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BFA Photography
The Photography Program takes a broad-based approach, engaging students in the most contemporary practices, as well as in the traditions and historical structures from which those practices have evolved.
CURRICULUM
The curriculum provides a technical foundation in analog and digital imaging alike and introduces the critical skills and theoretical insights necessary for students to manifest their creative visions.
FACULTY
Our faculty—all professional artists—represents a diverse range of styles and approaches to the medium. Students graduate with the skills necessary to pursue careers as exhibiting artists and to work in most photography-related professions.
INTERNSHIPS & ALUMNI
Students pursue internships with photography studios, museums, galleries, major newspapers and magazines, and film production companies. Many alumni have become professional photographers, and several have been included in such national exhibitions as the Whitney Biennial. Our graduates typically enter top-tier graduate programs.Collapse
CORE STUDIO
Drawing 1
3 units
2D, 3D & 4D
9 units
PHOTOGRAPHY MAJOR REQUIREMENTS
Tools 1: Black & White
3 units
Tools 2: Intro to Digital
3 units
Investigations 1: Materials & Methods
3 units
Tools 3: Intermediate Digital
3 units
Tools 4: Large Format & Lighting
3 units
Investigations 2: Sequence & Context
3 units
Media History: Contemporary Issues & Images
3 units
Investigations 3: Process, Practice, Production
3 units
Advanced Workshops*
*Rotating topics include: documentary, narrative, installation, and alternative processes.
3 units
Junior Tutorial
Internship strongly recommended during Junior year
3 units
Senior Project: Photography
6 units
ADDITIONAL STUDIO REQUIREMENTS
Interdisciplinary Critique
3 units
Interdisciplinary Studio
3 units
Diversity Studies Studio
3 units
Studio Electives
18 units
75 total units
HUMANITIES & SCIENCES REQUIREMENTS
English 1: Language Dynamics
3 units
English 2: Literature and Writing
3 units
Introduction to the Arts: Antiquity to Early Modern
3 units
Introduction to the Modern Arts
3 units
Visual Studies Seminar (300 level)
3 units
Media History: Photography
3 units
Visual Studies Elective
3 units
Science
3 units
Mathematics
3 units
Philosophy/Social Science
3 units
Foundation in Critical Studies
3 units
Cultural History
3 units
Methods Of Knowledge Seminar
3 units
Literature Seminar (304 level)
3 units
Diversity Studies Seminar
3 units
Humanities & Science Electives
6 units
51 total units
Fall 2012
Advanced Workshop
PHOTO-370 Fall 2012
Intro Digital Photo Non Major
PHOTO-102 Fall 2012
Investigations 1: Meth & Mater
PHOTO-200 Fall 2012
Investigations 2: Seq & Contxt
PHOTO-300 Fall 2012 Jim Goldberg
Investigations 3: P/P/P
PHOTO-340 Fall 2012 Abner Nolan
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Fall 2012 Chris Johnson
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Fall 2012 Susan Ciriclio
MH 1: History of Photography
PHOTO-360 Fall 2012 Susan Ciriclio
MH 2: Cont Issues & Images
PHOTO-364 Fall 2012
Tools 1: Black & White
PHOTO-100 Fall 2012 Susan Ciriclio
Tools 2: Intro Digital Photo
PHOTO-110 Fall 2012 Chris Johnson
Tools 3: Int Digital Photo
PHOTO-210 Fall 2012 Taro Hattori
Tools 4: Studio Lighting
PHOTO-212 Fall 2012 Chris Johnson
Spring 2012
Advanced Workshop
PHOTO-370 Spring 2012 Richard Barnes
Independent Study
PHOTO-396 Spring 2012 Susan Ciriclio
Investigation 1: Meth & Matter
PHOTO-200 Spring 2012 Jessica Ingram
Investigations 2: Seq & Contxt
PHOTO-300 Spring 2012 Christina Seely
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Spring 2012 Susan Ciriclio
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Spring 2012 Tammy Carland
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Spring 2012 Chris Johnson
Jr. Tutorial/Senior Project
PHOTO-400 Spring 2012 Christina Seely
MH 1: History of Photography
PHOTO-360 Spring 2012 Susan Ciriclio
MH 2: Cont Issues & Images
PHOTO-364 Spring 2012 Abner Nolan
Tools 1: Black & White
PHOTO-100 Spring 2012 Susan Ciriclio
Tools 2: Intro Digital Photo
PHOTO-110 Spring 2012 Noah Krell
Tools 2: Intro Digital Photo
PHOTO-110 Spring 2012 Chris Johnson
Tools 2: Intro Digital Photo
PHOTO-110 Spring 2012 Joshua Martinez
Tools 3: Int Digital Photo
PHOTO-210 Spring 2012 Taro Hattori
Tools 4: Studio Lighting
PHOTO-212 Spring 2012 Chris Johnson
PHOTO-370
Each semester an outstanding photographic artist, curator, or critic from the Bay Area will be selected to develop and teach a course focused on their particular area of interest and expertise. The course will give students the opportunity to work intensively on projects within an area of specialization. The nature of the course will rotate from semester to semester, highlighting themes from documentary studies, narrative, public and community based projects, installation, and new technologies. Specific course descriptions will be available to students prior to registration.
Our Contemporary Landscape This course will cover the topic of contemporary landscape photography. Students will be exposed to a number of different ways of thinking about how we picture the places that surround us - whether they are built or natural spaces - urban, suburban or rural - interior or exterior - undesirable or fantastic. The West's rich history and tradition of landscape photography will be where we start by examining modernists such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and other f64 photographers. We will then move to the New Topographic movement that includes photographers such as Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz and Stephen Shore. We will continue by exploring the German school of photography exemplified by Berdt and Hilla Becher, Thomas Struth, Candida Hoffer and Andeas Gursky. We will also explore more expressionistic approaches to the landscape and architecture like those of Uta Barth, Michal Rovner, Sally Mann, Terii Weifenbach, Sophie Ristelhubler, Rocky Schenk and Nancy Rexroth. Through visits to artist studios and collections, regular slide lectures, four small assignments plus a final project, class deiscussions and critiques, we will closely consider the role and treatment of the landscape and place in contemporary art. An emphasis will be places on content and concept, as well as formal issues such as scale, tone, color, composition and quality of light. Students may work in any format, and in either analog or digital media.
PHOTO-102
This class covers the basic knowledge and skills of digital photography, which are essential to any artist working today. It is an introduction to digital images, photographic production via the use of cameras, post-production issues in editing photographs and various outputs such as digital inkjet printing, outsourcing offset printing and preparation for web based media. We will also study how photography has been used in other fields of art. This class is designed for a student who does not major in Photography and is not transferable to the Photography Program's curricular requirements. Students must have access to a digital camera with manual functions.
PHOTO-200
Among the goals of this class will be to better understand the language of photography in its various cultural forms and to investigate how different presentational strategies influence photographic meaning. The key question will be: how can a better understanding of photographic methods and materials help one use photography as a persuasive visual language and as an effective mode of personal creative expression. Students will explore how to further their technical skills in black & white and color; choose how to apply digital to their creative practice; and develop creative projects in a variety of genres while engaging various discourses on contemporary photographic practices.
PHOTO-300
This class will be a broad and intensive investigation, primarily through the photographic work of members of the class, into the pleasures and terrors of photographic representation. We will study the properties of individual photographs and the meanings created when they are combined into groups, series and sequences. Photographic books, slide shows, magazine layouts and installations will be explored as means of developing visual fluency and coherent self-expression. We will critically examine the spectrum of photographic practices from amateur snapshots, to photojournalism, advertising, surveillance, erotica, as well as contemporary art photography. Reading, slide shows, and class discussions will enlist a wide range of theoretical approaches to photographic significance.
PHOTO-340
This class is a rigorous investigation of one's practice, process and production as a photographer and/or cultural producer. It's a production class with an emphasis on looking at ones process (how you think through and develop ideas) as well as studio/ life practices and artistic production. We will read and discuss texts that encourage both artistic development and issues of personal voice. For example we will look at artist manifestos, statements and interviews as well as writings about the creative process and the business of being an artist. We will also study the methods of group and self critique. There are two main project objectives in the class, one is the thorough emersion into ones own work (with a consciousness around work habits) and the other will be a class collaboration in proposing, curating, promoting and hanging of at least one group show. Students will be expected to work on an ongoing body of work for the entire semester.
PHOTO-400
This course is designed for students who are prepared to pursue individual creative projects within a setting that supports critical thinking, risk-taking, and the production of a resolved body of work. Class discussions will be wide-ranging with an emphasis on the creative process, individualized critique, the development of a personal voice, exchange of ideas, and other relevant issues.
PHOTO-360
This course examines the development of photography from pre-1839 to 1980. We will explore the major aesthetic trends, photography's inter-relationship with society, and correlations with other art media. There will be field trips to various photography collections, examples of original objects and equipment. Original research will be required. Non-photo majors welcome.
PHOTO-364
This class will be an introduction to the major aesthetic, philosophical and social themes that have shaped photography in the latter part of the 20th century. The emphasis will be on helping students to discover how their work and ideas reflect current theories and practices, and how a critical analysis of contemporary trends and influences may encourage the development of meaning within their personal work.
PHOTO-100
An introduction to the fundamental technical, aesthetic, and formal aspects of photography. This course is designed for anyone wishing to develop creative skills and an appreciation of photography as both a fine and applied art. Subjects covered will include: camera types and operation, film types and uses, basic film processing and photographic printing, exposure, composition, and lighting. Emphasis will be placed on learning to see photographically and translating personal vision into effective imagery. A brief overview of photo history and contemporary trends will provide a context for critique of student work. No previous experience with photography is required.
PHOTO-110
This course will offer an introduction to all elements of digital photography, with a focus on digital capture, Adobe Photoshop, Bridge, color management and an introduction to scanning and printing. Multiple formats of digital cameras will be introduced in this class. The emphasis will be on translating what we see or imagine into visual works of art and the ways in which digital processes can help you realize your photographic goals. Students should have access to a digital camera with raw capture and manuel exposure functions.
PHOTO-210
Among the goals of this class will be to delve further into the possibilities of digital in the photographic medium. Students will work to develop effective workflow using digital technologies, with an emphasis on advancing the digital skill set in the following areas: Photoshop and Creative Suite, film scanning, file prep for digital output, digital inkjet printing. Students will also receive an introduction to media software. With these advanced skill sets, students will engage in discourse around contemporary photographic and media practices that utilize digital in both linear and non linear forms.
PHOTO-212
Large format cameras and studio lighting techniques are essential tools for any student seeking a comprehensive education in serious photographic practice. Artists as diverse as Barbara Kasten, Richard Misrach, Joel-Peter Witkin, Cindy Sherman and Nicholas Nixon among others, have made these skills central to our notion of what it means to be a photo-artist in our time. This course will introduce you to the view camera and the studio as both apply to contemporary fine art photography. The class will begin with an emphasis on developing fundamental technical skills, including: basic view camera set-up and focusing techniques, the zone system, fine printing with large negatives, and an introduction to the tools and vocabulary of studio lighting. Assignments will include problems in tabletop still life work, the portrait, and tableau photography. Students will then be encouraged to produce sophisticated self-generated final projects based upon the skills acquired in this course. |
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