FH4D07 - Positioning Practice 01 Sep 2021 - 31 Aug 2027 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: FH4D07
Module Title: Positioning Practice
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Fashion, Marketing and Photography
Faculty Sub Group: Photography
Module Leader: Lisa Barnard, Eileen Little
Module Team: Mark Durden, David Barnes, Steven Wright
First Intended Intake: SEP 2021 Final Year of Intake: 2026
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 40 Credit Level: 7
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes:
HECOS Code Weighting:

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2021
Valid To 31 Aug 2027

Module Aims

1. Examine and engage in the dominant platforms where documentary photography, in its broadest sense, is situated

2. As appropriate to their practice, students are to critically examine a range of case studies and consider the relevance of politics, histories and theories in the production of contemporary and innovative documentary photography

3.Enable the students to create a technically proficient and innovative body of work facilitating a portfolio that can be shared with industry specialists

Content Summary

An understanding of where to position practice after a period of Reviewing (Term 1) and Defining (Term 2) practice, is integral to becoming a successful, independent and innovative documentary photographer. Alongside the continuation of a body of work already developed in Year 1, students will create a Development Folder which will include a project proposal, a contextual statement, research and evidence knowledge of dissemination platforms applicable to the students’ practice. The focus of this module is to embed an established body of work within the dissemination process and the relationship between the students’ practice and the context within which it is situated, both critical and professional.

Within this module students will focus on:

1. Additional techniques and skills appropriate to the documentary practitioner that evidence a connection to contemporary photographic practices. These include moving image, networked images, alternative printing processes and an engagement with archives.

2. Understanding of the diverse array of means of dissemination of practical projects, with a focus on the photobook, Webdocs, exhibitions and additional and alternative modes of presentation.

3. Evidencing the synthesis between research and practice within the submitted portfolio and the means of its dissemination.

4. Recognising the position of their work in relation to the wider photographic and creative industries.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 8
Seminar 30
Tutorial 6
Independent Study 256
Directed Study 100
Total Hours Selected 400

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Produce innovative, coherent and technically proficient work of a professional standard.
LO2 Create advanced, flexible and diverse outcomes suitable for multiple dissemination platforms.
LO3 Consolidate complex ideas, demonstrate an advanced critical understanding of the histories, theories and politics of photography.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Visual Journal 1 Students will present a Development Folder in which they contextualise their project. The DF should include a proposal, theoretical, artistic, historical and political influences; a contextual statement; evidence of where the work is to be positioned; and experimental developments of the outcomes, such as exhibition plans, WebDocs and publication dummies. 0 1800 30 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Portfolio 1 Students are asked to continue or develop a new photographic project and submit a digital portfolio consisting of between 15 and 20 images. This can be either a resolved body of work or by negotiation a ‘work in progress’ that will be resolved in the last module of the course. 0 N/A 70 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2 LO3
Visual Journal 1
Portfolio 1

Reading List

Bogre, M. (2012) Photography as Activism: Images for Social Change. Massachusetts: Focal Press.
Carles Guerra, Sekula, A. and Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther Ko¨nig Ko¨ln (2019). Allan Sekula: collective sisyphus. London: Koenig Books Ltd.
Hirsch, M. (1997) Family frames, photography, narrative and post memory. London: Harvard College
Linfield S. (2012) The Cruel Radiance: photography and political violence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ryan, J. 2013. Picturing Empire: Photography and the Visualization of the British Empire. Reaktion Books Ltd.
Demos, T.J. 2013, The Migrant Image: The Art and Politics of Documentary during Global Crisis
A.k. Rastenberger, Iris Sikking (2018) Why Exhibit? Positions On Exhibiting Photographies Paperback, FW Books
Arden, P. 2006. Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite. Penguin Book.
Blight, D, C 2019. The Image of Whiteness: Contemporary Photography and Racialization Self Publish Be Happy
Foster, H., The Return of the Real, (Cambridge Ma, 1996)
Good J and Lowe, P (2018). Understanding Photojournalism. Bloomsbury Hodkinson, P. (2017). Media, culture and society: An introduction. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Hidde Bakker, T. (2018) 'The Photograph That Took the Place of a Mountain': Fw:Books
Rosler, M. (2004). Decoys and disruptions. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, New York.
Sekula, A. (1979) ‘Dismantling Modernism, Reinventing Documentary (Notes on the Politics of Representation)
Sekula, A. 1984. Photography against the grain. Halifax: Nova Scotia College of Art Design.