Photography at UCA

Music Marketing and Promotion ticked all my boxes; it featured photography, but also focused on the music business surrounding it.

While studying, I had time to build my own business and put what I was learning at university into practice, combining creating content and promotion for friends in bands, with class projects and networking.

 

I spent three years balancing touring, festivals, shows and portraits with university commitments and deadlines. There’s no way I would have been able to do that without the support and flexibility given to me by the UCA lecturers.

By the end of those three years, I handed in the final major project, went home to pack and got straight on a tour bus for a six-week run with Anne Marie.

The project helps me have the confidence to tell stories or to give a word of courage to other people out there to tell them they can. No matter what, they can. - Rella

I see hope, I feel like I’m going somewhere, to be somebody, who can help in this country. I want to do stories for the people who are suffering, to show people that, even if you suffer today, there is another life after this one. - Vicky

It was powerful to see my mother involved in my search for identity and belonging. The making of this image enabled a reclamation of personal space and place.

I hope it will resonate with audiences, and they’ll be able to take away a sense of raw and personal representation, along with an understanding of all the complexities involved in mixed-race identity.

I chose to study Fashion Photography because I have been attracted to Photography since I was a kid... another reason I chose this course is my ambition of a career in fashion communication.

The main idea of our Environmental Project was to document the African culture and their lifestyle by making images that portray a positive perspective... Thanks to this I’ve been able to learn so much about black culture. It was a perfect opportunity to make new friends and find something in common, being an immigrant in the UK. 

As soon as I have a degree I would like to gain experience working as a Fashion Photographer to advertise a brand or a company. At the same time, I would like to find freelance job opportunities worldwide

I had just converted to Islam, and started to wear my hijab. That is when I decided to do a project around my journey. I always knew there was a negative stigma around the hijab in the media anyway, but I started to come across material that had absolute hate for Islam, saying terrible things about Muslim women and the hijab.

I became very angry and hurt, as I was falling in love with my religion... mostly hoped it would start new conversations and just give people the opportunity to have an insight into a convert’s personal journey to putting on the hijab, rather than just seeing it as a symbol of oppression in the West.

It is such an incredible feeling. I was lost for words when I got the recognition. It’s such a hard field to get into, with such great artists out there, so it’s really reassuring when you start to get the attention from these high-profile places, especially after receiving so many rejections.

My aim was to allow the audience to discuss an uncomfortable but important subject and to inform and educate people on the massive suffering my ancestors went through.

The message I wanted to convey is that although Afro-Caribbean people are not physically enslaved anymore, mentally people still feel shackled and chained.

I love how both photography and film allow you to express yourself with no restrictions or boundaries.