MICA approaches photography as a fine art medium; more than 100 years ago we had one of the first formal programs of photographic instruction in the world. Today, our curriculum thoroughly covers all areas of still and digital photography and offers students a strong background in the technical and aesthetic applications, history, and contemporary directions of this medium.
Basic and intermediate courses provide a solid technical foundation. Junior Seminar allows you to concentrate on an individual project and begin to establish a personal photographic vision. The intense, yearlong Senior Thesis seminar allows you to explore a specific personal photographic idea in depth and to produce a body of work that is intellectually and artistically integrated. Both junior and senior seminars incorporate ongoing critiques and expose students to a diverse group of outside artists and critics. Seniors have separate spaces to support work towards the required senior thesis project and the intensive, 6-credit senior thesis seminar. The seminar is team-taught by two faculty members and enhanced by a series of visiting artists and critics. Work on the senior thesis can incorporate a semester of study abroad or mobility, if that will be helpful in the exploration of an individual photographic direction.
Because we believe strongly in the value of professional development, all photography majors are required to complete at least one photorelated internship. A busy schedule of visiting artists connects students with many of the most important photographers working today, including, recently: Willie Doherty, audiovisual installation artist; Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison, collaborative surrealist photographers; Emmet Gowin, photography faculty, Princeton University. MICA alumni work in diverse photographic occupations such as studio, commercial illustration, medical, architectural, nature, magazine and newspaper photography; and as museum curators, teachers, digital photographers, and fine artists. Senior photography majors are eligible to apply for a $4,000 Meyer Photography Traveling Scholarship to finance a personal photographic project in the United States or abroad after graduation.
Faculty—Diverse Perspectives
The photography faculty at MICA represent a wide array of interests and creative focus—among them are Alex Heilner, whose work includes digital photography, video, and installation; Lynn Silverman, whose large-format photographs explore the intimate nature of inanimate things; internationally exhibited fine art photographer Regina DeLuise; chair Jack Wilgus, whose focus encompasses a broad array of explorations, from the camera obscura to archival digital printing; Connie Imboden, known for her stylized and sometimes surreal nudes; Tom Baird, whose work explores the history and roots of photography and who engages students to connect with community through social documentary photography.
Recent Internships
The required internship in photography is an opportunity to explore the wide range of career opportunities open to photography graduates. A few recent internship sites:
Oneira Graphics, Baltimore (product photography/custom snowboards)
Starworks, New York (logistics for advertising and fashion shoots)
Dock 25, Boston (digital commercial photography)
Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore (scanning & retouching historical images)
Baltimore Police Department Crime Lab (photography)
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographic Division, Washington, D.C. (curatorial & research projects)
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Pathology Division, Baltimore (biomedical photography)
The Baltimore Sun (editorial photography)
Jessica Wynne Studio, New York (editorial photography)
Facilities
MICA’s photographic darkrooms are well equipped with temperature-controlled sinks with excellent ventilation and proper silver recovery. Equipment includes: 50 enlargers and a separate film-processing lab; alternative process and graphic arts lab; a wheelchair-accessible darkroom; 10 well-equipped color darkrooms with two roller transport color processors that make prints up to 30” x 40”; a spacious studio with professional flash and quality lighting; a wide range of cameras, meters, scanners, and processing equipment; a dedicated photo-digital lab with 18 computer stations for digital imaging, photographic manipulation, and Web-related presentations.