own work as future creative sector professionals.

This element of the curriculum also aims to develop the key skill of understanding the use of critical reflection in order to connect learning experience, successes and challenges to the improvement of future performance

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Major Project (core, 30 credits)

This module currently runs:

• all year (September start) - Thursday morning

Focusing on the students’ photographic and creative practice, the PH6000 Major Project module provides an opportunity for students to create a substantial final major body of work based on their individual creative identity and aligning to their aspirations for their future careers within the creative sector. In Semester 1, presentations, workshops, tutorials, group critiques and seminars support students to develop a proposal and plan outlining research and experimentation in order to initiate the substantial Final Major Body of Work.

The module requires students to critically consider their work in relation to method, medium and meaning, with reference to relevant theory, as well as traditional and contemporary practices. It aims to enable students to apply and consolidate key skills of interpretation and knowledge in the development of individual photographic practice and creative individual identity. Through critically evaluated research and testing, students demonstrate the application of the key skills acquired in the other subject specific modules in order to create a resolved Final Major Body of Work.

The module PH6000 Major Project is shared by, serves and sustains the awards in the BA Fashion Photography and BA Photography courses, delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core modules being studied in the level, including the Critical and Contextual Studies modules.

Students are encouraged to act as critical and independent learners, taking increasing responsibility for the progress of their project work.

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Professional Practice 2: Fashion Photography (core, 30 credits)

This module currently runs:

• all year (September start) - Monday afternoon

The module PH6003 Professional Practice 2: Fashion Photography serves and sustains the award in the BA Fashion Photography course only, delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core modules being studied in the level, including the Critical and Contextual Studies modules.

Students are expected to synthesise and consolidate the experience and knowledge gained over the course, contextualising own practice within photographic frameworks such as commissions, publications, competitions, exhibitions. Students will explore career paths and outline how to continue to develop in a professional capacity, employing a range of subject-specific and transferable skills in communication, negotiation, analysis, project planning and project management.

The module supports students in acquiring coherent and detailed knowledge of specific skills in the business of fashion photography, becoming able to deploy critical thinking with accuracy in outlining a business plan, setting up a career and obtaining clients for their photography. A key objective of the module is to foster in students an understanding of the ethical obligations they have towards clients, models, colleagues on any fashion shoot and in any business dealings.

The module also aims to provide students with an understanding of marketing to develop a wider public and new audiences for fashion photography, with a view to creating and updating a sustainable legacy of fashion photography career assets to aid employability.

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Where this course can take you

At a time when the skills of flexible working are in demand, photography graduates are well-positioned to succeed in the contemporary world of work.

Completion of the Fashion Photography (Top-up) BA degree will equip you with all the skills and knowledge needed to work in roles such as picture editing, post-production, fashion and editorial photography, art galleries, magazines, modelling agencies, picture libraries and in technical and creative industries.

Careers open to graduates of this course include fashion and the visual arts as freelance or in-house photographers, magazine editors, art directors, media and advertising professionals as well as careers in further and higher education.

You could also progress to further study at MA and PhD level.

Important information about this course

We're committed to continuously improving our degree courses to ensure our students receive the best possible learning experience. Many of the courses in our School of Art, Architecture and Design are currently under review for 2023-24 entry. We encourage you to apply as outlined in the how to apply section of this page and if there are any changes to your course we will contact you. All universities review their courses regularly and this year we are strengthening our art, architecture and design courses to better reflect the needs of employers and ensure you're well-equipped for your future career.

Additional costs

Please note, in addition to the tuition fee there may be additional costs for things like equipment, materials, printing, textbooks, trips or professional body fees.

Additionally, there may be other activities that are not formally part of your course and not required to complete your course, but which you may find helpful (for example, optional field trips). The costs of these are additional to your tuition fee and the fees set out above and will be notified when the activity is being arranged.

Stay up to date

Follow our School of Art, Architecture and Design on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with everything that's happening in our creative community.

For an insight into what our fashion photography students have been up to, you can also follow their journey on Instagram @fashionphoto_ldnmetarts.

When to apply

The University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) accepts applications for full-time courses starting in September from one year before the start of the course. Our UCAS institution code is L68.

If you will be applying direct to the University you are advised to apply as early as possible as we will only be able to consider your application if there are places available on the course.