Art Degrees Online

Due to the demanding nature of the laboratory photography courses, it may be inadvisable for students to take more than two laboratory courses in the same semester.

Photography majors usually own or have access to a manually adjustable 35mm single-lens reflex camera and hand-held light meter. Most students will want cameras equipped with normal, wide-angle, and telephoto lens by the time they enroll in Pho 112. Students must supply their own film, photographic paper, and other materials. With the accelerating move towards digital photography in the profession, it is increasingly advisable that Photography students own a good quality digital camera. Students are advised to ask the Photography faculty for guidance in selecting any digital equipment. The University has well-equipped darkrooms and studios and provides a limited amount of other equipment for use by students.

Transfer of credit for Photography courses taken at other institutions may be granted by the University as credit for semester hours; however, transfer students wishing to register for Photography courses more advanced than Pho 111 must consult with the Photography faculty unless transferring from an approved two-plus-two program. Permission to enroll in courses more advanced than Pho 111 will be granted only upon the evaluation of a portfolio of the student’s photographs by one or more members of the photography faculty. This evaluation must take place prior to or during the registration period for the student’s first semester at A&M-Commerce. Substitutions for course requirements may be made only with the approval of the department head. Majors must earn a grade of “C” or better in all Photography courses counted towards degree requirements.

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.

Photography Majors are advised in focusing their studies toward one of three tracks within the Film, Video, and Photographic Arts Major: Digital and Photographic Arts, Film and Video, or Publication Photography. As a Photography Major, all students gain valuable technical expertise in the use of professional imaging equipment, formats of digital and film cameras, studio lighting, and digital manipulation and enhancement. Students are educated in the traditional methods of photography – film and chemistry – producing a deep knowledge of the medium. They are exposed to film and video, digital editing and use special effects as integral to the study of still and moving imagery.