Photography

Students are guided toward greater self-knowledge and ownership of their practices. An artist who knows who they are and what they want is best prepared to succeed after the program ends.

During the first few weeks, students teach the cohort about their histories of making, influences, interests, and goals, and how they best receive criticism. This prepares the group to enter into critique.  

As studio practice intensifies, we emphasize experimentation and risk – better a large failure than a small, safe success. Over the semesters, students move from iteration to exhibition: rapid and varied experimentation in the first semester, expanding on successes in the second, developing focus and depth in the third, and finally, preparing work for the Graduate Degree Exhibition.

The program’s cadence closely resembles the creative cycles of a working artist, helping students develop strong and sustainable habits.

Daily life in the department takes place in community where our purpose is to help each other grow as artists. There is formal time set aside for getting to know each other, but the community grows through informal interactions as students share meals, tools, space, and ideas. Knowing each other means having accountability for your core work: an individual research agenda, commitment to experimentation, and dedication to the studio.  

We also engage in formal mechanisms to avoid the pitfalls of personal taste and contemporary fashion, leaving room for new ways of working and thinking. These include seminars on critical reading and writing; weekly one-on-one studio visits that allow time for in-depth questions; and informed critique, a model based not around the improvement of specific works but on the growth of the artist, scheduled to allow multiple students to receive feedback each week.

The Photography department houses a digital lab, traditional darkrooms, and a lighting studio. The digital lab includes four iMacs outfitted with the Adobe Creative Suite, two large format printers (a 64” Epson P20000 and a 17” Epson P900), and two flatbed scanners (an Epson V850 and an Epson 10000XL).

The darkrooms are outfitted with 4×5 Durst enlargers, stainless steel sinks, and a wash basin capable of processing a 4×8’ mural print. The lighting studio has a large infinity wall and is fully equipped with Profoto strobes with various-sized light modifiers, stands, and backdrops.

Additionally, we offer cameras for student checkout, from a 100-megapixel Hasselblad X2D kit to several Nikon D850s and a wide range of lenses. Students in the Photography department also have access to the shared resources of the Academy.