The photography area spans a range of practices in the 21st century, constantly questioning and reframing the evolution of photographic and post-photographic approaches. Gaining a solid grounding in photography history students explore the pluralities of contemporary photo related practice with a range of professional tools at their disposal. Students learn to make exhibition quality prints and photo objects with digital or analog technologies, frequently seamlessly integrating the two. Courses reflect the research of an accomplished and diverse faculty encouraging deep critical thinking around a range of issues such as visual literacy in a photo saturated society, engagement with contemporary international subjects, site specificity, abstraction, reenactment and performativity. Students are expected to cultivate a unique relationship to their work from an array of instructional options including reading, lectures, technical demos, critiques, visiting artists talks, one on one meetings, participation in colloquia and local art events and discussions. Experimentation and risk taking are supported to cultivate individual interests and working methods. The area places a high value on all school-wide visiting lectures and encourages an active understanding of and engagement with various fields of contemporary art and photography. Students are expected to attend SMFA lectures and also events at neighboring institutions such as: The MFA, MIT List Center, Harvard Carpenter Center, Fogg Museum, the Rose Museum at Brandeis, the ICA, Massart, the Photographic Resource Center and local galleries. The area's visiting artist class brings renowned artists to campus for lectures, interactive sessions with students, slide lectures, and workshops. Recent visitors include: Tim Davis, Chris Csikszentmihalyi, Trevor Paglan, Yoshua Okon, Shannon Ebner, Victor Muniz, Andrea Geyer, Andrew Freeman,Taryn Simon, Esteban Pastorino, Liz Cohen, Paul Seawright, Anthony Goicolea, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Assia Essaydi. Our recent visiting artist faculty members include: Carla Herrera-Prats, Amber Tourlentes-Davis, Julia Hechtman, Sarah Malakoff, Gregory Halpern, Jonathan Calm, and Youngsuk Suh. Our comprehensive facilities include professional digital photography equipment, Macs and a black and white darkroom. Tools/Highlights: Adobe Photoshop Genuine Fractals Mamiya AFD/ZD Canon 5d II Strobe lighting Jackrabbits 35mm film cameras Mamiya 7II's Pentax 6x7's Fuji 6x9 Epson 9800 45" printer Epson 3800 printers Imacon Film scanner Epson V700 scanners Nikon Coolscan film scanners Previous Course Offerings Below are previous course offerings for the Photography area. To view current course listings and register, visit mySMFA (guest registration available). PHOTO 1 / PHT 1011 Beginning Digital Photography / PHT 1039 Making a Picture (instead of taking one) / PHT 2026 Photo 2 / PHT 2012 Basic Lighting / PHT 2014 Advanced Lighting / PHT 3016 Large Format Photography / PHT 2006 Evidence / PHT 2003 Directed Studies:Photo Book Project / PHT 2002 The Photographic Object: Color II / PHT 2004 Black and White Print/ PHT 2052 Landscape as Concept, Experience and Image / PHT 2200 Photo 3 / PHT 3021 Four Photographers / PHT 3204 Cultural Workers: Tactical, Littoral and Interventionist Practices Critical Mass: A group critique for socially engaged artists / PHT 3024-01 Directed Studies / PHT 3100 Advanced Seminar: Material Photography / PHT 3015 Advanced/Graduate Seminar: Domestic Photography / PHT 6042 Photography & Subjectivity in the Digital Age / PHT 3202 Advanced Seminar: Mediating Space / PHT 3041 01 Extended Document / PHT 6044