The unique opportunities we offer in our Photography major will give you a creative advantage in shaping your career and help you launch your dream profession.
Focus your study on one of three tracks: Digital and Photographic Arts, Film and Video, or Publication Photography. In each track, you’ll develop a deep knowledge of the medium through a curriculum steeped in the traditional methods of photography— film and chemistry. Your technical expertise will grow as you work with professional imaging equipment, formats of digital and film cameras, studio lighting, and digital manipulation and enhancement. In addition, your study of still and moving imagery will include exposure to film and video, digital editing, current rip printing software, and the use of special effects. Each track within the major offers the expertise of a diverse, committed faculty and the insight of visiting artists delivered through interdisciplinary, collaborative teaching and creative exploration. All students work in their own individual studio space and have access to exhibition areas. You will achieve a rich and varied knowledge of the techniques and aesthetics of photography as you explore an array of photographic and video materials, processes, and conceptual approaches. You’ll refine your unique vision and learn to communicate that vision through assignments, lectures, critiques, and one-on-one discussions. As a student in this major, you’re encouraged to participate in exchange programs, international mobility studies, and internships with professional artists and photographers. You can also participate in onsite workshops and lectures sponsored by professional organizations such as ASMP (American
Society of Media Photographers) and by industry representatives from Fujifilm, Leaf America, Gretag MacBeth, Mamiya, Hasselblad, and Polaroid Corporation. All CIA students take Professional Practices courses to develop those skills for a successful career and in the Photography major we also bring in professional journalists, critics, writers, collectors, curators, and museum and gallery directors to meet with you and critique and review portfolios. CIA’s Photography department operates in spacious facilities equipped with film-based color and black-and-white darkrooms, a full-featured digital imaging and printing lab, and both video and 16mm film editing and computing facilities. You’ll work in state-of-the-art lighting studios with a large Light Side Lighting Studio that is more than 1,200 square feet with a 24-foot ceiling and a two-story wall of windows. Our Dark Side Lighting Studio is 898 square feet with 12-foot ceilings and a curtain system for light control. Additional equipment also available to you includes color and black-and-white enlargers, medium- and large-format cameras, color management software, and black-and-white dipand-dunk film processing. Our graduates go on to become commercial photographers, photojournalists, and fashion photographers and work in scientific, medical, and forensic imaging. In addition, graduates have gone on to graduate schools, to contribute as art educators, or work within the field as independent photographers, filmmakers, and video artists.
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