| Program start date | Application deadline |
| 2024-02-01 | - |
Program Overview
The Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) at RMIT University is a one-year program designed for students with a three-year photography degree. It focuses on advanced photographic production, research methodologies, and critical understanding of photography. Through personalized mentorship and intensive studio practice, students develop creative autonomy and make significant cultural contributions in their self-initiated projects. The program prepares graduates for careers in commercial photography, photojournalism, art, design, and other creative industry professions.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
The Bachelor of Arts (Photography) (Honours) at RMIT University is designed for students who have successfully completed a three-year degree in photography and wish to undertake a further year of study to focus exclusively on an individual project. The degree is also suitable for commercial photographers, photographers with commissioned practices, photojournalists, socially engaged practitioners, artists, designers, and other creative industry professionals seeking a more advanced studio practice in photography.
Objectives:
The program aims to provide students with the advanced knowledge and skills to effectively adapt to various ways of thinking and making photographic images. Students will be guided through personalized mentorship and individual supervision as they are introduced to practice-led research and research methodologies. Through intensive studio-based research and workshop practice, students will develop creative autonomy and a critical and ethical understanding of photography that will allow them to make significant cultural contributions.
Program Description:
The Honours program is an opportunity for students to develop their professional practice through immersion in a year-long, self-initiated, inquiry-focused, creative project. Over the course of producing this project, students will become familiar with advanced principles and conventions of practice-based research.
Outline:
Content:
- Practice-led research and research methodologies
- Advanced photographic production and workshop practice
- Critical and ethical understanding of photography
- Creative autonomy and self-directed study
Structure:
- Full-time, one-year program
- Individual supervision and mentorship
- Intensive studio-based research and workshop practice
- Regular engagement in the review, critique, and analysis of work
- Independent research focusing on locating and developing photographic practice within a broader understanding of historical and contemporary photographic narratives
Modules:
- Individual Honours Project
- Research Methods in Photography
- Advanced Photographic Techniques
- Critical and Ethical Issues in Photography
- Contemporary Photographic Practice
Assessment:
- Development of a range of project-based photographic works
- Written reflections
- Oral and visual presentations
- Proposals and exegesis documents
Teaching:
- Expert academics, professional photographers, photojournalists, artists, editors, writers, and curators
- Personalized mentorship and individual supervision
- Intensive studio-based research and workshop practice
- Regular engagement in the review, critique, and analysis of work
- Access to specialized photographic facilities and equipment
Careers:
- Commercial photography
- Commissioned photography (advertising, editorial, fashion)
- Photojournalism
- Socially engaged photography
- Art and design
- Creative industry professions
- Higher education and research
Entry Requirements:
You need to satisfy all of the following requirements to be considered for entry into this degree.
Academic requirements
Prerequisites Selection tasks English language requirements
Academic requirements
You must have successfully completed an Australian bachelor (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant photographic discipline with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 (out of 4.0).
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisite subjects required for entry into this qualification.
Selection tasks
Semester 1, 2025 Selection task details and submission dates will be available early August 2024. You must complete and submit the Photography (Honours) selection task. Please click the apply button to submit your direct application. The link to submit your selection task will appear on the applicant dashboard after you have submitted your application. Entry into this program is competitive, and applications are assessed in the order that they are received until the selection task dates, if places are still available. For your best chance at admission into this program, you are encouraged to apply as early as possible. Selection task dates Applicant type Register and submit the selection task by Timely applications TBC Late applications TBC Apply now and submit your selection task Selection task requirements Expand all sections Research proposal Apply now and submit your selection task Selection task requirements Expand all sections Research proposal Your proposal should indicate what you consider your project (research) will encompass, including, why this research project is significant to your practice. Why is it worth doing? Why might you be the ideal person to undertake it? You might include the following headings: Proposed project title Research topic outline – a description of your proposed project, including any historical, contemporary and theoretical contexts relevant to your project. What area of the cultural, social or political world does it intersect with? Aims – what do you hope to achieve through your project? Methods – a description of your proposed research methods (practical or theoretical). Here, if necessary, you may also provide some indication of any specific requirements necessary for your research (this may form as an explanatory paragraph and/or dot points. Prior Reading – list key texts that will inform your project. These may be texts that you have drawn from in past work. This may include texts you are yet to read. Your proposal should be between 500 and 700 words. Remember that you haven’t done the research yet so there is no expectation that you have definitive answers at this stage. The proposal is to demonstrate that the area of enquiry is viable. Submission instructions Upload your proposal in a single PDF. Folio Your folio should contain photographic images and include approximately 10-12 recent works. Photographic work should have been taken and edited to completion over the past 18 months. Please include titles of works, and where applicable: date, medium and dimensions. Your folio should cohere around a topic, rather than be an assemblage of unrelated image types. Submission instructions Submission instructions Upload your folio in a single PDF or supply a URL to your folio if hosted online (provide the username and password if applicable). Semester 2, 2024 This degree is not available for midyear (semester 2) application.
English language requirements
You must meet the University's minimum English language requirements to be eligible for a place in this program.
