Photography Curriculum & Courses
The Photography Department offers a flexible, interdisciplinary curriculum that is highly attuned to the needs of individual students. Courses are offered in all areas of photographic expression and are designed to inspire and nurture individual creativity, as well as promote visual and conceptual risk-taking. Our diverse faculty represents an outstanding variety of viewpoints, techniques, and approaches to photography. The department’s state-of-the-art facilities complement your course work, helping you realize your vision and prepare you for a professional life in photography.
Photography BFA Degree Total Credits: 123 Photo Foundation Year First semester: 16.5 credits Foundation Lecture / Lab I Foundation Seminar I Art in the Western World I English Composition Drawing Fundamentals Second semester: 15 credits Foundation Lecture / Lab II Foundation Seminar II General Elective 20th Century Photography Writing & Literary Arts Second Year First semester: 18 credits Large Format Intro to Documentary Sophomore Seminar I: Concepts Studio Elective Art in the Western World II Liberal Arts Elective Second semester: 15 credits Intro to Commercial / Studio Contemporary Trends Digital Media I or Digital Printing I Sophomore Seminar II: Projects Shaping of Western Culture or Liberal Arts Elective
Third Year First semester: 15 credits Color Photography or Color: Digital Advanced Printing or Advanced Printing II: Digital Processes Photo Major Elective Studio Elective Liberal Arts Elective Second semester: 15 credits Junior Portfolio Studio Elective Advanced Art History Elective Math Requirement General Elective Fourth Year First semester: 15 credits Senior Portfolio I Photo Major Elective Studio Elective Advanced Art History Elective Science Requirement Second semester: 15 credits Senior Portfolio II Photo Major Elective Studio Elective Social Science Elective Liberal Arts Elective
Intro Adobe Photoshop for Photographers 1.5 credits IPHOT 1180 This course introduces Photoshop to photographers who have little or no experience. We begin with the basics of the program, bringing in images, creating images, and learning to output them for both print and the web. Foundation Lecture & Lab I 3 credits IPHOT 1200 Photography studies begin with this Photography Foundation course. The intention of Lecture & Lab I is to prepare students to deal with a vast palette of traditional, ‘wet lab’ black & white photographic materials and to serve as the technical complement to the conceptual and critique based Visual Seminar I. In Lecture & Lab I, students learn the basic properties of light, camera and lens functions; control of exposure and development including basic exposure index testing and ‘pushing’ and ‘pulling’ of film stocks; basics of B&W printing including split filter printing and print toning; working with available light; and presentation options of the final imagery. The emphasis of this course is to reinforce good overall habits and make high quality negatives as well as fiber-based prints.
Spring Photography Foundation 6 credits IPHOT 1190 Spring Photography Foundation is a unique and intensive introduction to the techniques and conceptual, critique based, concerns of photographic and interrelated media image making. The intent of the course is to prepare the student to deal with a vast palette of photographic techniques and materials and to serve as a beginning combination lab and seminar experience emphasizing professional technical instruction, conceptual and perceptual awareness, and critical thinking in a contemporary and historical context. Within this framework, students will begin defining their relationships to photography and related image making. This 6 credit course is the prerequisite to Lecture / Lab II and Seminar II.
Intro to Alternative Photo Processes 3 credits IPHOT 2100 Intro to Alternative Photographic Processes is a hands-on and dynamic group learning experience. In this course you will investigate an extensive range of alternative photographic processes from the historical birth of the medium through digital negative production. You will be introduced to a variety of processes including salted paper, gum bichromate, Argyrotype, Kallitype, Cyanotype, Van Dyke, platinum / palladium, Ziatype, albumen, as well as options such as pinhole, Lazertran, and hand applied emulsions. You will see how these concepts, techniques, experiments, and shared ideas will result in new directions for each individual’s vision and portfolio. Prerequisite: IPHOT 1300 / 1310 or permission of instructor.
Foundation Lecture & Lab II 3 credits IPHOT 1210 This second semester Photography Foundation course is designed to build on the skills developed in Lecture & Lab I and to serve as the technical complement to the conceptual and critique based Visual Seminar II. This course emphasizes the relationships of concept, materials, and techniques and greater overall control of process. Specific areas of study include hand-held metering; working with ‘flash’; introduction to medium format cameras; introduction to basic Zone System principles; and introduction to working with color films and color printing. Prerequisite: IPHOT 1200 permission of instructor.
Color: Digital 3 credits IPHOT 2120 This course explores the potential of digital capture and output to transform the medium of color photography both aesthetically and technically. With the creation of the camera raw file format, the traditional pre-exposure concerns of color balance and exposure have now become post-exposure choices for the artist. Color: Digital investigates the artistic implications of this malleability of image capture. The course follows through to improved controls and archival quality attainable in digital color photography.
Foundation Seminar I and II 3 credits each IPHOT 1300 / 1310 This is an introductory (I) / intermediate (II) level seminar course in the contemporary, historical, and personal aesthetics of photography. Foundation Seminar is primarily a critique experience. The intention of the course is to investigate the personal, interdisciplinary, and subtle aspects of the medium, to help students become actively engaged with their own creative abilities and vision, and to cultivate, and support artistic risk within a nurturing and demanding environment.
Large-Format Photography 3 credits IPHOT 2150 A thorough investigation of the view camera, with emphasis on solving particular technical problems. Students create their own technical resource notebooks as they experiment with the many artistic and technical options available to the photographer. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210, IPHOT1300/1310.
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Photography Course Descriptions
Photography Curriculum & Courses
Intro to Documentary 3 credits IPHOT 2320 This core course examines the practices and philosophies of photojournalism and documentary photography. Areas of study include: freelance magazine and newspaper work, creation and execution of a documentary essay, editing, business practices, and portfolio preparation and presentation. There is a strong emphasis on shooting. Students meet in groups and individually with professors to work towards incorporating the language, skills, and practice of the photojournalist/documentary photographer. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210, IPHOT 1300/1310.
Sophomore Seminar I: Concepts 3 credits IPHOT 2410 This course presents the wide variety of ideas and concepts currently used by photographers. This class will place emphasis on reading, writing and discussion of ideas, as well as visits to museums and galleries and presentations on the topics that are explored. Assignments are structured to encourage a broad understanding of the ways in which these ideas can be incorporated into your working methods. IPHOT 2410 is a prerequisite for IPHOT 2420 Sophomore Seminar II: Projects. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1300/1310 or permission of instructor.
Contemporary Trends 3 credits IPHOT 2330 This course surveys major contemporary trends and their evolution in fine art, documentary, and commercial photography since World War II. Individual photographer’s styles are examined within an historical context. Slide lectures and class discussions are supplemented by guest lectures and visits to galleries and museums in the Boston area. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210.
Sophomore Seminar II: Projects 3 credits IPHOT 2420 Sophomore Seminar is an examination of the ideas behind photography and art making. This class places an equal emphasis on creative projects, readings on photography and art, visits to museums and galleries, and responses and presentations on the ideas brought forth by our investigations. Assignments are structured to encourage thoughtful, individual responses. The intent of this course is to encourage critical thinking about attitudes towards photography and art. Prerequisites: IPHOT 2410 or permission of instructor.
Photo History & Process: 19th Century 3 credits IPHOT 2340 This course introduces students to the work of major 19th century fine art and documentary photographers. The relationship between the concepts driving innovations and the practical, if often elegant, technical solutions arrived at by photography’s practitioners is emphasized. Technique demonstrations are also included with various topics of discussion. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210.
Real Life Fashion I: The World is your Studio 3 credits IPHOT 2660 This class explores how the line between fine art photography and commercial fashion is slowly disappearing. Students are encouraged to find their own personal style through examining contemporary fashion photography and its impact on culture. History of the genre and its influences from other media are explored. Class time is divided between lectures, critique, visiting artists, field trips and location shooting. Prerequisite: Seminar II (IPHOT 1310). Lighting is not taught in this class therefore IPHOT 2670, or equivalent, or permission of instructor is recommended.
Introduction to Commercial Photography 3 credits IPHOT 2670 This core course introduces students to the materials, techniques, and practices of professional, commercial, and advertising photography. Focus is on the fundamentals of the studio and the conceptual aspects of professional, commercial, and studio work. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210, IPHOT1300/1310. Junior Portfolio 3 credits IPHOT 3160 Photography students meet together as a class to produce an integrated portfolio and to develop technical expertise, insight into their media and personal vision. Finished portfolios are evaluated by faculty members and other photography professionals. Color Photography 3 credits IPHOT 3201 This course is an introduction to the theoretical and practical fundamentals of color photography. Through the use of traditional and digital color materials, students will explore the special problems and possibilities color presents for the contemporary artist / photographer. Designed for the first or second year student, the course prepares students to choose among various techniques and color concepts in order to creatively enrich their work. Color prepares students to create meaningful color imagery within an ever-changing medium. Participants complete a portfolio that examines and foregrounds their increasing mastery of exposure, color-balancing and conscious use of color in the fulfillment of concept. Class time includes lecture, discussion, critique and lab work.
Journalism: Photojournalism 3 credits IPHOT 3365 This course involves a critical inquiry into the origins, evolution, and contemporary practice of photojournalism. The emphasis is on working methods of major photojournalists; alternative approaches to covering events; synergy of image and text; logistics and ethics of reporting; bias (cultural, national, personal) versus point of view; and the extended reach of contemporary photojournalism into the realms of broadcast news and the world wide web. Documentary Projects 3 credits IPHOT 3370 This is an advanced level course designed to allow each student to work on a single documentary. Students are introduced to the techniques, planning and practical decisions involved in a successful documentary project. There are visits by working photojournalists; viewing and discussion of documentary films and exhibition; articles to be analyzed; and critiques of documentaries. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2320.
Photography and Power 3 credits IPHOT 3390 Photography and Power examines the influence and power of the image in our contemporary life. Through critical readings and deconstruction of photographs in the contexts of political, social and commercial campaigns, spreads, and monographs, we will explore how photographers, editors, and curators use the image to encourage viewers to ask questions, to shape public opinion, to make choices, to buy a product, or how to conduct their lives. This class is intended to look beyond the surface of images to address the decisions that were made when a photograph was taken, and put to use. We will look at the history of images as well as current events to understand the influence and power of images in the past and our present. Discussions on readings will invite critical writing and thinking skills. This class is open to all departments. Contemporary Concepts: The Constructed Image 3 credits IPHOT 3440 The Constructed Image concentrates on conceptual portraiture and self-portraiture, still life, and tableau. The evolution and evolving perceptions of photographic subject, from objective description to subjective depiction in contemporary image making, are explored. Prerequisite: IPHOT 1310.
Cinema and Visual Reaction 3 credits IPHOT 3460 This course examines and explores varied approaches to the art of Cinema and the translation of literature into film, as well as narrative and analytic writing, and creative visual response. The intention of the course is to provide the student with an understanding of how creative responses to art, in a variety of media, can be a source and a resource for personal work. Using the translation of literature into film as a basis, this course introduces and illuminates literary and cinematic methods of analysis and resynthesis. Over the course of the semester, the class views films and is assigned to read, or see, the original source in conjunction with written and visual assignments. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1310, IPHOT 2420. The Critical Eye 3 credits IPHOT 3480 A reading and discussion oriented course for advanced students interested in photography, video, and digital media. Selected readings offer participants an expanding frame of reference for developing concepts and creative work. Contemporary themes and ideas are examined and explored in the work of photographically based media artists. Prerequisites: IAHIS 1300, IPHOT 2330.
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The Portrait: Traditional & Contemporary 3 credits IPHOT 3310 This course extends the concept of portrait to include narrative fiction, formulist interpretation, fashion, and conceptual approaches. Participants examine portraits of individuals, groups and subcultures, and self-portraits. The way in which portraiture has been realized by artists and documentarians in fine art, cinema, and multi-media is considered.
Photography Curriculum & Courses
Digital Imaging I 3 credits IPHOT 3500 The computer is an evolving tool transforming the medium of photography. This technology is rapidly changing the way photographers and artists work with images. The marriage of traditional and digital photographic process offers enhanced flexibility and control, and a significant increase in opportunities for individual, creative expression. Digital Imaging I explores the interaction of old and new in a number of key areas. Classroom sessions provide opportunities for exploration, evaluation, and discussion of the implications of digital technology in relation to the individual student’s aesthetic. Field trips to service bureaus and production facilities broaden awareness of the rapidly expanding digital world. Prerequisites: Foundation Seminar II, Intro to Photoshop, or equivalent. Digital Media I 3 credits IPHOT 3510 Digital Media I is an intermediate level requirement/ elective dedicated to on-screen digital image manipulation. This course serves as an introduction of digital media options for expression of creative ideas. Tools such as Flash, streaming media, audio clips, and Photoshop are used to produce screen-based fine art. Students develop fundamental web-based skills by creating an uncomplicated web gallery of work. Individual creative intentions and processes, through digital media experimentation, are strongly encouraged. Prerequisites: Foundation Seminar II, Intro to Photoshop, or permission of instructor.
Digital Printing I 3 credits IPHOT 3560 The potential of the computer to transform the medium of photography has become an issue as central to craft as to aesthetics. Blending traditional and digital processes can provide remarkable flexibility, control, and expressive freedom. This course explores the interaction of old and new in a variety of key areas. The full range of photographic modalities can be addressed. There are no restrictions on format, style, or intent. Classroom sessions provide opportunities for exploration, evaluation, and discussion of the implications of digital technology within the individual student’s aesthetic. Prerequisites: Foundation II and Intro to Photoshop for Photographers or equivalent. Fine Digital Photography 3 credits IPHOT 3565 Fine Digital Photography builds the foundation of skills for taking Photography into the 21st century. The course emphasizes developing fast, efficient, and consistent work in the digital darkroom, adapting concepts originating from film based shooting to a “data management” strategy. We explore, in depth, the nature of the camera RAW file. and build a powerful way of working with these files while seeing how it changes our individual photographic vision. Using the best equipment available and a deep understanding of the process, we define and explore the future of Photography. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1310 Visual Seminar II, Digital Printing I, or permission of instructor.
The Web as an Art Form 3 credits IPHOT 3580 Web art, a uniquely dematerialized art form, is among the newest of new media art. The class explores precursors to web art, various web art genres, past and current trends in web art, and web technology “for newbies.“ The unique aesthetics, limitations, and social contexts associated with web art are investigated. The impact on this innovative art form, resulting from the recognition by art “authorities” of the Internet as a viable art venue is explored. Prerequisite: IPHOT 3500. Advanced Printing 3 credits IPHOT 3600 This course focuses on developing mastery of B&W printing techniques and processes in order to explore the potential for expressive interpretation of the negative. Once sufficient mastery is attained, students are asked to pursue the direction best suited to their own goals for fine art, commercial, or documentary photography. Prerequisites: IPHOT 1200/1210, Core. Advanced Printing II Digital Processes 3 credits IPHOT 3610 Blending traditional and digital processes can provide remarkable flexibility, control, and expressive freedom. This course explores this interaction of old and new through digital proof-sheets and archives; high quality negative scanning techniques; creating digital masks for conventional processes and enlarged negatives for non-silver and alternative process printing; and printing both Black and White (Piezography quadtone) and color via inkjet media. There are no restrictions on format, style, or intent. This class is designed to increase awareness, and explore opportunies, of a rapidly expanding digital world. Prerequisite: IPHOT3500 or permission of instructor.
Landscape and Architecture 3 credits IPH0T 3700 This course examines the techniques and expressive possibilities in photographing land and cityscapes, and interior environment with the large format camera. Field trips, classroom critiques and presentations by outside photographer are included. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2150 or permission of instructor. Offered every other year. Landscape of Memory: Histories 3 credits IPH0T 3715 Landscape of Memory: Histories is a portfolio seminar that discusses the significance of past events in the context of individual and collective memory. Ruins, landscapes and the urban environment will serve as platforms for investigating experiences that are of historical, political, socio-economic, environmental, or cultural importance. Students will be encouraged to situate themselves within the work of artists who have dealt with these themes such as Shimon Attie, Alfredo Jaar, An My Li, Sophie Ristelhueber, Richard Misrach, Kara Walker, Mark Klett, Sally Mann, W.G. Sebald, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Claude Lanzmann, and Susan Meiselas. Students will be encouraged to verbally and visually articulate the significance of an experience of the past and its impact on understanding the present in order to enable students to understand the complexities of cultural and individual inheritance. Video, installation, photography, fine art, or mixed media are encouraged.
Art in Context 3 credits IPHOT 3740 This team taught course is designed for more advanced students interested in exploring the contemporary art scene in Boston, New England, and New York. Established guest artists from Boston and beyond will visit the class over the semester to discuss their careers, talk with us about current projects, provide students with critiques, and make suggestions about future directions, which will provide students with new ways of thinking about their work and will be the basis for in depth discussion about a variety of ways they can present their work. Students will be encouraged to see and assess their work from the viewpoint of those they will be approaching after graduation (curators, dealers, agents, etc) and to consider a variety of possibilities for their career in the arts. The course will include trips to studios, galleries and museums to see work, visit collections, and meet artists, curators, and collectors. This class is structured like a seminar to allow for trips to Brown, RISD as well as one major trip to New York for visits to MoMA, the ICP, Whitney, Metropolitan, and selected galleries. For more information visit: www. aibartincontext.blogspot.com Prerequisites: IPHOT 2420 Advanced Alternative Processes 3 credits IPHOT 4100 Advanced Alternative Processes is an intermediate / advanced level project based experience. The intent of the course is to provide a workshop-like environment in order to facilitate the creation of new and personal directions in alternative photographic processes. Students will be able to investigate, and refine, specific techniques such as salted paper, cyanotype, gum bichromate, platinum / palladium, Ziatype, kallitype, argyrotype, Van Dyke, albumen, carbon, hand applied emulsions, and combination processes, leading to a finished portfolio, book, or project. Flexibility, experimentation, and risk will be encouraged. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2100 or permission of instructor.
Professional Directions 3 credits IPHOT 4120 For advanced students interested in the publication and exhibition of their work. Photographers have a semester of visits to publishers of fine art books, curators of galleries, book and portfolio designers, and two of the finest printing firms dedicated to reproduction of images for books, posters, cards and catalogues. Students design their work, publish a fine art postcard or poster, and collaborate by designing and mounting an exhibition. Senior Portfolio I/II 3 credits each IPHOT 4150 / 4160 This class is a concentration requirement providing a pivotal base for the entire senior year. Students whose primary focus incorporates fine art, commercial and editorial, and photojournalism/documentary meet together in a single, year-long critique seminar. The primary concern is developing and refining a personal vision and style to produce a strong, finished portfolio. At the end of each semester, student work is evaluated by visiting faculty and outside guest critics and jurors. Senior Portfolio I & II run each semester and students from both levels are integrated into all sections. Prerequisites: Successful completion of IPHOT3160, Junior Portfolio. Horror In Photography & Film 3 credits IPHOT 4180 This class investigates both real and fictional horror as portrayed in film and photography. Films and photographs will be reviewed weekly: classic horror films, films documenting atrocities, and the photographs of both fictionalized and documented horror. The differences in medium, artist’s intent, and viewer participation are examined and discussed. Students are required to write two in depth analyses of work shown in class during the semester, and create body of work that depicts an actual or metaphorical horror.
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Conceptual Editorial Photography 3 credits IPHOT 3680 An intermediate level course which explores areas of professional photography outside of advertising, such as magazine covers and editorial illustrations; compact disc and cassette covers; brochures, calendars and posters; fashion, food, industrial, travel and stock photography. Students are encouraged to create innovative as well as traditional solutions. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2670. Open to non-photography majors who have completed IPHOT 1220, equivalent, with permission of instructor.
Photography Curriculum & Courses
Contemporary Color Photography 3 credits IPHOT 4200 In the past two decades photographers such as William Eggeston, Nan Goldin, David Hockney, Richard Misrach, and Cindy Sherman have redefined the role of color imagery in fine art photography. This course provides students with the opportunity to explore new ways of working with color and content on projects of their own design. Students produce two unrelated portfolios using both reversal and negative working materials. This is an advanced, fine arts based, color photography class designed to complement the technically oriented. IPHOT 3201. Prerequisite: IPHOT 3201. Rites & Celebrations 3 credits IPHOT 4300 Day of the Dead: Rituals and Ceremony is a class that educates students in the intricacies of rituals and ceremony through observation and research. There are assigned readings, discussions, papers and field trips. Students are expected to produce visual assignments and a final project based upon a major 5 day field trip to Oaxaca, Mexico for the Day of the Dead. This occasion involves feasting and celebration honoring family members who have “passed on,” and whom Mexicans believe will return home for a visit one day each year. There are candlelight processions, feasting and games in the graveyards, fireworks, parades and festivities. All students interested in taking this class are expected to be covered under a comprehensive health insurance policy. Additional travel expenses are expected to be $1000. This covers round trip air between Boston and Mexico City to Oaxaca, lodging at the Calesa Real Hotel and meals. Limited to 12 students. By instructor’s permission only.
Digital Imaging and Manipulation II 3 credits IPHOT 4500 This course is a continuation of Digital Imaging and Manipulation I IPHOT 3500 and assumes an upper intermediate level of experience in the field of digital imaging. This course commences with projects and digital imaging instruction that incorporate advanced techniques in Adobe Photoshop. Students utilize their own artwork in the development of their projects, with a goal of a finished digital portfolio. Prerequisite: IPHOT 3500 or permission of instructor. E-Projects with Dreamweaver & Flash 3 credits IPHOT 4530 As a relatively new form of public media, e-projects are electronic works made to be viewed on the world wide web. This type of art is typically subversive, and usually timely. This course focuses on the methods and ideologies of current web artists, in combination with demonstrations of the tools needed to begin creating an eproject. Course does not include making a commerce site or portfolio showcase. Prerequisite: One full semester of Adobe Photoshop or permission of instructor. Professional Studio: Real Life 3 credits IPHOT 4660 This course covers the practical, professional and business aspects of a functioning, professional photography studio through individual and group projects and jobs. Through simulated and actual job projects, students will collaborate to make a variety of work that draws inspiration from current marketing and trends. Practical topics to be examined include: basics of studio photography equipment, materials, facility, personnel; portfolio; supportive and self-employment: pros & cons; bookkeeping/computer databases; law and ethics and other subject matter. Included in the various discussions are guest photographers and people in the industry. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2670 permission of instructor.
Advertising & Commercial Photo II 3 credits IPHOT 4670 An intermediate level course that builds upon basic lighting skills introduced in earlier courses. Topics include multiple exposure, special effects, and rear projection techniques. Through assignments including food, fashion, industrial, and night photography, students learn to manipulate the elements of light, color, background, and subject matter for storytelling purposes. Prerequisite: IPHOT 2670. Photography Internship Variable credits IPHOT 4880 The internship program provides Photography majors with experience in a professional environment, helping to prepare them for entry into the job market. Interns put their technical and creative knowledge to work and have the chance to make professional connections within the photography community. Students must formally apply; positions generally last 15 weeks. See Department Chair for approval. Studio Assistant 1.5 credits The student assists a faculty member with the weekly preparation and instruction of a class. Duties may include research, slide show preparation, demonstrations, instructing, and assisting in critiques. This position provides valuable experience and insight into the teaching profession, and strengthens the student’s abilities to articulate and communicate visual concepts. The development of mentor relationships is also encouraged. Participation in this course is limited to students selected by the faculty of the specific course, and/or the Department Head. The Department Head gives final approval to the selection(s).