Bachelor Photography (full-time & part-time)

Exploration and visual development

The first year of this programme consists of a thorough and intensive introduction to a broad variety of aspects connected with the field of photography. Through theory and practical classes, field trips, exhibitions and events, you will quickly broaden your skills and knowledge of photography and beyond. You learn how to manage your studies and how to structure your work process.

In this first year there is a strong emphasis on improving your technical skills, including postproduction in photography. You are challenged by doing projects in which you take on different practices such as documentary, making portraits, studio practice and more. All these exercises and projects teach you a variety of strategies from which to create work.

In addition, you will follow basic courses in publication design and moving image to gain a better understanding of how contemporary photography is intertwined with other media. By exploring the breadth of the field of photography and visual culture, you will start to discover where your own true interests lie.

Your first semester is concluded with Collective Assessments right before the Winter Break. In the month of January, you will have a wide selection of workshops to broaden your toolbox. The Network Week is part of these workshop weeks.

After another semester of study, at the end of the first year, you should articulate your ideas of your own interests and practice during collective assessment.

Proficiency & In-depth Research

In the second year, you start to define your practice in relation to the wider field of photography. This involves dissecting and positioning your interests, research areas and methods as a way to find deepening of articulation of your practice. Reflecting on the practices of your classmates also plays a crucial role in this process.

An important goal for the second year is to have your personal vision reflected in your projects. This ambition is supported by courses like Civil Society Lab where you will be encouraged to connect your interests also in a wider societal framework.

One important focus for this year is to bring your photography technical skills to the highest possible level, that will allow you in future years to independently experiment within and expand your toolkit. You’ll deepen your knowledge and experience of Moving Image and experiment with different narratives to align with your intentions.

During the final two weeks of semester 3, you participate in the Photography Publication Project Weeks with your photography and publication design teachers towards a printed publication of your work.

In January, you participate in one of photography skills workshops to broaden your toolbox. Further, during the Network Week, you explore professional networks within the field of photography that relate to your practice.

Second-year students organise Network Week for all students, including those in other years, in the period leading up to January. One of the highlights of the second year is the international field trip where you produce a body of work on a self-chosen topic within
one week. 

The project is preceded by intensive preparatory research. After the trip, you and your peers collaborate in editing and producing a publication in a one-week workshop.

Starting in the second year, the Academy Wide Programme, Common Domains, provides you with an opportunity to broaden your skills and hands-on and material techniques beyond photography.

During the final weeks of semester 4, you will participate in the Constructing Spaces Project, where you will be working with a recently made existing project, translating it into a spatial presentation. Together with your peers you will create a group exhibition and start to develop your own space-sense alongside with practicing collaboration.

Both semesters are concluded with a Collective Assessment where you articulate your ideas of your own interests and practice. The final part of the year is spent during the Graduation Support Week, where you work with a graduating student towards their graduation show to give you a glimpse into your own future process.

Professionalisation & Presentation

There is a shift after your first two years of study towards becoming more independent in your making, thinking, and relating. This shift is marked by a curriculum that depends on your agency and focus, where you regularly recalibrate your plan through teacher and peer support.

In the third year of your studies, you are challenged to delve deeper by immersing yourself into a semester-long project on a given theme, developed in the course Photography Practice. A driving aspect is to bring nuance and subtlety into both the content and the presentation of your work. You are expected to work with an entrepreneurial spirit and become aware of your potential audience alongside the consequences this has for your work.

Your semester-long project will be presented in different formats. It will turn into a publication. You are expected to present your project using a different presentation platform, either using Interactive Design (IMD) or Moving Image (MI). You finish the project with a collective public presentation outside the academy where you and your peers will be responsible for and gain valuable experience in organising, producing, publishing, financing, and marketing a project.

Next to the Photography Practice you will attend one Station in semester 5. Stations are short term interventions meant to introduce you to one of the wide practices of photography. It will assist you in consolidating or widening your fields of interests, concerns and methods, that eventually determine your practice.

In the second half of the third year, you do an internship with a professional, based on your learning goals. Over the course of 16 weeks, you will build up a network and obtain experience in the professional field. This experience enables you to connect different elements of your study and helps you to make plans for your final year. During the last month of your internship, you will attend meet-ups with peers and teachers to provide you a start in the run-up to the courses of the fourth year. Instead of an internship, or next to an internship, you can also choose to spend a semester as an exchange student at one of our partner institutions abroad.

The Individual Study Track (IST) provides you with the opportunity to follow courses outside our department or create projects that complement your personal interests.  

Profiling & Positioning

The fourth-year centres on positioning yourself as a maker. There is a shift in the last two years of study towards becoming more independent in your making, thinking and relating. This shift is reflected in a curriculum that relies on your agency and focus, requiring you to continuously define, test, and articulate your position in relation to others and to the field.

In the fourth year, you focus on three major components: Commissioned Work, Research Paper and your Graduation Work.

The three components inform each other: the so-called ‘triangle’. Together they shape, challenge, and clarify your position as a maker.

An important challenge is to better articulate who you are as a maker, to understand and reflect on your process, progress, practice, and, most importantly, position your practice in relation to a professional photography field.

Your Commissioned Work is realised for a commissioning partner (or client) from outside the academy and should fit within your own field of interest. Through this, you learn to position your practice in a real-world context, developing skills such as proactivity, responsibility, and collaboration. The outcome is circulated and shared with an audience for example through publication, exhibition, or another format agreed upon with the commissioning partner.

At the same time, you also work on your Research Paper: conducting research and writing about a self-chosen topic that informs The Research Paper strengthens your ability to contextualise and critically position your position as a maker and can be seen as the conceptual backbone of your Graduation Work.

Your Graduation Work defines your position as a photographer and will be your entry to the  professional field of art and photography. You develop a personal working method that enables you to continue your development as a critical maker and thinker beyond your graduation.

Next to Commissioned Work, Graduation Work and Research Paper, you select to attend one Station. Stations are short term interventions meant to further introduce and/or deepen your understanding of the wide practices of photography. It will assist you in consolidating or widening your fields of interests, concerns and methods that eventually determine your practice.

In addition to the three major components, extra attention is paid to organisational and entrepreneurial skills, such as setting up a business, developing and pitching a project, branding and networking, grant applications and other aspects that prepare you for a professional
practice after graduation.

The year begins with Emerging Positions, an introductory workshop for you to become familiar with and develop a study management programme for the year, especially with input from lessons learned from alumni.

In January, you will participate in the Photo Ecosystems, a series of presentations, discussions, workshops, portfolio reviews, and round tables, to bring a closer awareness of ethical, industry, environmental elements that you need to consider in your future practice as a photographer and meaning maker.

The Individual Study Track (IST) provides you with the opportunity to follow courses also outside our department or create projects that complement your personal interests. During the last semester, you can work on the publicity campaign and catalogue for your graduation year.

At your final exam, you show a coherent visual presentation (physical and digital) of your Commissioned Work, Research Paper, and Graduation Work. 

Additionally, you deliver an oral presentation that clearly articulates your work and intended position in the professional field. Upon passing your exam, your work is exhibited at the Graduation Show.