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BA (Hons)

Documentary Photography

Find the stories that need to be told on this dedicated documentary photography course. You’ll learn the practical skills to not only produce the images, but to be in control of all elements of the process, using our state-of-the-art production suites, darkrooms and fabrication studios.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    7G84

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,000*

  • International students

    £14,950*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

Follow your passions to document real people and important issues on this practical and engaging documentary photography course.

DESIGNED FOR

Do you have a passion for social issues and storytelling? Documentary photography is all about real life and inspiring change. Explore the world, driven by curiosity and a passion for travel. Learn fine-print, photobooks, exhibition production, digital storytelling, documentary filmmaking, and more.

Career Paths

  • Freelance Photographer 
  • Photojournalist 
  • Picture Editor 
  • Filmmaker 
  • Photobook Designer

Skills taught

  • Project research and story origination
  • Sequencing and editing
  • Technical camera and production skills
  • Business and freelancing skills

Course Highlights

Mentorship

Personal mentoring to produce powerful and visually distinctive photography about issues you’re passionate about.

Experimentation

Explore fine-print and photobook making, exhibition production, digital storytelling and documentary filmmaking.

Employability

With a wide practical curriculum, you’ll develop commercially desirable industry skills to go in-depth on any topic.

Satisfied students

90% of USW Documentary Photography students were satisfied with their course (National Students Survey 2024)

Staff sat in front of a red backdrop in a photography studio smiling

Module Overview

Our modules are focused on documentary photography from the outset, to give you scope to explore all aspects of this exciting genre. Develop your storytelling abilities as you document social issues that are important to you, while exploring relevant ethical and legal considerations.

Expect to get hands-on from day one, with practical content to help you learn the necessary  skills to access stories you are passionate about Small classes, field trips and individual support all feature in your first year to get you off to the best start for your career.

What is Documentary?  

You’ll explore documentary photography on field trips and dive into collaborative projects, including technical training using a range of cameras and printing facilities.

Photographer as Observer  

Explore the social issue of your choice while learning how to create and select images with clarity and impact.

The Narrative  

Research your own topic and get out-and-about making photographs. Experiment with formats and cameras while learning sequencing, editing and structuring long-form documentary stories.

Digital Storytelling  

Experiment with styles, ranging from journalistic documentary to experimental filmmaking, while learning moving-image, sound recording, interview techniques, and editing skills.

Documentary Themes  

Use our world-leading library collection to discover the most exciting and important photographers . Explore the debates and challenges that shape photography.

Documentary Contexts  

Build your research skills by exploring documentary photography’s role in social change and advocacy. Consider its potential to highlight topics such as race, the environmental crisis and gender.

Specialising in ‘long form’ documentary photography gives you scope to work on ideas you’re passionate about over extended periods. Live projects and workshops include design and production of professional exhibitions, photobook design and location lighting.

Framing Documentary (Exhibition Production)  

Choose your topic and process to forge a distinctive path as a contemporary photographer. Originate, design, frame and install a professsional exhibition.

Documentary and the Publication (Photobook Production) 
Build storytelling skills as you design, scale and sequence your images for publication. Learn to print, construct, and bind photobooks.

Documentary Industries 

Build your knowledge and experience of industry and develop skills that are essential to market and promote your work in this business and careers focussed module

Research for Practice and Dissertation

Connect critical theories from photography, fashion, film, art and advertising to how you make, describe and rationalise your practice.

 25% of this module can be studied in Welsh

Put theory into professional practice in your final year, during which many students travel internationally to produce their portfolios. You’ll create one or two ambitious bodies of work and respond to a live professional brief to prepare you for a sparkling career in the photographic industry.

Negotiated Practices  

Start to develop a big idea for your project portfolio. Use all your skills and our facilities to work on a live brief to set timescales, honing your professional abilities.

Project Portfolio Development (Final Portfolio Production)  

Follow your passions to create your final portfolio to be showcased in our graduation events, exhibitions and/or for publication.

Preparation for Industry  

Expand your understanding of key foundations of business practice, creative strategies, marketing and distribution networks through industry-based research.

25% of this module can be studied in Welsh

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS Points: 104 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: BCC to include a relevant art and design subject
  • Welsh BACC: Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C/B in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CC at A Level with a relevant art and design subject
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit in a relevant subject 
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 104 UCAS tariff points

Additional Requirements:

GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch and we'd to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£9,000

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£14,950

per year*

Further Information

Home / EU / International: £7385 per course

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Obligatory

Digital SLR or Mirrorless Camera with interchangeable lens option – this to start the academic year and to be used as main camera for production

Cost: £250 - £1000

Year 01 UK trip (All trips are subject to change and viability in relation to student numbers)

Cost: £170-200

Year 02 Network events 

Cost: £300 - £400

Cost of printing papers/film etc. over a three year period

Cost: £1000 - £1500

PC or Mac computer capable of image and video editing and storage/processing of images

Cost: £400-£1500

Costs of producing final year publication and fabrication of graduate show work- cost is dependent on nature of work and aim of student regarding next step in career/employability

Cost: £100-£600

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

Our course is one of the leading documentary photography and photojournalism courses in the world. Your Documentary Photography degree immerses you in practical modules, using a wide range of equipment and specialist facilities, including access to our internationally important photobook library. Expect to be out observing the world, camera in hand, creating projects, and following your passions.

You'll learn through lectures, smaller seminars, and group and individual projects to teach you theory and help you apply it. You’ll receive dedicated guidance and support but will also be expected to work independently and manage your time.

Teaching staff

Our diverse team has worked in industry and academia, spanning the professional and theoretical aspects of documentary photography. From international documentary-makers to people experienced in curation and magazine photography, we have experience in all aspects of documentary photography and will connect this to how you learn.

Whether it’s using a specialist piece of equipment from our incredible equipment stores, to teaching you photobook-binding skills, your tutors will be hands-on while helping you hone your craft. We’re always available to discuss your next big idea and to help you tell the story you want to tell.

Placements and work experience

Documentary photography is all about real life. As a practical course, you’ll work on live briefs to produce a wide range of projects and build your portfolio.

Our collaboration with Transport for Wales on the Station to Station project has seen students travel on two of Wales’ best-known railway lines to document everyday life in the South Wales valleys. This is one of a number of opportunities to work on live and important projects to tell stories and document social issues.

Facilities

Complete the full lifecycle of a photography project at USW with our editing, printing, binding and fabrication facilities. Borrow equipment from our large range of the latest pro cameras (including digital medium format 6x7) and battery-powered lighting rigs to support your projects. For inspiration and research, access one of the biggest and best specialist photobook libraries in Europe – we’ve been collecting since 1973.

From industry-leading analogue black and white and colour darkrooms to bespoke digital photography suites with colour-corrected Mac workstations, and multiple virtual drum scanners, our facilities are first-class.

“I'VE LEARNED SO MUCH. MY PHOTOGRAPHY HAS EVOLVED BEYOND WHATEVER I COULD IMAGINE. SEEING MY WORK UP ON A WALL FEELS INCREDIBLE!”

Ross Gardner

Top in Wales for assessment in Film Production and Photography (Guardian University Guide 2024)

90% of BA (Hons) Documentary Photography students at USW were satisfied with their course. (National Student Survey 2024)

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Graduates from this course go on to diverse careers as commissioned photojournalists for world leading magazines like the New York Times, National Geographic, and Time Magazine, or work with prestigious news agencies such as The Associated Press. Others become photographic artists, publishing photobooks and exhibiting at prestigious galleries like Tate Modern and events like the Venice Biennale. Many have earned international awards.

Alumni also work as picture editors and researchers for magazines like GQ and institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery. There’s also the option to pursue a PhD or research degree.

Careers support

You’ll have access to advice from the Careers and Employability Service throughout your studies and after you graduate. This includes one-to-one appointments with a faculty-based career adviser and extensive online resources for help with considering career options and presenting yourself well to employers. Resources include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, an interview simulator and application help. Our employer database has over 2,000 registered employers targeting USW students and students can receive weekly job email alerts.

Industry partners

The course has strong ties with industry in Wales, including Ffotogallery, the National Museum of Wales, and extends to the wider UK and international scenes. Recently, students have had the chance to be mentored by Magnum agency photographers, international curators, and experts from the National Portrait Gallery.