Curriculum

General Department Description

Department Hours

Faculty Info

Staff Info

Curriculum Overview & Paths

Aperture Foundation Partnership

Stuart B. Cooper Endowed Chair in Photography

Jan Meyer Traveling Fellowship

Curriculum

MICA is a nationally recognized leader in innovative art and design education. We have spent decades refining our programs and curriculum so that our students are well prepared for the growing opportunities that exist for artists and designers in today's and tomorrow's creative economy. The photography curriculum blends technical skill, conceptual growth, critical discourse and hands on experience in the field.

The sequence of courses guides students to build skills and explore the wide range of possibilities in photography. The required seminar, Contemporary Directions in Photography, investigates the production of photo-based media during the last 50 years, and an internship in a photography-related area is required for all majors. Internships provide students with real-world experience in the full array of careers available in the field, including work in the studios of professional photographers, museums, newspapers, magazines, galleries, and medical institutions.

Curriculum: 4 Year Student

For students beginning their college career at MICA, our comprehensive program follows a track of First Year Experience, Welcome to Photo Core, Defining Your Practice, and Preparing to Launch. 

Curriculum: Transfer Student

Every transfer student comes to MICA with different paths traveled. In order to stay on track for graduation it is important to note what classes are offered every semester, every other semester, and less frequently. Please consult your department chair to come up with an individual learning path.

Haptics and Optics (FF 140A)

– or –

Cartographies (FF 140B)

Silver & Ink: Intro to Photo (PH 201)

Black & White 2: Reinventing the Darkroom (PH 332)

Studio Lighting (PH 335)

Digital Photography 2 (PH 363)

Contemporary Directions in Photography (PH345)

History of Photography (AH332)

Junior Seminar (PH390)

Professional Strategies Photo (PH 371)

Photo Electives 1 & 2

Internship (INT 402)

Senior Thesis - two semesters (PH 490)

Photo Electives 3 & 4

Photo Electives 

Helpful Studio Electives for Photo Majors:

Alchemy of Light (PH 386) - "Alternative Process"

The Body in Photography (PH 355)

Endowed Chair Seminar (PH TBA)

Environmentally Engaged Photography (PH 343)

Expanding the Archive (PH 350)

Fine Art of Digital Printing (PH 430)*

Moving Photographs (PH 405)

Narrative Composite & Collage (PH TBA)

Palladium Printing (PH 394)

Picturing the Third Dimension (PH 373)

Photographic Book (PH 354)

Photojournalism (PH 325)

Professional Strategies Photo (PH 371)*

Social Documentary (PH 349)

Socially Engaged Photo (PH 346) 

Every semester or once per year*

Large Format Photography (Open Studies 1.5 credits)

Typography I (GD 201)

Moving Image I (FILM 200)

Moving Image II (FILM 300)

Print Media: Trad. Media (PR 200)

Print Media: Photo & Digital (PR 201)

Introduction to Sound (IA 202)

Intro to Digital Fabrication (IS 320)