Photography and the Media Arts, now more than ever, are essential vehicles for personal expression, collaborative communication and the delivery of powerful brand stories.

The Photo Media major places emphasis on contemporary Fine Art Photographic and Moving Image Practice, Historical Contextual Learning, current theoretical concerns and best practice industry expectations. Students will consider the formal and technical aspects of photography and video as well as the theory and debate surrounding lens-based image-making today.

The programme is underpinned by the delivery of essential skills, techniques, and methodologies to foster students’ creative, practical, and contextual development. Students develop this creative potential while gaining an understanding of professional practice applicable to the photographic industry.

Photo Media students are supported in collaborative projects with students from other departments and these projects are realised in the form of exhibitions and publications as well as in assessed outcomes within the curriculum.

Graduates of the Photo Media major will be well-positioned to embark on dynamic and creative careers. Alumni of the major have established their own commercial and fine art practices assisted professional photographers and worked in galleries and photo labs. For those considering further study, the Whitecliffe Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is nationally and internationally recognised as a pathway into postgraduate programmes in New Zealand and internationally.

Year One for Photo Media students includes a combination of both general arts and design with specialist Photo Media courses. The programme covers practical and theoretical skills and knowledge where students develop core skills in design, drawing, materials and processes, together with critical and contextual studies.

Study includes supervised studio practice, lectures, tutorials and self-directed learning. Visual Theory, Cultural Studies, and Modern Art and Design History introduce the vocabulary of art history and contemporary theory in support of practical courses and fine art studio practice. Students will be taught both historical models and contemporary content specific to Fine Arts.

The Semester One programme is specifically intended to best prepare students for one of the BFA specialist areas. Students are guided through structured projects in the first semester and examine the process of drawing, art-making and design within the compulsory courses: 5101 Drawing, 5102 Design, 5103 Materials & Processes, before starting their specialism in the second semester. Students also participate in an intensive week-long workshops that enable them to collaborate in teams and/or work independently to produce collective creative outcomes. Workshop projects may include co-producing a graphic novel, a short film/video, Tikanga Māori and harakeke weaving techniques.

Critical and Contextual Studies

A fully integrated programme of critical and contextual studies supports all studio specialisms. Visual Theory initiates students into the language of critical discourse and critique. Students learn to analyse, critique, discuss, write and conduct research related to the practice of art and design. Cultural Studies and Modern Art and Design History assist students in positioning their art and design practice within a broader cultural and historical context.

Year One Photo Media courses

Students wishing to specialise in Photo Media will be required to complete 5500 Studio Practice: Photo Media in the second semester. This course is considered fundamental to lens-based practice and will include a balance of contemporary and traditional skills, knowledge and research practice. The course content may include the following: technical and conceptual principles and practices in the production of photo media art, sequencing, framing and composition, editing and post-production, printing processes, exhibition, display and presentation techniques, analogue and digital camera and darkroom techniques, moving image recording and digital editing, evaluation of work within cultural and critical frameworks, and historical and theoretical contexts informing contemporary practice across photo media platforms.

Year One Supplementary Electives

Additional to the specialist courses, students have an opportunity to select from a range of elective courses. Elective courses enable the Year One student to test out other specialist areas, before firming up their decision to specialise in a subject area. Elective courses may include the following:

• 5202 Community Engagement

• 5203 Painting

• 5302 Screen printing

• 5402 Graphic Print Processes

• 5403 Mapping for Graphic Design

• 5404 Publication Design

• 5502 Reading the Photographic Image

• 5503 Intermedia

• 5504 Digital Imaging

Year Two focuses on the further development of individual practical research, experimentation and art-making undertaken in the studio with an emphasis on student-directed outcomes. A series of project briefs support students to evaluate complex issues and discuss critical frameworks relevant to contemporary art practice.

This learning is supported by special topics and workshops with an intensive technical focus, covering advanced photographic techniques, lighting, moving image, sound, digital media and the editing and installation of work for exhibition.

Students have 7-day a week access to assigned studio spaces and specialist digital labs within which to develop and display their work. At the end of each semester, students stage formal assessment exhibitions within these spaces which provide opportunities to showcase work, resolve ideas and consider new directions.

Entrepreneurship I provides an opportunity for Year, Two students, to apply their creative, practical and theoretical knowledge with an introduction to small business start-ups, marketing and public relations that lead to more integrated and substantiated studio research projects and prepare students for their careers beyond completing their degree.

Critical and Contextual Studies in Years Two and Three

The integrated programme of critical and contextual studies continues in Years Two and Three. In Year two students undertake a one-semester course in Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Survey, that addresses contemporary theory and debates around the subject specialism of their choice. Year three students extend on this learning in Issues in Contemporary Practice II and Entrepreneurship II which include the opportunity for applying knowledge in a work placement. During these internships, students gain valuable insight into working conditions and foster important networks for the future.

In addition, students select from a range of theory elective courses that are offered within a suite of Year Two and Year Three courses. The courses include a variety of topics that strategically deepen students' contextual, theoretical and practice-based inquiries. Students select from the following:

• 6105 Intellectual Property and Creative Industries

• 6120 Art and Design for a Sustainable World

• 6121 Contemporary Art: Asia and the Pacific Rim

• 6122 Relational Aesthetics

• 6123 Scripting the Body

• 6125 The Post-Postcolonial and Globalisation

• 6126 Gender & Identity and Contemporary Media

• 6127 Age of Enlightenment

• 6128 Making Art in a Globalised World

• 6129 Public Project

Students in their final year will engage with two important platforms for creation and dissemination of their work: exhibition and publication.

In Term One Photo Media students are supported in generative and experimental methodologies, across a range of digital and analogue media. The second term sees this work refined and resolved through a series of formal critiques, supported by the development of an artist statement. The outcomes are presented and assessed in a mid-year exhibition in their studio spaces. This is an open event for the public, and is well attended by industry professionals.

In the second semester students engage with an important and evolving art form, the photo book. During this extended project students engage with ideas around design, production, distribution and the artifact. At the culmination of the project, work is assessed and displayed at an event open to the public.

Students receive ongoing technical tutorials, workshops and specialist support in relevant areas including the use of medium and large format cameras and advanced approaches to digital post-production and lighting.

Year Three students accumulate a contextual portfolio containing photographic documentation of their studio work as it has developed throughout the year alongside extended artist statements.

Whitecliffe BFA graduates are industry-ready at the end of their three-year degree.

Included in the suite of Whitecliffe post-graduate programmes, Whitecliffe offers an additional one year, stand-alone BFA Honours qualification, directly following on from the BFA degree, with places available by application only. Its purpose is to consolidate the learning and achievements of the BFA through the realisation of a sustained practice-based, studio-centred, research inquiry and to further prepare students for professional life as creative practitioners or for ongoing postgraduate study. Attainment of this qualification allows for a five-year pathway to Masters degree completion for those students interested in further academic study.

NZ Government key information link for students, that provides more information to support your decision making for this programme