Make Life Through a Lens a Reality

There’s something very special about capturing a real-world moment in time and reproducing it so that it can be viewed again and again. Photography, for some, represents their opportunity to immerse themselves in the world around them, to become one with the elements and the humanity that surrounds them and to create their version of the truth. For others, life behind a camera is the chance to push at the boundaries of reality, to challenge preconceptions and to play with light and processing techniques to create something other-worldly; For you, it could be both and even more with a photography degree, helping your passion become a career

Mirror, Mirror

Does photography change the way we view the world that we live in? Often, photography can define an epoch; think back to the celebrity shots of the 1960s that created the paparazzi, a protester defying tanks in Tiananmen Square, Beijing or Arthur Sasse’s picture of Albert Einstein on his 72^nd birthday with his tongue sticking out.   

By choosing to study photography at university, you’re able to harness your creative talent and develop it within a formal framework that will help you to understand what type of photographer you are and how you can best realise your potential.

Where Could Photography Take You?

…And where should you learn to draw the line and put the camera down. Our degree will help you to unpack your creative potential, but it will also help you to operate within the legislative, environmental and ethical constraints around you. While photographers can and do capture the entirety of the human condition, you’ll develop your own understanding of the questioning around ‘should they’?

Looking at both video and photography, you’ll get to grips with the conceptual ideology behind what you’re trying to capture. Guided and supported by our passionate teaching staff and expert technical team, you’ll come to understand the different techniques at play and how you can utilise them to drive your own outcomes. During your time with the University of Bolton, you’ll be able to refine how you handle the relationship between you, the image maker, and the subject. Through the creative brief process, you will also explore how to manage your work in terms of client expectations.  

Photography In Practice

Using your learned knowledge of photographic genres, you will be able to develop your dark room skills as well as increasing your processing, composition, manipulation, editing, colouring and visual effects experience. Through research, you’ll be empowered to challenge your own creative boundaries within a supportive community of teaching staff and students who are still on their own journeys.

As well as accruing technical and theoretical knowledge around the discipline, you will be able to identify where your strengths and weaknesses lie and how this relates to your career, post-graduation. As a trained creative professional, you will have to curate and exhibit your work; you’ll also have to learn how you will market and sell your creative output.

Critical Decisions

As with many creative disciplines, part of your evolution lies in developing your critical skills. The Bolton University is Ranked 1st in the North West for Satisfaction with Feedback*, our supportive and friendly staff will help you to understand how to use your self-evaluation and critical reflection as well as the critique of others to help you realise your talent.

Have a look at our courses, and come and enjoy #UniAsItShouldBe in Greater Manchester.

*Guardian University Guide 2022