Course General Description

The BFA Photography and Video program at the School of Visual Arts grounds students in the creative, conceptual, and technological skills of the mediums as well as in the job opportunities available in the field. Students learn how to process and print both black-and-white and color material, how to light a studio, how to use medium- and large-format cameras, how to work with digital materials, and how to shoot and edit video. They also have the opportunity to pursue all genres and aspects of the mediums including art, fashion, portraiture, photojournalism, landscape, still-life, experimental, and narrative. Equally, they gain the skills to think and speak about photographic media and the moving image, while forming strong connections to the professional world. Their education provides both the practical and strategic knowledge to land a position where they can put their valuable skills to work. The department’s faculty has expanded to 100 members, including active photographers, video artists, art dealers, critics, publishers and photo editors. The more than 40 elective classes available to students—which we strive to keep inventive, challenging and current—include Photo Editing and Curating, Photography Business and Practice, Self-Portrait, Writing About Photography, Fashion: Concept and Narrative, Still Life: Objects of Desire and Disgust and Photography and Cinema. The department’s technical facilities have recently been completely renovated, and all of our cutting-edge facilities, whether darkroom or digital, are open until 4am. Medium- and large-format cameras, as well as digital backs for both, are available for student use, and we offer 60 digital work stations and, for fourth-year students, a digital lab.

School General Description

Welcome to New York City, SVA’s hometown, and the leader of today’s creative economy, with more than 14,000 creative businesses and nonprofits. According to the EY Global Talent in Global Cities 2015 study, New York attracts more creative talent than any other city in the world because it “enjoys a unique cultural scene, embedded in a cosmopolitan and forward-thinking urban environment.” There is no better place to study, practice and work as a creative professional. Critique is a vital and challenging part of the educational experience in a college of art and design. Participating in this practice requires students to be open and vulnerable while they present their work for discussion and questioning, and to trust the transformative powers of the process in service of the work. Through the frequent repetition of this act of openness, students and faculty share and strengthen their humanity, empathy and kinship and their work evolves.