Module Information
Module Identifier
AR11520
Module Title
Photographic Practice I: Presence/Place
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Pre-Requisite
Satisfactory entrance portfolio
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Assigned course work Portfolio of photographs, feedback and assessment tutorial | 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Assigned course work Portfolio of new photographs | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Display a basic technical competence and a reasonable fluency in a broad range of media as appropriate to photographic making.
2. Understand the rationale behind the application of photographic skills to other areas of photographic and art practice.
3. Produce a body of work in photographic practice.
4. Demonstrate fundamental skills in the photographic processes covered by this module.
5. Make an informed and personal response within a prescriptive brief, and to articulate a response both towards your own work and that of others.
6. Apply photographic techniques in order to record and respond to landscape, presence and place in its broadest sense.
Brief description
Photography enables us to express our ideas through the mediated capture of light in an analogue and digital form. This module introduces students to both darkroom (pinhole photography, 35mm cameras, developing and printing techniques) and digital practices (Photoshop skills, composition and printing). Students learn to understand and appreciate the potential of the medium as well as its mechanics (optics, light, exposure, etc.).
You will learn to use a film camera, expose and develop films and make black and white prints from their negatives. At the end of the module students will have produced a portfolio of works on the theme of ‘Presence/Place’ using both digital and analogue processes. You will be encouraged to consider the notion of landscape in the broadest terms: environmental concerns, the urban and rural, sublime spaces, a sense of place, harmony and disharmony.
The module paves the way for further explorations of lens-based media in Semester 2 when analogue, digital and hybrid practices of photography are investigated in a creative context.
Through practical classes, workshops, demonstrations, lectures and assignments, this module offers an introduction to the language of photography and its multifarious forms. Using ‘Presence/Place’ as the unifying theme complements the core art history module AH11520: Looking into Landscape: Reading, Researching, Responding which also runs during Semester 1. It reinforces the connection between history, theory and practice as well as provides a basis for project work, thus forming a more cohesive student learning experience.
You will learn to use a film camera, expose and develop films and make black and white prints from their negatives. At the end of the module students will have produced a portfolio of works on the theme of ‘Presence/Place’ using both digital and analogue processes. You will be encouraged to consider the notion of landscape in the broadest terms: environmental concerns, the urban and rural, sublime spaces, a sense of place, harmony and disharmony.
The module paves the way for further explorations of lens-based media in Semester 2 when analogue, digital and hybrid practices of photography are investigated in a creative context.
Through practical classes, workshops, demonstrations, lectures and assignments, this module offers an introduction to the language of photography and its multifarious forms. Using ‘Presence/Place’ as the unifying theme complements the core art history module AH11520: Looking into Landscape: Reading, Researching, Responding which also runs during Semester 1. It reinforces the connection between history, theory and practice as well as provides a basis for project work, thus forming a more cohesive student learning experience.
Content
Over ten weeks of practical photographic techniques and processes, students will be introduced to the vocabulary and grammar of the medium. Through the study of original photographs in the School of Art Museum, as well as a visit to the National Library of Wales, students will learn to identify and analyse a wide range of materials, techniques and approaches to photography.
This module comprises weekly lectures on techniques, methods and processes common to photography.
1. Lecture: Introduction to the module. Materials and Techniques. Functions of the 35mm camera, project theme launch.
Practical: Loading a film, handling a 35mm camera, exposure essentials.
2. Lecture: Papers, films and processes. An examination of photographs selected from the School of Art Museum.
Practical: Loading and processing a 35mm film. Contact printing.
3. Lecture: Studio Presences
Practical: darkroom printing techniques.
4. Lecture: Digital horizons - Photography in the post-analogue age.
Practical: Key principles of capturing digital images and manipulating them with photo-editing software.
5. Lecture: Strange Topographies: Landscape in Photography.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops.
6. Tutorials and Group Tutorials.
7. Lecture: Narratives and Sequences. Exploring story-telling and sequencing in books, photo-essays and other forms where editing, layout, and sequencing play a vital part.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops.
8. Lecture: Documentary approaches, with an emphasis on ‘place’.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops
9. Lecture: Cameraless Photography. Process and technique as an expressive form.
Practical: photograms
10. Lecture: The Alternative Process Revival.
Practical: Pinhole photography.
11. Lecture: The Portrait in the Photographic Form.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops/Group Tutorial.
This module comprises weekly lectures on techniques, methods and processes common to photography.
1. Lecture: Introduction to the module. Materials and Techniques. Functions of the 35mm camera, project theme launch.
Practical: Loading a film, handling a 35mm camera, exposure essentials.
2. Lecture: Papers, films and processes. An examination of photographs selected from the School of Art Museum.
Practical: Loading and processing a 35mm film. Contact printing.
3. Lecture: Studio Presences
Practical: darkroom printing techniques.
4. Lecture: Digital horizons - Photography in the post-analogue age.
Practical: Key principles of capturing digital images and manipulating them with photo-editing software.
5. Lecture: Strange Topographies: Landscape in Photography.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops.
6. Tutorials and Group Tutorials.
7. Lecture: Narratives and Sequences. Exploring story-telling and sequencing in books, photo-essays and other forms where editing, layout, and sequencing play a vital part.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops.
8. Lecture: Documentary approaches, with an emphasis on ‘place’.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops
9. Lecture: Cameraless Photography. Process and technique as an expressive form.
Practical: photograms
10. Lecture: The Alternative Process Revival.
Practical: Pinhole photography.
11. Lecture: The Portrait in the Photographic Form.
Practical: Darkroom printing/digital workshops/Group Tutorial.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Students are gradually introduced to numerical technical information e.g. in chemical processes of photography, lens apertures, depth of field, etc |
| Communication | Discussion of photographs in individual and group situations throughout semester. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Mode of teaching during practicals and tutorials provides feedback during the semester giving students ample opportunity to respond to feedback. |
| Information Technology | Research visual imagery and access email, Blackboard, Photoshop, etc. is explained and students referred to IS Helpdesk if necessary. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Students are encouraged to consider future options during Semester 1, with both a short- and long-term view. |
| Problem solving | Problem solving is inherent and evidential in the production of photographic artworks. |
| Research skills | Students are introduced to our subject area librarian; instructed on keeping visual diary and notebooks that necessitate research skills. |
| Subject Specific Skills | Techniques and methodology introduced as appropriate throughout semester. |
| Team work | Using subject specific equipment in dedicated studio spaces / darkrooms / MacSuite requires teamwork. Small group tutorials and outdoor field work reinforces team/group ethos. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 4