Master of Arts in Photography
Postgraduate Diploma of Higher Education in Photography validated 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: OCIMAG 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.
2025 EDITION
January – December 2025
100% face-to-face
Monday to Wednesday 18h – 21h
Teaching language: English
180 UK credits
Enrolment: 10,400 €
Academic Programme
Faculty
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Mágnum Photos
Schön! Magazine
OCIMAG
ACADEMIC PROGRAM
1st four-month period
from January to April 2025
We will begin the first quarter of the MA by developing the fundamentals of our work and photographic production. Guided by Ismael Chappaz, director of the prestigious contemporary art gallery HOUSE OF CHAPPAZ, we will face the challenges and techniques of editorial publishing, carrying out a project for one of the leading trend publications in Spain: OCIMAG. The students’ best proposals will be selected to be published in OCIMAG. 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 2025
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 one of 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 Ricardo Orts to explore the limits of photography, both conceptually and technologically, and the boundaries of photographic practice through the understanding and use of AI technologies.
3er four-month period
From September to December 2025
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 of Raoul Keil, 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.
Ismael Chappaz
director of House of Chappaz
Founder and director of the contemporary art gallery House of Chappaz, which grew out of the evolution of his previous design studio/gallery Espai Tactel, since its founding in 2011.
House of Chappaz is among the top ten young galleries in the country, with a presence in international contemporary art fairs, with artists – including photographers such as Natacha Lesueur and Christto & Andrew – exhibiting in major national and international institutions and selling to the best foundations and museums…
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.
Ricardo Orts
Creative-art director of the design studio Ulises
Ricardo Orts is an architect and digital artist based in Berlin and Valencia who has worked in various studios across Europe. With over a decade of experience in design and architectural visualization, he has always understood the power of the image as a tool of the creation process. Currently runs the design studio Ulises specializad in crafting near-future architectures, poetic atmospheres and refined art direction. Their aim is always to merging creative innovation and cutting edge technology, to design a non-artific future. At the Studio, they combine our expertise in architectural design, art direction, and storytelling to create narratives that resonate with audiences on a deep emotional level.
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.
OCIMAG MAGAZINE
OCIMAG is a magazine that was born in 2006 and is currently positioned as one of the national print media of new trends of reference in Spain, offering a very particular global vision of the world of fashion, music, design, art, general culture, and photography. New trends, innovative and impacting, presented in a very careful collectible edition.
OCIMAG: Paper never dies.
MODULES
1st four-month period
from January to April 2025
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.
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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.
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Module: Collaborative Community Project
Teacher: Ismael Chappaz
Students will work on a briefing in relation to a community, around and with which they will carry out their photographic proposal. The subject will also allow them to learn about and work on the aspects involved in an editorial project.
A selection of the best photographs will be published in OCIMAG magazine. Rubén Vidal, director of OCIMAG, will be invited to attend some of the sessions to bring us closer to the reality of trend magazines.
2nd four-month period
From April to July 2025
Module: Objects, spaces and boundaries
Teacher: Ricardo Orts
New techniques and trends in art direction. The teacher will accompany students in an investigation of the interstices of photography and the object, the new technological limits associated with art direction through the use of AI, the creation of poetic atmospheres and refined art direction.
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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.
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Module: Collaborative social challenge project
Teacher: Magnum Agency photographer
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 2025
Module: Collaborative Enterprise Project
Teachers: Álvaro Peñalta and Natxo Ramón
Under the guidance of the art directors of the Super Fuerte studio, the students will develop a complete production in response to a brief 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, upon completion of the unit, will select the most qualified works to be published in Schön! Magazine.
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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.
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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
January – December 2025
100% face-to-face
Monday to Wednesday 18h – 21h
Teaching language: English
180 UK credits
