Advance your skills, business acumen and critical understanding as an independent photographer — and work towards your creative and professional goals.


Advance your skills in modern photography
Experiment with industry-standard equipment
Take on an individual project that combines creative exploration with critical research
Kick-start your career as a professional photographer with help from a dedicated employability adviser
Advance your skills in modern photography
Experiment with industry-standard equipment
Take on an individual project that combines creative exploration with critical research
Kick-start your career as a professional photographer with help from a dedicated employability adviser

On this course, you’ll become a highly knowledgeable, independent photographer ready to excel in your field. You’ll gain the skills you need to fulfil your potential as a practitioner, working in state of the art facilities. The course features a flexible, adaptable curriculum, and has close links to creative networks and organisations in Northern England.

Work placements 

During the course students undertake a period of work experience of a minimum of two weeks duration or equivalent. This is identified and arranged by the student, with the support of tutors and wider university staff, as well as the university career and work-experience teams. This provides knowledge and understanding of a real world employment within the professional sphere of communication or media.

The course benefits from established relationships with a number of photographic partners including the Photographers' Gallery, Site Gallery, Millennium Galleries, The Hepworth Wakefield, Village Bookshop and Gallery, Impressions Gallery and Format Festival. 

Field trips and events

You will have the opportunity to attend national and international photography and art events — such as exhibitions, festivals and conferences — to deepen your understanding of the wider photographic industry. In recent years we have been to Paris Photo, Berlin Photography Festival, Amsterdam and put on residential field trips to London and the Peak District. 

Our unique location within a post-industrial and culturally vibrant city and yet only 14 minutes (by rail) to the Peak District — the UK’s first National Park — makes Sheffield a fascinating setting for an enthusiastic photographer. 

Networking opportunities

Our staff are founding members and active in a number of research groups, including Northern Light, Walking Arts, Visual Activism, and The Centre for Contemporary Legend research groups. 

We organise exhibitions, conferences, symposia and events. These include our biennial conference and exhibition on contemporary landscape and environmental photography under the title Northern Light. We also host an annual RPS History Group symposium.

Each year we also host a number of industry days and events — such as Grad Talk and Pathways — where students network with and attend talks and workshops run by creative media industry professionals and organisations. You’ll have access to guidance from our professional careers and employment service, CV preparation and interview practice, an annual programme of employer recruitment fairs, and an online graduate vacancy service. 

We also work closely with REDEYE — an organisation supporting professional photographers in the north of England and with APHE (Association for Photography in Higher Education).

All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.

This course is based around a creative, practice-based and self-directed approach to learning. This is similar to the independent nature of professional practice, and will prepare you for the real world of photography.

Throughout your studies, you’ll be encouraged to undertake research and further your understanding of historical and contemporary approaches. You’ll also look at relevant theoretical issues to help place your work in a critical context.

You learn through

• specialist workshops
• technical surgeries
• lectures and seminars
• group critiques and review sessions
• individual tutorials
• exhibition and curation 
• field trips and study visits
• visiting professionals and guest lecturers

This course prepares you for a career as an employee or freelancer in

• documentary
• fine art
• fashion and advertising
• editorial
• press and photojournalism
• general and social portraiture
• scientific and medical
• stills for film and video productions
• post-production (picture editing, processing, printing and finishing)
• picture research and publishing
• curatorial and gallery contexts

 

Normally an honours degree at 2:2 (or above) in Photography or a related creative subject, namely in the fields of Fine Art, Design, Graphics, Media Arts or Visual Communication. If you do not have a traditional undergraduate qualification, you may still be considered, especially if you already have relevant work experience in the creative industries. Together with your personal statement, you will have to submit evidence of significant creative ability in the form of an identifiable body of work by providing an up-to-date online link to personal photographic outputs. Alternative forms of outputs, e.g. prints, books or objects may be presented directly to the course team on request (on site or via Skype).

Applicants whose first language is not English require an IELTS score of 6.0 with 5.5 in all skills (or equivalent). If your English language skill is currently below the required standard then you can apply for the Sheffield Hallam University Pre-sessional English course that will enable you to achieve the required proficiency English.

Important notice:

The structure of this course is periodically reviewed and enhanced to provide the best possible learning experience for our students and ensure ongoing compliance with any professional, statutory and regulatory body standards. Module structure, content, delivery and assessment may change, but we expect the focus of the course and the learning outcomes to remain as described above. Following any changes, updated module information will be published on this page.

Final Year Compulsory modules
Module	Credits	Assessment
Enterprise And Entrepreneurship	15	Coursework
Exhibition / Publication / Curation	15	Coursework Practical
Independent Practice	30	Coursework
Ma Photography: Advanced Production And Printing Methods	30	Coursework
Media, Arts And Communication Masters Dissertation / Project	60	Coursework
Research Methods And Skills For Media, Arts, Arts Management And Global Communication	30	Coursework