Examination board – Edexcel

If you are creative, enjoy taking photographs, and are motivated to improve your image making then this is the course for you!

The curriculum assumes that students will begin the course with little to no specialist knowledge and will begin by learning basic photographic skills. Lessons will be held as workshops and tutorials to practise modern and traditional photographic processes and develop your creativity and contextual understanding. You will build a portfolio of work recording, exploring, developing and presenting outcomes inspired by a self-selected brief.

At the end of each year, we celebrate the students’ success with the Art A Level Exhibition; a fantastic event displaying the students’ final outcomes.

What will I study?

• A range of traditional and digital processes; including a range of cameras, darkroom, photoshop and studio work.
• Contextual studies and the work of influential photographers both contemporary and historical.
• Develop your use of visual language through photographic techniques.
• Use a range of photographic media, techniques and processes to explore a self-selected brief.

How will I be assessed?

Component 1: Personal Investigation

• Portfolio of work
• Personal study of a minimum of 1000 words
• Coursework
• 60% of total A-level assessment

Component 2: Externally Set Assignment

• Portfolio of work
• Preparatory time plus a 15-hour timed examination
• 40% of total A-level assessment

Read the Photography Specification here

Subjects that compliment Photography

• Art and Design
• Media Studies
• Film Studies
• Textiles
• Graphic Design

Where could I study Photography?

• Exeter College
• Falmouth University
• University for Creative Arts (Campuses across Surry and Kent)
• University of Plymouth
• University of the Arts London
• Bournemouth University
• Solent University (Southampton)
• University of Westminster
• De Montfort University (Leicester)
• University of Lincoln

Where can Photography lead me?

The A Level Photography course provides a route to further education, with students progressing to foundation, direct to BA degrees or apprenticeships. This could lead you to work, either freelance or employed, in a wide range of areas, such as: art, media, advertising, design, architecture, police and crime investigation, wedding and event documentary, fashion, large organisations such a leisure companies, hospitals or universities, and many more.