module specification

FA6007 Professional Practice 2: Photography is a subject-specific module supporting students to further develop their professional and academic skills, including their practical and conceptual understanding of the codes, conventions and issues associated with display and presentation.  Students are expected to synthesise the experience and knowledge gained over the course or through previous experience, and employ a range of transferable skills in communication, negotiation, analysis, project planning and project management.

The module includes lectures and workshops to support photography students to present to their peers a proposal for a final display, a working document that they will continue to develop, test and revise over the course of the year. A schedule of tutorials, supervision, technical input and workshops, as appropriate are available to enable students to realise their plans in either the form of display spreads in a publication designed by the student (magazine feature, photography book, catalogue, brochure) or a mounted and framed display at an assessed exhibition at the end of the module.

The FA6007 Professional Practice 2: Photography module serves and sustains an award on the BA Photography course only, delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core studio practice modules on Level 6. Students are expected to investigate and develop critical and aesthetic working relationships between and across the Level 6 modules.

The module aims to let students show they have acquired coherent and detailed knowledge of specific skills in photography display and are able to deploy critical thinking with accuracy in developing and obtaining a wider, non-specialist audience from outside the art school for their photography, as shown in both physical and virtual spaces.

The module also aims to provide students with work-related learning about social media platforms and websites to develop wider public and new audiences for their photography, with a view to creating and updating a sustainable legacy of photography career assets to aid employability.

Completion and pass (120 credits) of previous level.

At the beginning of the module, its aims, key concepts and milestones will be outlined to all students. There will then be teamwork sessions and guided independent study on the organisation of display resources either for display in a hard copy publication or for display in an exhibition in a public space (Learning Outcomes 1 and 2). Several sessions will be assigned to the use of marketing and social media in creating audience for publication or exhibition (Learning Outcome 4). Tuition will be dedicated to each student creating, updating and uploading image and text content for the publication of their own website featuring their photography (Learning Outcome 3). Students will engage in taught sessions that help them to consider  their position in art or photography, strengths and interests, to reflect on engagement with professional practice and how to continue to develop their professional capacity.

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to (and to have the opportunity to) continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

On completing the module, the student should be able to:
1. test and explore methods in professional display either via a hard copy publication format or by exhibition;
2. assimilate into practice the principles of quality display in photography using either a hard copy publication or an exhibition;
3. consider the needs of the wider public in a statement to accompany a finished project;
4. demonstrate the creation of an individual professional profile and dissemination of individual practice to specialist and non-specialist audiences;
5. display an understanding of professional contexts and practices appropriate to career aspirations;
6. explain position in art or photography, strengths and interests and how to continue to develop professional capacity.

Professional Practice 001 (50%)

Formative Submission:
A review of coursework in semester 1. 

Summative Submission:
Exhibition of works from the Final Major Project
Journal containing Professional Practice Tasks 001
(LO1, LO2 & LO3)

Professional Practice 002 (50%)

Formative Submission:
A review of coursework in semester 1. 

Summative Submission:
Journal containing Professional Practice Tasks 002
(LO4 & LO5)

Presentation to peers outlining position in art or photography, strengths and interests and how to continue to develop professional capacity
(LO6)

The module will be assessed for a photography student's organisation of materials and space, tools, equipment and tasks either in publication of or in exhibition of their major project, including use of marketing and social media in building audience for their work. This begins at the start of the academic year.

The assessment strategy includes formative assessments throughout the Level, with tutorial feedback designed to encourage and help students to develop and improve their work. These inform the student of their progress over the course. An interim review offers a specific opportunity to reflect on the work in relation to the module’s learning outcomes and this together with finished project work and supporting material will inform the assessment panel at the summative assessment at the end of the Level.

Precise requirements for submissions will be established in set or self-set project briefs each year

Summative assessment takes place at the end of the module in two key areas; Display of Project Work and Professional Practice Folder. Written feedback addresses the strengths and weaknesses of individual presentations in relation to the grading criteria.

Work in both assessment items will be assessed against the learning outcomes in relation to the following criteria:

• appropriate use of research methods and enquiry
• quality of analysis and interpretation
• knowledge and relevance in the Photography subject
• quality of communication and presentation
• appropriate use of problem solving, testing and experimentation
• management of own learning and personal professional development

Textbooks: Core
Bates, D. (2016) Photography; The Key Concepts, London: Bloomsbury
Darcy Bhandari, H. and Melber, J. (2014) Art/Work: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue your Art Career, New York: Free Press
Jacobs, L. (2010) Professional Commercial Photography, Buffalo: Amherst Media
Kawasaki, G. and Fitzpatrick, P. (2014) The Art of Social Media, London: Penguin

Textbooks: Other
Campany, D. (2012) Art and Photography (Themes & Movements), London: Phaidon
Cotton, C. (2014) The Photograph as Contemporary Art, London: Thames & Hudson
Edwards, E. (2XXX) Photographs, Objects, Histories: On the Materiality of Images, Abingdon: Routledge
Fox, A. and Caruana, N. (2012) Basics Creative Photography 03: Behind The Image, London: Bloomsbury
la Grange, A. (2005) Basic Critical Theory for Photographers, Abingdon: Routledge
Shore, R. (2014) Post-Photography: The Artist with a Camera, London: Laurence King
Soutter, L. (2018) Why Art Photography?, London: Routledge

Journals:
British Journal of Photography, London: 1854 Media Ltd
Foam, Amsterdam: Foam Fotografiemuseum
Hotshoe, London: Hotshoe International Ltd
Photography and Culture, Abingdon: Taylor and Francis Group

Websites:
http://www.autograph-abp.co.uk/ - cultural identity and human rights
e-flux, www.e-flux.com/ - publishing platform and archive, artist project, curatorial platform, and enterprise

Electronic Database
a-n, The Artists Information Company, https://www.a-n.co.uk/

Social Media
@artquestlondon