Why Study/Key Benefits

• Massey’s Bachelor of Design (Photography) is a studio-based undergraduate degree focused on developing both creative and technical photography skills.
• Students are taught by award-winning photographers and designers and work alongside other photography students in a supportive but challenging creative environment.
• The programme provides access to specialist digital suites, professional photographic equipment, printers, technical support, studios and darkroom facilities.
• Students can explore both contemporary digital photography and historical/wet-based analogue photographic processes.
• The programme encourages transdisciplinary study, allowing students to combine photography with other areas of design through electives and an optional minor.
• The Photography major can prepare students for commercial, editorial, fashion, fine-art, documentary and other visual-communication applications.
• Massey also provides pathways into the Bachelor of Design with Honours and Master of Design for students wishing to continue into advanced design study.

Programme Structure and Subjects/Topics

The Bachelor of Design is structured over three parts/years.

Year One – fundamental design skills and principles

Students complete studio courses across design/art disciplines, theory and electives. The current BDes structure specifies:

• 60 credits of studio courses
• 30 credits of theory
• 30 credits of electives

For Photography, introductory options include:

• 221157 Photography Studio 1.1: What is Photography? – 15 credits
  • Introduction to digital photographic image making.
  • Explores how photography is used to “see” and interpret the world.
  • Develops creative and analytical skills and idea generation.
• 221158 Photography Studio 1.2: Introduction to the Darkroom – 15 credits
  • Introduces analogue darkroom and wet-based photographic techniques.
  • Students develop practical photographic work using analogue processes.

Year Two – major-focused photographic practice

The Photography major includes:

• 221263 Photography Studio 2.1: Attributes of Light – 15 credits
  • Conventional and experimental lighting technologies.
  • Photographic or moving-image projects.
• 221264 Photography Studio 2.2: Fact and Fantasy – 15 credits
  • Digital photography and wider visual culture.
  • Photoshop and photographic manipulation.
  • Photography as a visual language.
• 221265 Photography Studio 2.3: The Living Archive – 15 credits
  • Photographic archives as cultural repositories.
  • Social, political, personal and historical uses of photography.
  • Film scanning and archival material.
• 221266 Photography Studio 2.4: Photography, Representation and the Gaze – 15 credits
  • Representation, agency and ethics.
  • Contemporary photographic practice in Aotearoa New Zealand.
  • Includes consideration of Te Tiriti, the gendered gaze and representation of people and whenua.

Year Three – advanced photographic practice

• 221358 Photography Studio 3.3: Extended Photographic Practice – 30 credits
  • Individual creative project.
  • Advanced photographic concepts, skills and processes.
  • Professional and collaborative practice.
  • Development of transferable skills relevant to creative environments.
• 221367 Photography Studio 3.1: The Photobook and Narrative – 15 credits
  • Photographic books as vehicles for visual narrative.
  • Photobook construction and materiality.
  • Book design, audience and production strategies.
• 221368 Photography Studio 3.2: Post Photography – 15 credits
  • Contemporary and historical photographic technologies.
  • Digital, moving image, lighting-studio and analogue approaches.
  • Advanced analogue photography workshops.

Disciplines/Specialisations

The selected major is:

• Photography – 135 credits.

The wider Bachelor of Design currently offers majors/specialisations including:

• Photography
• Concept Design
• Fashion Design
• Industrial Design
• Integrated Design
• M?tauranga Toi M?ori
• Spatial Design
• Textile Design
• Visual Communication Design.

Programme Highlights

• NZQF level 7 Bachelor of Design.
• 360-credit, three-year full-time qualification.
• Wellington-based photography education.
• Photography major worth 135 credits.
• Professional cameras, specialist studios, digital suites and printing facilities.
• Access to analogue and wet-based photographic processes.
• Combination of creative practice, critical thinking, technical development and professional preparation.
• Opportunities for interdisciplinary study and an optional minor.
• Advanced photography includes photobooks, visual narrative, digital technologies, moving image, lighting, archives and experimental analogue processes.
• Further-study pathway into the Bachelor of Design with Honours or Master of Design.

Career Outcomes

Massey states that Photography graduates have traditionally worked in areas including:

• Advertising
• Fashion photography
• Corporate promotion
• Illustration
• Food photography
• Architectural photography
• Humanitarian photography
• Newspapers and magazines
• Online visual media.

Latest Updates/Special Requirements

• The current programme is open to international students for on-campus study in New Zealand.
• There are no additional Photography-specific admission requirements beyond Massey’s undergraduate admission regulations.
• Massey encourages students to book a Creative Review after applying and enrolling.
• Photography requires practical studio, equipment and specialist-facility participation, so it is not presented as an online degree.
• Photography major requirements total 135 credits.
• Course prerequisites must be observed when progressing from 100-level to 200- and 300-level study.
• Not all possible courses are necessarily available in every semester; students should check current course availability before finalising their study plan.

International Student Visa Requirements

Because Photography is an on-campus programme in Wellington, an international student who intends to study physically in New Zealand will normally need an appropriate New Zealand student visa.

For the Fee Paying Student Visa, Immigration New Zealand currently states:

• Cost: from NZD 850.
• Maximum stay: up to 4 years.
• Processing: 80% within 8 weeks.
• Students need an offer of place from an approved education provider.
• Students must demonstrate sufficient funds for tuition or have an applicable scholarship.
• Students must demonstrate sufficient living funds or have an acceptable sponsor.
• Students must have acceptable insurance as required by the education provider.
• Other health, character and immigration requirements also apply.
• Applications are submitted online.
• Immigration New Zealand recommends applying at least three months before planned travel.