About Photography BA (hons) in Coventry University

In a fast-changing 24-hour multimedia landscape, where everyone with a camera phone is a photographer, our graduates stand out for their creativity, professionalism and critical understanding of the photographic medium. Our continually evolving course is 4th in the UK for Film production & Photography (Guardian University Guide 2020).

Our continually evolving course is directly informed by input from the world’s leading photographers, editors and curators.  Through a dynamic programme of study, we will work with you to develop your individual creative ability, technical skills, critical knowledge and professional experience, to establish a career using photography as a tool for creative expression and visual communication. 

Why Coventry University?

An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.

Course information

The course is designed to be highly motivating to students – the teaching and learning activities are conceived to have clear relevance to your future career. We will focus on the development of problem solving, reflective practice, critical thinking, technical and practical skills related to photographic practice.

From the outset, we will develop your technical skills and teach you to understand what it is to situate yourself within a professional photographic environment. We’ll introduce you to wider thematic questions and encourage critical thinking about the medium so you’re better equipped to think as an informed image-maker. You will develop your understanding of visual communications within the context of different industries, ranging from fashion photography through to fine art.

Together, we will question and explore all the latest developments in photography – recently this has included data mining, geotagging, gif making, glitching, distributed authorship, archives, hypertext navigation, collaborative photographic practices and much more.

Throughout the course, we invite the international photography community into our classroom, enabling you to engage directly with the industry. You’ll work on projects on location and in the studio, developing high levels of competence using industry-standard cameras, lenses, lighting equipment and editing software in the digital darkrooms.

Career prospects

Like all of our creative courses, Photography is very much practice-led and informed by research and critical thinking. Throughout your course, you will be encouraged to develop projects that enable you to determine which fields you wish to specialise in, while at the same time building a portfolio of work which will stand out from the crowd.

We benefit from the department’s longstanding relationships with regional, national and international media producers, galleries and museums, including the BBC, Birmingham Open Media, GRAIN, The Photographers’ Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery, Photofusion, and Belfast Exposed Photography.

As well as having the option of a year-long work placement as part of a sandwich year, you also have an opportunity for shorter self-initiated placements. Coventry University BA Photography students have worked with photographers as far afield as New York, with such luminaries as Annie Leibovitz, GQ and Vogue photographer Chris Floyd, World Press Award winner Peter Dench, Simon Roberts and Martin Parr.

To celebrate the culmination of students’ studies with us, we produce a Degree Show every year, showcasing the best of their work. This is an important platform for graduates as professionals from across the industries of photography are invited to view the exhibition and receive copies of its accompanying catalogue. The Degree Show is also an important opportunity to host portfolio reviews with high profile industry experts, picture editors, curators, and commissioners. In the past, we have invited experts from a vast array of organisations, including: Magnum; Photofusion; 1000 Words; Victoria and Albert Museum; Photocaptionist; The New Statesman; The Sunday Times; The Photographers’ Gallery; GRAIN; and Photomonitor to review portfolios.

Our Creative Futures employment team is on hand to offer tailored career and enterprise support if you wish to gain employment or take advantage of professional practice opportunities within course specific industries. It provides specialist careers information, advice and guidance to all our students from their first year through to final year and beyond graduation, helping them achieve their desired career outcome. Our dedicated enterprise officers also offer valuable assistance on how to begin as a freelancer/entrepreneur.

Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market. The University's Careers and Employability team provide a wide range of support services to help you plan and prepare for your career.

100% of students in work or further study six months after finishing this course

Where our graduates work

Graduates from this course have gone on to work as freelance photographers, visual artists, picture editors, curators, archivists, researchers, writers, gallery and museum educators, art therapists, and teachers.

Our International Student Hub offers information on entry requirements for your country, as well as contact details for agents and representatives should you need more advice.

English as a Foreign Language: This course requires IELTS 6.0. Pre-sessional English is available if required.

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