Photography MA
Subject and course type
- Creative Arts
- Postgraduate
Create compelling visual content. Kingston University’s bespoke Photography MA course will support you as an artist, giving you the skills and knowledge you need for a successful career in industry.
You’ll explore photography as an expanded, interdisciplinary practice. Disciplines studied include analogue, digital, new media, technology, still and moving image, installation, performance for camera and archive engagements.
You are reading:
Catch eyes and captivate imaginations
With its focus on contemporary issues and social theories, this course will help you develop transferable production and post-production skills.
Studying this masters in Photography at Kingston University is the perfect opportunity to develop your practice as a lens-based media artist.
During this course, you'll communicate and develop ideas, think independently about a wide range of practices, and reflect on the technological, political, environmental and social role of photography.
You’ll graduate with the specialist skills you need to work professionally as an artist, photographer, filmmaker and more.
At the end of your studies, you’ll showcase your work with a final exhibition and public showcase – a great resource for demonstrating your abilities to prospective employers and clients.
Being part of the MA Fine Art Photography course at Kingston University offered me a completely new view of what photography can do. I learnt just how versatile the medium is and how it can raise issues and awareness and express particular outlooks. Being a student at Kingston was - to me - not just a great introduction into the art industries, but also a huge asset for my own professional practice.
Student work
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Doris Himmelbauer
My Summer 2015 Book
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Juan S Ochoa
Self-portrait, Bogota 1993
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Karina Holland
Tallest Woman in the World, 2015
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Marta Szalyga
Untitled, 2017
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Marta Szalyga
Untitled, 2017
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Francesco Rocchi
Beauty Masks, 2017
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Francesco Rocchi
Shaped, 2017
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Francesco Rocchi
Shaped (portrait), 2017
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Michel Gnahoua
Wax Hollandais, 2017
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Michel Gnahoua
Wax Hollandais, 2017
Why choose this course
While you study, you’ll benefit from top quality teaching at Kingston University. Not only are we ranked Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework, we also provide a richly supportive environment with input from internationally recognised artists, photographers, curators and writers.
University museums and galleries
Kingston University has two on-site galleries, which offer exciting opportunities for career progression. Grade II-listed Dorich House is the former home of the sculptor Dora Gordine, while the Stanley Picker Gallery is one of the UK’s leading university galleries. Our Knights Park campus also has a bookable project space for large-scale exhibitions.
Workshops and studios
Explore, collaborate and share ideas in our state-of-the-art workshop facilities, designed by Stirling Prize-winning studio, Haworth Tompkins. Facilities are open to all Kingston University students, and include:
- 3D workshops, with spaces for ceramics, concrete, resin-casting, plastics, metalwork, woodwork, bronze-casting foundry, set design and large scale model making
- Animation and post-production studios
- A digital media workshop
- Knitting and sewing workshops with digital and analogue facilities, plus a working dress archive including from 1750 to the present day
- A HackSpace for collaborative, creative, solutions-focused projects
- A letterpress and printmaking workshop
- A moving image workshop, with studios, an editing suite and industry-standard equipment
- A fully-equipped photography workshop
The Art School Experience
As part of Kingston School of Art, students on this course benefit from joining a creative community where we encourage collaborative working and critical practice.
Our workshops and studios are open to all disciplines, enabling students and staff to work together, share ideas and explore multi-disciplinary making.
Course content
This research-led course engages with the photographic in its widest sense (analogue and digital, new media and technology, still and moving image, installation, performance and engagements with the archive).
You will have access to all Kingston School of Art's workshops and be encouraged to experiment with the photographic in new and innovative ways as an artist.
Modules
The key emphasis of this course is on supporting and developing the direction of your practice led-research through tutorials, presentations, and regular seminar discussions where you will be taught how to research and conceptualise your work.
The range of critical theory extends across dialogical aesthetics, ethnography, post-colonial theory, globalisation, environmentalism, social justice issues, queer theory and gender-based debates, privacy and surveillance, politics of the internet and technological aspects of the photographic medium.
You'll take three modules, worth a total of 180 credits.
Core modules
30 credits
Critical Theory in Photography and Visual Culture enables students to develop an independent and critical approach to photography and artistic practices.
Photographic theory is understood here as enquiry across the broad field of photo-culture. Students will be introduced to concerns that include (but are not limited to): racial politics, rapid environmental damage, surveillance, and technological growth under late capitalism. Students will be encouraged to consider how photography and the photographic process are entangled in these contemporary concerns and will use them to develop a critical context for their developing practice.
Students' enquiries and analysis of the field of photography and visual culture are developed through seminars and presentations by staff and students. Students' knowledge and critical skills are assessed through the submission of a 3000-4000 word written essay and a verbal research presentation.
Guidance is given to help students identify key texts related to the concerns within their practice and how to present to the group within a seminar format.
Students' insights about their practice are advanced and confidence in speaking about their work built by requiring that each student give an artist's talk as an 8–10-minute presentation, based on their research and the historical and contemporary frameworks relevant to their emerging practice.
Students are encouraged to engage with practices and concepts in contemporary photographic discourse that are relevant to their interests by identifying their field of context and setting their research objectives and particular trajectories concerning their own photographic/artistic practice.
60 credits
Students will focus on professional practice activities supported by site visits, tutorials, group seminars, critiques and informal presentations that deepen their understanding of how their work and artistic profile can be situated within a contemporary professional framework.
Photography in context is designed to support creative photo-practice by engaging students with a diverse range of practical and professional skills, approaches to planning, producing, exhibiting, and disseminating photographs – across expanded definitions of the photographic.
Initial skills acquisition and key inductions will take place in analogue and digital resources and processes, studio and lighting workshops and different camera formats as well as access to screen printing, animation and moving image and the 3D workshops.
Seminars cover professional development in regard to both the private and public sector including an understanding of the processes necessary to initiate and realise projects (such as liaison, cost implications, fund-raising, developing and presenting proposals, and collaborative working structures) and relevant skills to disseminate ideas and documents of work.
90 credits
Expanded Photography Practices enables students to realise a body of photographic-based work that is coherent, innovative, conceptually resolved and technically competent, for physical and/or digital exhibition and publication.
This module culminates in the presentation of a body of work with an emphasis on research, production and process and the ability of the student to position their work within the wider context of photography and contemporary art. Students are also required to submit a publication online (this may be digital, or documentation of a physical publication), and a 150-300 word artist's statement which serves as an introduction to the body of work for audiences.
Students conceive and develop a substantial body of work through self-initiated research supported by a combination of tutorials, group seminars, critiques, and informal presentations.
Students gain through experience a mature, discursive approach that develops a critical and theoretical framework to contextualise their practice, as well as advancing their editing and production skill in assembling a sophisticated body of work. Students will be encouraged to consider the expansive context of the photographic and will be supported to develop a practice that is in line with the rapidly changing and diverse field of photography.
Career opportunities
You’ll complete this course with the creative and technical skills needed to become a professional artist, photographer, filmmaker or curator. Some graduates have even gone on to work in higher education, editorial and fashion.
The Visible Institute research group
Our departmental research group, Visible Institute (VI), develops practice-based research, discursive frameworks and a culture of innovation focused on film and photography.
VI explores still and moving image alongside a range of intersecting themes. From expanding genre definitions to promoting engagement with documents and archives, the group’s role is to keep our projects and practice-based media informed, inclusive and diverse.
VI research themes include:
- Haptics: touch, sense and contact
- Archive and the junction between documentary and fiction
- Transfiguration, mythology, ethnography
- Political, social, ethnicity, poetic, participatory
- Ecology, landscape, life-worlds
- Species discourses and film ethics
- Philosophy, psychoanalysis, hauntology and the image
- The animated cusp of still and moving image
- Science and lens-based media
- Pioneers: the genesis of film and photography
Student work
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Gary Childs
Mirror Of The Unseen, 2017
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Gary Childs
Mirror Of The Unseen, 2017
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Gary Childs
Mirror Of The Unseen, 2017
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Susan Benson
Return to Dust, 2017
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Susan Benson
Return to Dust, 2017
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Susan Benson
Return to Dust, 2017
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Sean Wyatt
Between two bridges, 2016
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Sean Wyatt
Between two bridges, 2016
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Sean Wyatt
Between two bridges, 2016
Teaching and assessment
You'll be assessed through photographic practice, research portfolios, blogs, essays and oral presentations.
When not attending timetabled sessions, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This typically involves reading and analysing articles, regulations, policy documents and key texts, documenting individual projects, preparing coursework assignments and completing your PEDRs, etc.
Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, the library and CANVAS, the University's online virtual learning platform.
At Kingston University, we know that postgraduate students have particular needs and therefore we have a range of support available to help you during your time here.
A course is made up of modules, and each module is worth a number of credits. You must pass a given number of credits in order to achieve the award you registered on, for example 360 credits for a typical undergraduate course or 180 credits for a typical postgraduate course. The number of credits you need for your award is detailed in the programme specification which you can access from the link at the bottom of this page.
One credit equates to 10 hours of study. Therefore 180 credits across a year (typical for a postgraduate course) would equate to 1,800 notional hours. These hours are split into scheduled and guided. On this course, the percentage of that time that will be scheduled learning and teaching activities is shown below. The remainder is made up of guided independent study.
- 19% scheduled learning and teaching
The exact balance between scheduled learning and teaching and guided independent study will be informed by the modules you take.
Your course will primarily be delivered in person. It may include delivery of some activities online, either in real time or recorded.
Assessment typically comprises a written dissertation and practical work with presentations/exhibitions, blogs, portfolios and critical reflective statements. The approximate percentage for how you will be assessed on this course is as follows:
- Coursework: 93%
- Practical: 7%
We aim to provide feedback on assessments within 20 working days.
To give you an indication of class sizes, this course normally enrols 15–25 students.
Most taught sessions are 15–25 students. However, some lectures are shared with other courses, which can total between 30–90 students.
Fees and funding
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £13,500 |
| Part Time | £7,425 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £22,800 |
| Part Time | £12,540 |
| Fee category | Fee |
|---|---|
| Home (UK students) | |
| Full Time | £12,900 |
| Part Time | £7,095 |
| International | |
| Full Time | £21,900 |
| Part Time | £12,045 |
Funding support for postgraduate students
If you are a UK student living in England and under 60, you can apply for a loan to study for a postgraduate degree on the government's website.
Scholarships and bursaries
Interested in studying an MA in Photography at Kingston? The following funding support is available:
The Inspire the Future Scholarship offers a 40% reduction in fees for taught masters or postgraduate diploma courses with September start dates. 20 scholarships are available for progressing Kingston University graduates.
For more information on how to apply for this scholarship, visit the Inspire the Future Scholarship page.
International postgraduate students could receive up to £5,000 towards tuition in their first year of study.
For more information on how to apply for these scholarships, visit the International Scholarship page.
If you are a Kingston University 2024/25 undergraduate progressing to a 2025/26 postgraduate degree (taught or research), you could get a 15% reduction in tuition fees.
For more information on how to apply for this scholarship, visit the Postgraduate Progression Scholarship page.
Kingston University offers a 10% discount on full and part-time postgraduate degree course tuition fees to our alumni.
For more information on how to apply for this discount, visit our alumni discount page.
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
Our libraries have an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as open-access computers and laptops available to rent. However, you may want to buy your own computer or personal copies of key textbooks. Textbooks may range from £50 to £250 per year. And a personal computer can range from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.
While most coursework is submitted online, some modules may require printed copies. You may want to allocate up to £100 per year for hard-copies of your coursework. It’s worth noting that 3D printing is never compulsory. So if you choose to use our 3D printers, you’ll need to pay for the material. This ranges from 3p per gram to 40p per gram.
You will have access to a range of facilities and resources while you study, but will need to purchase some art materials. Costs can range from £100 to £1000 depending on the project. Your tutors will advise you about specialist equipment, and exact prices might vary. Be assured that your academic performance won’t be affected by how much you spend on your final project.
Kingston University will pay for all compulsory field trips. Fees for optional trips can range from £25 for local trips to various costs for international trips.
Your tuition fees don’t cover travel costs. To save on travel costs, you can use our free intersite bus service. This route links the campuses and halls of residence with local train stations - Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames, and Norbiton.
If you take part in external shows and exhibitions, you’ll need to cover your travel costs. These will vary according to the location.
Student work
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Hazel Davies
Polaroid Manipulations
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Lin Y Lei
Untitled, 2016
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Lin Y Lei
Untitled, 2016
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Jiaheng Cao
Untitled, 2016
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Leonida Crisafi
Untitled, 2014
How to apply
Before you apply
Please read the entry criteria carefully to make sure you meet all requirements before applying.
How to apply online
Use the course selector drop down at the top of this page to choose your preferred course, start date and mode, then click 'Apply now'. You will be taken to our Online Student Information System (OSIS) where you will complete your application.
If you’re starting a new application, you’ll need to select ‘new user’ and set up a username and password. This will allow you to save and return to your application.
Application deadlines
We encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Applications will close when the course is full.
After you apply
If the admission tutor wants to see your portfolio, we will email asking you to upload your zipped portfolio to the OSIS portal within three weeks. If we need more information or want to invite you for an interview, we will be in touch directly. After that you will then hear whether your application has been successful.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
What our students and graduates say
Since graduating, I've worked for high-end fashion brands like Trussardi, Ray Ban, Armani, Levi's and Guess. I do worldwide campaigns almost every month and I have also started to work as a photo-reporter, collaborating with the National Geographic here in Italy.
Many of us arrived with narrow and restrictive views of what photography is, but we had ample opportunities to stretch our imaginations and develop and test out our visual ideas. The course leader supported each of us to work from our authentic concerns and interests through group and one-to-one tutorials. It was transformative.
