The MFA program in Photography, Video and Related Media is dedicated to the creative practice of the lens-based arts. We encourage diversity in our student body, and welcome applicants from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds.

The program is designed for full-time study over a two- or three-year period. Candidates for the Master of Fine Arts degree must complete at least 60 credits and all course requirements, maintain a 3.3 grade point average and produce a successful thesis project to be eligible for degree conferral. Students are approved to proceed to each successive level of study based on yearly faculty assessments.

Students personalize their program from a wide variety of electives. Certain courses in other SVA graduate departments are also available as electives to qualified students.

Two-Year Program

Applicants accepted to the two-year program have met specific artistic standards and academic prerequisites to graduate study. The focus of the two-year curriculum is a required Master Critique class in each semester. Other first-year requirements include: Introduction to Digital Imaging, and at least three other academic courses chosen out of three subject categories—historical perspectives, criticism and theory, and contemporary issues. Second-year students take Master Critique and Thesis Forms I in the fall, and focus on completing the thesis in the spring in Thesis Project and Thesis Forms II. Entry to the second year is based on successful completion of all first-year requirements and a portfolio review.

Three-Year Program

This unparalleled program is designed to give exceptional students with baccalaureate degrees in fields other than photography or video an opportunity to pursue the lens and screen arts at the graduate level. A one-year course of study is tailored for each student allowing him or her to engage in coursework such as history, theory and criticism, as well as studio practice, which may not have been studied in his or her undergraduate education. With the successful completion of the first year of the three-year program, students automatically continue into the two-year program. These students are given the time and exposure to develop as fully matured artists and practitioners. Many of our most renowned graduates have matriculated in this manner. The curriculum is of particular interest to liberal arts majors, international students with the desire to refine their English language skills, professionals from the commercial and fashion world, as well as artists and Fulbright or DAAD Scholars.

Sample Program: First Year

Fall
PHG-5030 Master Critique I
PHG-5050 Historical Perspectives: The Lens and Visual Arts, 1950-1980
PHG-5070 Criticism and Theory: Time, Image, Perception
PHG-5090 Contemporary Issues: The Concept of Style
PHG-5130 Studio: Digital Imaging I

Spring
PHG-5035 Master Critique II
PHG-5050 Historical Perspectives: Issues in the Moving Image—A History of Hybrids
PHG-5090 Contemporary Issues: Right Here, Right Now
PHG-5610 Studio: Video Projects
PHG-5135 Studio: Digital Imaging II

Sample Program: Second Year

Fall
PHG-6030 Master Critique III
PHG-6050 Thesis Forms I
PHG-5070 Criticism and Theory: Technology of Ideas
PHG-5090 Contemporary Issues: The Future of Documentary

Spring
PHG-6200 Thesis Project
PHG-6070 Thesis Forms II
PHG-6422 Studio: Book Design for Photographers 

Sample Program: Three-Year Program

Fall
PHG-5010 Three-Year Program Master Critique I
AHD-2020 Modern Art Through Pop I*
AHD-3002 Social History of Photography*
PHG-5130 Studio: Introduction to Digital Imaging I
PHD-2040 Studio Photography I*

Spring
PHG-5015 Three-Year Program Master Critique II
AHD-3003 Aesthetic History of Photography*
AHD-2025 Modern Art Through Pop II*
PHG-5135 Studio: Introduction to Digital Imaging II
PHG-5411 Studio: Introduction to Video

*Course offered through the Undergraduate Division

Blog Feed

  • Wednesday, May 15, 2013

    Alum Sinan Tuncay’s work at Istanbul Modern

    Now through October 27th, 2013 grad Sinan Tuncay’s work will be exhibited in “Close Quarters” at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art. Click on the image below for more info!


.