Master of Arts in Photography
[Fashion & Editorial]
Postgraduate Diploma of Higher Education in Photography accredited by Coventry University.
The Master of Arts in Photography at LABA Valencia aims to explore contemporary practices and the creative possibilities of photography, with a particular focus on fashion and editorial.
The MA will allow students to work in collaboration with world-renowned publishers and agencies: DXI and SCHÖN! Magazine and the most internationally consolidated agency Magnum Photos, through which students will learn about trends in fashion, culture, editorial, reportage, art…
The MA is aimed at students who wish to deepen their knowledge and practice of photographic production and visual culture, and who wish to enter the field of lifestyle editorial in fashion and trends, the creation of visual content for brands, art direction, and visual strategy.
It is supported by academics and professionals working across a range of media and fields in Europe and the UK. Written by the photography team at Coventry University and adapted by incorporating the vast experience of the Italian University LABA in undergraduate and postgraduate photography programmes, this MA builds on the various established connections that make LABA Valencia an ideal place to advance your photographic career.
2024 EDITION
January – December 2024
100% face-to-face
Monday to Wednesday 18h – 21h
Teaching language:
Spanish / English
180 UK credits
Enrolment: 10,400 €
Academic Programme
Faculty
+
Mágnum Photos
Schön! Magazine
DXI Magazine
ACADEMIC PROGRAM
1st four-month period
from January to April 2024
You will begin the 1st four-month period of the Master’s degree by developing the basics of your work and photographic production. Under the guidance of Alejandro Benavent, the director of DXI MAGAZINE, you will be introduced to the challenges and techniques of editorial publishing and will carry out a project for this international publication dedicated to creativity, visual culture, and contemporary art, which has won numerous awards in its 20-year history. The best student proposals will be selected for publication in DXI MAGAZINE. With the creative director Sergio Arribas, you will also study the audiences of photography through the milestones in the history of fashion and publishing, and under the guidance of the art curator and researcher Eduardo García Nieto, you will work on research methods that can be useful in the development of your final master’s project.
2nd four-month period
From April to July 2024
In the 2nd four-month period, in collaboration with the Magnum Photos Agency, the world’s most important photojournalism agency, you will carry out a photographic production that will culminate in the creation of a collective exhibition that will collect and present the work carried out. Under the guidance of a Magnum photographer, you will plan and carry out a collaborative project with a social focus, exploring social and cultural identities. You will also begin to plan your final project with photographer Vincent Urbani, outlining the practice, research, and structure of the project. You will also work with the art director Fede Duarte to explore the limits of photography, both conceptually and technologically, and the boundaries of photographic practice through the understanding and use of AI and 3D technologies.
3er four-month period
From September to December 2024
In the 3er four-month period, we will carry out a photographic production accompanied by the founders and creative directors of the Súper Fuerte studio, Álvaro Peñalta and Natxo Ramón, to respond to the brief that will be presented and reviewed by Raoul Keil, the director of Schön! Magazine, one of the most renowned publishers of contemporary fashion, who will be able to select some of the best works to be published in the magazine. With Vincent Urbani, we will define our positions as photographers within the many fields and trends of photography and reflect on how our gaze can contribute to understanding the world. Finally, under the personal guidance of the chosen teacher, each student will carry out the Final Major Project. Students will be required to complete a project of their own choice and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy.
FACULTY
Vincent Urbani
Vincent Urbani teaches and coordinates the BA (HONS) degree in Photography and Video at LABA Valencia. Fashion and advertising photographer and video maker specialized in portraits and editorial productions, his photographs have appeared in numerous international publications such as Vogue Italia, The New York Magazine, Interview Germany, Schön! UK, Neo2, Blau Art Magazine, A Part Magazine Paris and DXI Magazine. Vincent Urbani has worked on advertising campaigns for international brands such as Dolce e Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Levi’s, Crocs, Nespresso, Olay, Flos, Wella and Lladró.
Alejandro Benavent
director of DXI magazine
Alejandro Benavent is the creator and director of DXI magazine, a 100% experimental platform that goes beyond the limits of the editorial medium, creating an independent environment where different points of view on contemporary culture converge. Since 2000, he has published more than 60 titles and received important awards.
Sergio Arribas
Art & Content Manager in Lladró's global marketing department.
A creative director, he began his career working in the media, specialising in design and trends. After several years in the education sector, as a teacher and communications director at the IED Moda Lab Madrid and TAI creative schools, he has dedicated the last few years to the fashion and luxury sector. He curated the launch campaign for Zara’s online store in the United States. Since 2017 he has been part of the collective Existence Research Program, developing projects that bring together fashion, art and technology.
Alvaro Peñalta & Natxo Ramón
Creative-art directors of the Súper Fuerte studio.
Creative-art directors of the Súper Fuerte studio. Their client portfolio includes renowned brands such as Netflix, Universal, the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Equality, Ajuntament de València and Visa. They are passionate about developing personal projects with an artistic approach to editorial-style photography, which have been featured on Behance and other specialist media such as Wetransfer, Adobe Create, Domestika, Yorokobu, Fubiz, Neo2, Vein, Metal Magazine and Kaltblut.
Eduardo García Nieto
Art curator.
Art curator. Lecturer in Contextual Studies on the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Photography and Video. His research has focused on the political weight of the invisible in the CONCEALFROMY OUREYES project (La conservera Ceutí, Artium, La Sonrisa de la Ballesta and Bastero) or on the role of poetics in contemporary artistic practice (the LESS POETRY cycle at Artium or Vacío Perfecto at MUSAC). He has published in numerous catalogues for Artium, CAM, Casa Velázquez, Injuve, Liquidación Total, Montehermoso, Museo de Huelva, MUSAC, Sala Parpalló, Puertas de Castilla, Otro Espacio, Sala Rekalde, among others.
FACULTY: PUBLISHERS AND AGENCIES
Magnum Photos
The Magnum Photos agency is one of the most prestigious and renowned in the world. Its founders include Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour and George Rodger. The agency has offices in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. Its photographic archive contains more than a million images ranging from lifestyle, family, religion and culture to war, poverty… The Magnum Photos agency has a great prestige in the field of social and fashion photography, as it has been witnessed and protagonist of some of the most relevant and transcendent moments in the history and culture of the 20th and 21st century.
Schön! Magazine
Schön! Magazine is one of the most prestigious fashion and trend magazines, based in London and reflecting the global scale of the most cutting-edge creative community since 2009. It showcases the top celebrities, high fashion, art and culture that make our world so extraordinary, both in glossy print and on a transmedia digital platform. Schön! Magazine has collaborated with internationally renowned photographers and designers including Martin Parr, Lorenzo Meloni, Pablo Tosco, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Myke Towers and Reina Nishimura. It has a daily reach of 1.4 million people and more than 750,000 unique monthly online visitors.
DXI MAGAZINE
DXI Magazine was founded in Valencia (Spain) in 2000 and has since won several design and visual communication awards. It is characterised as an experimental platform that goes beyond the limits of editorial work. DXI is a point of reference for the debate on design culture and has generated a broad dialogue between different forms of expression, building bridges between local and international creators. Its content, presented in an innovative graphic design, offers a committed vision of design with an avant-garde style: topics on photography, fashion, art, industrial design, graphic design, interior design, illustration, architecture and other creative disciplines; it proposes an interesting dialogue between different forms of artistic and creative expression. DXI has been awarded the ADCV GOLD Award (2019), the LAUS Design Award (2007), a FAD medal for its cultural contribution (2004), among others.
MODULES
1st four-month period
from January to April 2024
Module: Photography and Publics
Teacher: Sergio Arribas
Photography and Publics aims to develop a deeper understanding of fashion and editorial audiences. It examines key moments in history when fashion and editorial photography converge, marking a before and after in social movements. From this research and related theoretical analysis, students will be able to develop and test their own editorial models that seek to connect their work to appropriate and specific audiences.
Module: Research Methods
Teacher: Eduardo García Nieto
The aim of this subject is to provide students with a corpus of research methods. This module provides them with the theoretical, conceptual and practical tools they need to undertake a research project. It introduces them to the professional and ethical issues that underpin their practice and helps them to reflect critically on their discipline. In this way, the module prepares students for their final Master’s projects by encouraging effective collaboration and developing their researcher/practitioner identities.
Module: Collaborative Community Project
Teacher: Alejandro Benavent, director of DXI MAGAZINE, with the collaboration of Vincent Urbani for the on-set sessions.
A selection of the best photographs will be published in DXI Magazine.
Under the guidance and editorial coordination of the director of DXI MAGAZINE, the students will create a live brief in relation to a community around and with which they will carry out their photographic proposal. The course will also allow them to learn and work on the aspects of an independent editorial project. The students will realise their photographic projects under the supervision of Teacher Vincent Urbani. Alejandro Benavent, director of DXI MAGAZINE and responsible of the module, will select the best photographs for publication in the magazine.
2nd four-month period
From April to July 2024
Module: Objects, spaces and boundaries
Teacher:
New techniques and trends in art direction. The teacher will guide students in an investigation of the interstices between photography and the object, the new technological boundaries currently associated with art direction, blurring and questioning roles in the current post-digital environment.
Module: Final Major Project. Research & Planning
Teacher: Vincent Urbani
The aim of this module is to develop the theoretical, methodological and experimental corpus for the student’s final project, to carry out a body of research-based work on their own creative project, demonstrating a critical awareness of current developments and trends in their field of practice. This work will form the basis of the student’s final project. Through this process, they will cultivate professional skills and a passion for the work that will reveal and nurture their developing professional identity.
Module: Collaborative social challenge project
Teacher: Fotógrafos de la Agencia Magnum
The module aims to explore the boundaries of personal, social and cultural identity through photography, developing students’ collaborative skills by working with Magnum photographers. Students will develop an interdisciplinary response to a brief that is generated by addressing and engaging with a social challenge. Working in groups and through negotiation, they will have the opportunity to lead, manage and contribute to the delivery of a professional approach to problem analysis, evaluation and strategies for developing a creative solution that converge in their fashion photography scenarios. This photographic process will culminate in the production of a photographic exhibition.
3rd four-month period
From September to December 2024
Module: Collaborative Enterprise Project
Teachers: Álvaro Peñalta and Natxo Ramón
+ The collaboration of Raoul Keil, director of Schön! Magazine
Under the guidance of the art directors of the Super Fuerte studio, the students will develop a complete production in response to a commission from one of the most important publishers in contemporary fashion. Students will develop the knowledge and practical skills to complete the magazine’s professional brief. Raoul Keil, director of Schön! Magazine, will set the criteria for the editorial brief and, upon completion of the unit, will select the most qualified works to be published in Schön! Magazine.
Module: Photographic Situations
Teacher: Vincent Urbani
The aim of this module is to reflect on and define one’s personal position within the many areas and fields of editorial fashion photography, analysing the way in which such photography has spread into the fields of portraiture, film, reportage, and music. Photographic Situations explores the many ways in which fashion editorial photography contributes to and defines itself in its contextual forms, questioning how it plays different roles depending on its purpose and how it contributes to understanding the world.
Module: Final Major Project. Production & Sharing
Teachers: Various tutors
In this module, students will undertake an independent piece of research, informed by the wider contexts of their discipline, that is coherent and of a standard appropriate to a Master’s degree. Students will be required to independently manage a project of their own choice and will rely on a high degree of autonomy. Work will be predominantly self-directed, supported by specialist staff in the relevant subject area, both in group and individual tutorials.
Master of Arts in Photography
[Fashion & Editorial]
January – December 2024
100% face-to-face
Monday to Wednesday 18h – 21h
Teaching language:
Spanish / English
180 UK credits
