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BA (Hons)
Undergraduate degree - single honours
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed under 'Typical offers' in the main column below. For combined courses, please check both subjects. If your qualification is not listed, please email admissions@bathspa.ac.uk with your specific details.
Fashion Photography at Bath Spa University gives you the space to explore, actively enquire, challenge and define the role of the photographic image in fashion. Alongside the development of your technical skills and understanding of visual language, you'll explore the critical and ethical challenges facing Fashion Photography in a contemporary and global context.
You'll have the opportunity to take part in numerous industry-focused projects to build your skills and experience of working professionally. Our emphasis on professional development exercises equip you with project management experience, knowledge of marketing and promotion, and advanced skills required in pitching for employment and commission.
The BA (Hons) Fashion Photography course is designed to develop professional fashion photographers in preparation for successful careers in the creative industries.
There are three main components to the course, all of which run in parallel: Identity, Industry, and Context.
Identity
The initial stages of the course encompass a broad knowledge and understanding of photography, fashion, design, collaboration and context, essential for any aspiring Fashion Photographer. We'll focus on your personal growth as a practitioner and help you identify your professional aspirations for employment/self-employment.
We place an emphasis on developing and advancing your practical skills and technical knowledge through an increasingly self-initiated, experimental and innovative programme of independent study.
Industry
The course is designed to ensure that you, as a graduate, can apply your knowledge and skills with innovation and integrity in a professional context. Through placement and industry-facing projects, you'll obtain a comprehensive understanding of the changing demands facing the Fashion and Photography industries.
Throughout all levels of your study you'll engage with industry partners, advance your skills in marketing and networking, become increasingly proficient in presentation, promotion and project management.
Context
We place focus on how the development of your increasingly sophisticated photographic portfolio is both critically and contextually understood. You'll engage with an in-depth theoretical study of still and moving imagery and the complex roles they both play within historical and contemporary society.
An emphasis is placed on the sustainable and ethical responsibilities you have as a globally conscious practitioner.
Year one
The course starts with an Introduction to Photography skills development. You'll gain an understanding of the principles of interpreting images, and the role a camera can play in establishing identity. You'll explore digital image production alongside analogue practices in our excellent Photography workshops and will be exposed to the variables at play when photographing on location and shooting within the studio.
Embedded within the development of technical skills is a grounding of photographic and fashion movements in a global context. This critical context for your study is established through an Introduction to Visual and Material Culture, Ideology, conceptual, historical, ethical and technical aspects of photographic and fashion practices. You'll explore the impact a fashion image can have in various digital or print forms by analysing the interpretation of images within different contexts.
Year two
You'll take part in independently-led research projects with a greater focus on industry collaboration. The course will require you to participate in lectures and seminars that are designed to establish the theoretical grounds in which your developing practice is located.
Alongside developing technical and image production skills to industry standard, you will begin to galvanise an understanding of the role your own practice plays within the world and within the fashion fraternity more specifically.
Year three
Your final year of study requires you to bring together the advancement of your technical and cognitive skills, alongside your gained experience of industry practices into a comprehensive portfolio of photographic work. This independent and innovative body of work will evidence self-initiated problem solving, an in-depth knowledge and understanding of your contemporary and critical awareness and will require you to regularly reassess your practice within cultural and social contexts verbally, practically and in written form.
Your study will end with a major professional project in the form of an exhibition.
Assessment is continual throughout the course, and depending on the module could take the form of a portfolio of photographic work, an exhibition, an online journal, essay or presentation.
The course delivery is varied and involves regular tutorials, technical workshops, lectures and seminars, as well as group critique. Alongside the development of your studio practice you will engage in critical and contextual forums, presentations and online learning.
Students within the programme have recently studied in Chicago and Madrid. Our Study Abroad and Erasmus exchange programmes offer opportunities to study in the USA, China, Norway, Spain, Italy and beyond.
From year one to three, you’ll have opportunities to participate in local and international field trips across the BA (Hons) Fashion Photography modules. Please note that you’ll have to pay for international study visits. Recent international field trip destinations have included New York and Iceland.
You'll have the opportunity to take part in numerous industry-led projects and collaborations. The course works closely with a variety of businesses and organisations with regular opportunity for you to work on live project briefs, participate in work experience, and collaborate with a wide range of industry practitioners. Bath School of Art has affiliation with numerous associations such as the Royal Photographic Society and Fox Talbot Museum, Tate, The Freelands Foundation, Hauser and Wirth and The Fashion Museum in Bath.
The breadth of the course will equip graduates with the skills to pursue portfolio careers. You will gain experience to thrive in a shifting and fluid context – whether working for employers or as freelancers.
There are numerous awards and scholarships available to Bath School of Art students. For example:
Our Art and Design courses are based at our Locksbrook, Sion Hill and Newton Park campuses.
Our Locksbrook campus offers exceptional industry-level facilities. These include PC and Mac computer suites, extensive analogue photographic dark and developing rooms, lighting studios, a digital image manipulation workshop and extensive printing facility.
You’ll benefit from access to:
Our new Locksbrook Campus is truly a unique and inspirational space, providing a state-of-the-art learning environment for you to flourish. Located next to the River Avon in Bath city centre, the open-plan building has technical workshops surrounded by open, flexible studio spaces, as well as large, open social areas.
Please note: Students from the EU, EEA and Switzerland are no longer eligible for the UK (Home) fee status. Please refer to the international student rate.
Year 1 | £9,250 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
Year 1 | £15,530 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2022 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 1 | Published Jan 2023 |
Year 2 | Published Jan 2024 |
Year 3 | Published Jan 2025 |
During the placement year, the fee is reduced to 20% of the full time fee. Otherwise, fees are the same as for full time study. This applies to UK, EU and International students.
We’re looking for highly motivated individuals who have a deep sense of curiosity and willingness to learn. You should be organised, self-motivated and disciplined.
We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry to our undergraduate programmes. The main ones are listed below:
English Language Requirements for International and EU Applicants
IELTS 6.0 - for visa nationals, with a minimum score of IELTS 5.5 in each element.
Course enquiries
For further information about the programme or entry requirements, please email us at admissions@bathspa.ac.uk.
Interested in applying? Please send any queries to admissions@bathspa.ac.uk.
Need more guidance? Head to our how to apply pages.
As an applicant you will be invited by email to interview and will be required to bring a high quality portfolio in support of your application. Portfolios should demonstrate your passion and motivation. We recommend that you present an edited selection of your most successful photographic work at interview. Print presentation is recommended and should be accompanied by evidence of your research and working methods, for example, process journals and research folders.
International students are required to submit a digital portfolio of recent work to accompany your online application. Digital portfolios will be reviewed by our academic team and in most cases we will ask you to attend an interview over the telephone or via the internet within a few weeks of submitting your application. Digital portfolios should demonstrate your passion and motivation. We recommend that you present an edited selection of your most successful photographic work at interview. Evidence of your research and working methods, for example, images taken from your journals/sketchbook and research folders are recommended in your digital submission.
Admissions service: admissions@bathspa.ac.uk
Course enquiries: Kellie Hindmarch
Email: k.hindmarch@bathspa.ac.uk
Website feedback to web@bathspa.ac.uk