MA Photography at Sheffield Hallam University

• Advance your skills in modern photography
• Experiment with industry-standard equipment
• Take on an individual project that combines creative exploration with critical research 
• Kick-start your career as a professional photographer with help from a dedicated employability adviser

On this course, you’ll become a highly knowledgeable, independent photographer ready to excel in your field. You’ll gain the skills you need to fulfil your potential as a practitioner, working in  state of the art facilities. The course features a flexible, adaptable curriculum, and has close links to creative networks and organisations in Northern England.

Work placements 

During the course students undertake a period of work experience of a minimum of two weeks duration or equivalent. This is identified and arranged by the student, with the support of tutors and wider university staff, as well as the university career and work-experience teams. This provides knowledge and understanding of a real world employment within the professional sphere of communication or media.

The course benefits from established relationships with a number of photographic partners including the Photographers' Gallery, Site Gallery, Millennium Galleries, The Hepworth Wakefield, Village Bookshop and Gallery, Impressions Gallery and Format Festival. 

Field trips and events

You will have the opportunity to attend national and international photography and art events — such as exhibitions, festivals and conferences — to deepen your understanding of the wider photographic industry. In recent years we have been to Paris Photo, Berlin Photography Festival, Amsterdam and put on residential field trips to London and the Peak District. 

Our unique location within a post-industrial and culturally vibrant city and yet only 14 minutes (by rail) to the Peak District — the UK’s first National Park — makes Sheffield a fascinating setting for an enthusiastic photographer. 

Networking opportunities

Our staff are founding members and active in a number of research groups, including Northern Light, Walking Arts, Visual Activism, and The Centre for Contemporary Legend research groups. 

We organise exhibitions, conferences, symposia and events. These include our biennial conference and exhibition on contemporary landscape and environmental photography under the title Northern Light. We also host an annual RPS History Group symposium.

Each year we also host a number of industry days and events — such as Grad Talk and Pathways — where students network with and attend talks and workshops run by creative media industry professionals and organisations. You’ll have access to guidance from our professional careers and employment service, CV preparation and interview practice, an annual programme of employer recruitment fairs, and an online graduate vacancy service. 

We also work closely with REDEYE — an organisation supporting professional photographers in the north of England and with APHE (Association for Photography in Higher Education).

Future careers

This course prepares you for a career as an employee or freelancer in

• documentary
• fine art
• fashion and advertising
• editorial
• press and photojournalism
• general and social portraiture
• scientific and medical
• stills for film and video productions
• post-production (picture editing, processing, printing and finishing)
• picture research and publishing
• curatorial and gallery contexts