My experience studying Marine & Natural History Photography at Falmouth

This article was written by Marine & Natural History Photography BA(Hons) student Toby.

Hi! My name is Toby. I have just finished my second year of Marine and Natural History Photography (MNHP) at Falmouth University. Two years ago, I was choosing between my university offers and I settled on MNHP. In this blog, I’m going to explain why I chose this course and what it’s like being an MNHP student.

Before coming to a Falmouth Open Day, I'd applied to three other universities for Film Production, as I thought this was the route I wanted to go down, but after hearing about this course and seeing the facilities that were on offer, I was completely sold on this course. 

Reasons why I chose the course:

• I am a HUGE outdoors person and I love all things cameras; this course is the perfect blend of those two things and it's allowed me to find my niche in natural world photography.
• The available kit to book out at any time from university means that I can use so much of the kit I used to dream about!
• Falmouth itself is the perfect blend of countryside and coast, and it makes for the perfect place to explore and photograph.

In my first year of MNHP I explored all kinds of photography. The modules you study in the first year allow you to explore: underwater photography, landscape, macro, wildlife or, if you are like me, astrophotography! In the second term of your first year you'll refine your photography skills further and progress from a photographer into a visual storyteller.

As you move into the second year, you'll continue to practice photography, but one of your three modules will allow you to explore filmmaking in a crew with your course mates. In the second term you'll take on work experience, which you are given assistance to find, alongside your photography and solo filmmaking module. I have just handed in the film that I made over this last term and I absolutely loved every moment of producing it and my major third year project will be a film about the natural world. 

Before starting MNHP, I think it’s important to consider if you have passion for the natural world. If so, then this course will help you fledge into an amazing visual storyteller of the natural world. If not, Falmouth has multiple other photography courses and film production courses on offer.