This course introduces the fundamental techniques and aesthetic vision of photography, from traditional analogue roots to contemporary digital skills. Students learn to operate SLR-style cameras for proper exposure, using both film and digital capture methods, and learn appropriate workflows to transform film negatives into fine-prints in a traditional darkroom, as well as to edit and output archival inkjet prints in our digital print studio. The course includes demonstrations, lab work, readings, field assignments, and critiques. Students may work with their own cameras or check-out cameras through the department.

Film photography embodies the mysterious and mechanical manipulation of shadows and time. This course introduces students to the fundamental techniques and aesthetic decisions necessary to transform an SLR-style film camera into a creative extension of the artist’s vision, through proper exposure and thoughtful composition. Film negatives are then carefully transformed into fine prints in a traditional black & white darkroom. Participants hone their personal perception through thematic projects, as well as readings, field assignments, and regular critiques. Students may work with their own cameras or check-out cameras through the department.

The interaction of light and color is as essential to photography as it is to our perception of the world around us. Color photography was developed to simulate how we see, making it a medium where authentic reality and illusion often collide. This course introduces the fundamental techniques, aesthetics, and visual literacy of color image-making through digital cameras and printing processes. Through a series of thematic projects, students will learn proper exposure with DSLR and mirrorless cameras; effective file management; image adjustments and manipulation; and output for print and screen. Students will begin with image editing in Adobe Lightroom, and as the course progresses, learn the workflow handoff to Adobe Photoshop as an additional tool to refine images and manipulate imagery for expressive purposes. Students may work with their own cameras or check-out cameras through the department.

The learning objectives of this course are geared toward a specific topic of current interest generally not covered in other courses offered by the department. These courses, typically not offered continuously in the department, provide students and faculty the opportunity to explore new content and course formats. The specific topic is announced in the course schedule.

The photographic medium has a long history with observational truth, but in the 21st century, this is counterbalanced against the technological speed and potency of constructed and composited images. In this course, students will look at the deep history of photographic manipulation while creating new narrative imagery using advanced digital compositing, studio lighting, and special optical techniques. The course also consider the role of composite imagery in art, editorial and advertising, illuminating the functions of photo-based illustrations in contemporary society.

This course is an introduction to photojournalism, in its many contemporary forms. Students explore street photography, news reporting, editorial assignments, long-form visual essays, and creating content for digital media, including commissioned and self-directed projects. Attention is paid to the complex relationship between creative expression and objectivity in documentation. Journalistic standards and ethical responsibilities to both subjects and viewers are core themes for discussion. Topics also include working with video; narrative storytelling; collaboration with writers and editors; and relevant professional practices. Students learn through regular assignments, editing, and critiques; as well as readings, independent research, and conversations with visiting professionals.

This course expands the student’s knowledge of black and white film photography and explores the photographers reach beyond the darkroom. What opportunities become available that do not exist in the approach and qualities of digital imagery? How do you employ light, chemistry and the emulsion in your practice? Students work with small, medium, and large format cameras towards greater control of the negative and fine silver print, and also explore the extended image and camera-less photography. Course time consist of lectures, demonstrations, work days, individual and deep emphasis on group critiques. it is of paramount importance that students ideas and personal vision take center stage moving forward through the course.

This course focuses on developing an awareness of light and learning to translate that observation into photographs made with artificial light sources. Working both in an indoor studio environment and on location, students learn how to manipulate lighting using photographic strobe and the multitude of related equipment they may encounter in a professional photography studio, while practicing the etiquette, professionalism and teamwork expected in these real world settings.

This course explores the long tradition of the view camera in photography. It also emphasizes fundamental techniques of 4 x 5" and 8 x 10" cameras as they apply to landscape, architectural and portrait photography. Students learn to print from large format negatives in the darkroom and digital labs. Cameras are provided.

This course immerses students in ideas and practices that consider the landscape and how humans inhabit it. Students explore their engagement with the earth in a multitude of ways, including physical, social, political, conceptual, and aesthetic, before turning their attention to photography’s role as a tool for environmental and social justice.

Surveys contemporary fine art photography from 1950 to the present. Course material is organized thematically around ideas of changing imaging technologies, mapping, surveillance, voyeurism, identity and culture, social justice, community engagement, participatory culture, self-referential media, and other pertinent topics. Students respond to slide lectures with research presentations, written responses, group discussions, and visual projects for deeper analysis of the state of the medium and the possible futures it suggests. Students are strongly encouraged to take this course during their sophomore year.

Social practice describes an emerging genre of political art that is collaborative, often participatory, and involves social interaction as the medium or material of the work. This class explores the role of photography in social practice art-making. We will examine the social, political, and cultural uses of photography in social practice by surveying a variety of contemporary social practice projects. Consideration will be given to how photography both documents social processes and how it can become an integral part of the relational process itself. Students will be challenged to create images using the ethical frameworks and methods of social practice.

The act of photographing can collectively be seen as a document: stories that preserve time, place, people, and communities. How does the photographic medium succeed at telling these stories and where are the limitations? Through fieldwork with the camera, harvesting from the archive, and building new sequences and structures, students will tell new documentary-style stories that refine their communication skills and visual literacy while building a deeper understanding of the complexities of their subjects. Course discussions will address photographic ethics and truth, contemporary methodologies, historical precedents, editing tactics, and best strategies in presentation forms. The course will also explore long-form storytelling, including the photobook, as a vehicle for expansive narratives.

While photographing the rapidly changing Paris of the early 20th century, Eugène Atget referred to himself not as a photographer, but as an archivist. This simple statement correctly identifies the entangled relationship between photography and collecting and foreshadows the acceleration of the artist-as-archivist phenomenon in contemporary art. This course will expand our collective concepts of the archive in art and culture, thinking closely about control, capitalism, surveillance, the internet as enormous archive, and the existential impulses around collecting and the desire to preserve. Students will explore different modes of working with and against existing archives in their own work, using an expanded definition of the term to create and mine institutional holdings, personal collections, and other datasets of images, documents and objects. Throughout the process, students are encouraged to re-interpret, re-invent, re-define and re-examine the meaning of collecting both for themselves and within our larger contemporary culture.

This course focuses on the construction of unique and limited edition artist books that exist as unique works of art beyond simply containers for images or words. Students will learn different construction, sewing, and binding methods while producing new bodies of photographic work in idea-appropriate book forms. This course structure emphasizes interaction and critiques throughout the semester to assist in the editing and sequencing phases of photographic edits and page design, as well as careful attention to craft and hand skills. The final project in the course will require students to make a small edition of their final book, to be distributed within the classroom community.

From photography’s inception to the present moment, the body has captivated, repelled, and engaged us. From the rarified to the sensual, the erotic to the embattled, the body in photography continues to intrigue. This course is designed to keep the human form at its center, with all openness to explore the many tributaries that flow from this subject. Students are encouraged to think broadly about the figure, and to consider how the long tradition of photographing the nude has shifted in the 21st century. Students respond to specific assignments, readings, and exhibitions. The latter part of the semester consists of a self-initiated project and the production of a portfolio of work based on a personal interpretation of issues surrounding the human figure in photography.

This course investigates the art and professional practices of editorial photography and portraiture, focusing on both natural and studio lighting techniques for film and digital photography. Through hands-on practice and critical analysis, students will consider a variety of portrait styles, including editorial and environmental portraits, fine art concept-based work, and high-concept fashion studio portraits to create compelling images that convey emotional narratives. Course assignments are structured to advance skills in studio & location lighting, modifying natural light, and developing a unique voice in the editorial marketplace. Course discussions will include best practices of working with an editor on an assignment, time-management skills while working on a deadline, and essential paperwork around model releases and licensing. Students will also meet with photo editors to build their professional relationships and learn best practices in securing freelance work.

This studio course continues to build workflow fluency between Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, strengthen color management skills, emphasize best practices for file management, and refine digital composite and montage skills. Students will build their digital output skills on a variety of materials and substrates, exploring expressive properties of physical media through smaller and larger format fine art inkjet prints, experimental inkjet media using substrates like fabric and image transfers, and artist book forms.

This course explores pre- and post-graduation strategies and professional skills for photographers. Discussions include setting goals, time management, ethics, web presence, social media skills, grants and fellowships, artist residencies, networking and conferences, applying to internships and jobs, portfolio review events, and exhibiting in galleries, museums, and alternative spaces. Freelance business skills, such as quoting jobs, negotiating, copyright, licensing, pricing structures, invoicing, and tax responsibilities are also discussed. The course includes lectures, practical exercises, packet-building, guest speakers, field trips, and attendance at Career Development workshops. In addition to other coursework, each student completes a branded website and submit applications for external opportunities.

Explore the inherent dimensionality of the photograph, from the physical presence of the print to the expanding relationship between photography and the sculptural form. The photograph, which purports to transmute reality into a fixed 2D realm, can distort, complicate, and tease constructed materials and environments (both physical and digital) to great effect. Similarly, the photograph can quickly become a 3D object with the act of folding a printed image in half. Through a series of assignments, aimed at establishing the technical and critical means by which to investigate what constitutes a photograph, students make work and pose questions that probe the ever-shifting boundaries of the post-Internet image.

Photographs focus our attention on a single moment in time. However, the simple act of placing two photographs together rapidly expands that moment and opens up exciting new storytelling possibilities. This studio course deeply investigates this relationship between groups of photographs through careful selection, editing, sequencing, and accompanying texts. We will discuss the histories of the photographic essay structures, as well as contemporary and experimental approaches to storytelling. Students will make new photographic fieldwork building narrative image sequences to engage with the cultures and communities of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as explore the challenges and opportunities of photographic vision and seeing.

Photographs focus our attention on a single moment in time. However, the simple act of placing two photographs together rapidly expands that moment and opens up exciting new storytelling possibilities. This studio course deeply investigates this relationship between groups of photographs through careful selection, editing, sequencing, and accompanying texts. We will discuss the histories of the photographic essay structures, as well as contemporary and experimental approaches to storytelling. Students will make new photographic fieldwork building narrative image sequences to engage with the cultures and communities of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as explore the challenges and opportunities of photographic vision and seeing.

This course introduces students to historical techniques in photography and consider how these approaches can augment contemporary vision. Students explore the concept of light and time as they work with the properties of hand-coated emulsions. Students work in digital and analogue spaces and develop a command of the cyanotype and van dyke processes with an introduction to palladium, cliché verre and lumens print. Working with camera-less and pinhole photography, as well as film and digital negative output, students gain a broader understanding of experimental possibilities of image making.

With faculty mentorship, students formulate, propose, research, and pursue a body of personal photographic work. In doing so, each student tests and iterates new concepts, raise questions, decipher problems, and invents new possibilities in their artistic practice. Emphasis is placed on building a context for one’s practice and making informed choices in the presentation of visual output. Course time consists of group discussions, research presentations, artist statement workshops, and critique. Final coursework is prepared and exhibited the following semester in a group exhibition.

Palladium printing is a 19th century photographic process that yields an archival print with a long and rich tonal range. In this course, students use large format negatives and an ultraviolet light source to produce a final image of pure palladium. With focus on making the appropriate negative, the subtleties of hand-coated emulsion and the importance of paper choice. Since this is a contact process, knowledge of large format enhances the students experience, however enlarging techniques for 35mm negatives is covered as well.

The learning objectives of this course are geared toward a specific topic of current interest generally not covered in other courses offered by the department. These courses, typically not offered continuously in the department, provide students and faculty the opportunity to explore new content and course formats. The specific topic is announced in the course schedule.

Since its inception, photography has been defined by its relationship to movement. This course dives directly into the complex relationship between stillness and motion, and the creative possibilities that flourish in the tension between these states. Students explore precedents in fine art and cinema, and learn to look and listen closely to the rhythms of daily life around them. Projects probe a diverse range of subjects, media, and methods for depicting and manipulating time. Using varied digital cameras and software, students experiment with sequencing, time lapse, slow motion, image mapping, sound, suspense, surprise, and minimalist narrative structures.

The Stuart B. Cooper Endowed Chair in Photography is an annual appointment that brings a distinguished visitor to the department. This course is built on themes in the current Endowed Chair’s practice and uses that exploration as a departure point for individual student projects related to those themes. Coursework includes thematic lectures, group discussions, individual and group critiques, and culminates in a self-directed body of work by each student. A MICA faculty choreographs the classroom experience, with regular engagement with the Endowed Chair.

Senior Thesis is the capstone course for Photography majors. Students will spend the year creating a self-directed thesis project, beginning with a proposal and ending with an artist statement, promotional materials, participation in the ArtWalk exhibition, and accompanying exhibition documentation. Throughout the year, students will meet with visiting artists and critics in building their bodies of work. Course discussions also include professional practices, such as workshops in grant writing and topical discussions on building support for creative practice. The final course critique includes the course faculty and program faculty, alongside external critics.