Photography undergraduate courses

Why study Photography at Derby?

The Derby School of Photography was one of the first locations of photographic education in the country. Learn in dedicated facilities that give you the chance to experiment and build up your portfolio. Our teaching team of highly experienced practitioners, researchers, published photographers, and image makers are here to support you along the way. You can benefit from their extensive commercial and professional experience, international reputation, and knowledge of photographic media.

Join a creative community that is supportive in helping students shape their individual identities and styles. Our courses focus on graduate employability, helping you to establish yourself as an artist; this may be through work placements, real world projects and the chance to showcase your work at events, including the end of year Degree Show. 

Courses are led by experienced practitioners, many are artists and designers with key industry contacts. Their fresh and dynamic approach to teaching will encourage you to learn through risk-taking and experimentation to develop your portfolio. You’ll learn skills that can be applied to a range of fields from design to writing, performance to education and curating to publishing. These links mean that you’ll have the opportunity to work with external clients on real briefs, so you’ll graduate with a comprehensive portfolio of work to help launch your career.

"It was the reputation of the photography lecturers that inspired me!"

"I was always advised by my parents to follow my passion and to find my purpose. So when I visited the University of Derby for an Open Day, it was the reputation of the photography lecturers and the feel of the city that inspired me to uproot from Lincolnshire and begin my life in Derby.”

Dawn is a Photography graduate who went on to launch marketing agency Katapult Ltd, which now employs several other University of Derby graduates and works on a variety of projects across the University.

Dawn Foote, BA (Hons) Photography

What our Photography graduates do

Career opportunities open to graduates include:

• commercial, advertising and editorial photography
• picture researcher
• freelance photographer
• photo-journalism
• fashion photographer
• film stills photographer

You could also go on to study our MA Arts postgraduate course.