Anyone here teaching photography?

[jantman]

I was just wondering if anyone here is teaching photography, and where and on what level?

As a prospective college student, I'm interested that very few schools that I look at have faculty members who I have ever heard of.

[Kirk Gittings]

I currently teach in the summers at the Art Institute of Chicago (though I took this summer off to finish a book project) and did teach for twelve years at the University of New Mexico and am close with some of the current faculty there.

What are your questions? What are you looking for?

[Donald Brewster]

As a former boss of mine said regarding to my making a similar statement: "They've never heard of you either." There are many good photo teachers out there who aren't household names, and just because a photographer is "famous" that doesn't mean he's a good teacher. And many fine artists of every stripe toil in relative anonymity. Since Kirk mentioned the University of New Mexico -- they have one of the better photo faculties in the country.

[tim atherton]

It really depends on what exactly you are wanting to do?

There's the likes of Sarah Lawrence College (Joel Sternfeld)

or Bard College (Stephen Shore) etc (hey or even Harvard - witht he excellent Chris Killip...)

And yes, the Art Institute of Chicago

and also Columbia College, Chicago (Bob Thall)

or even the University of Ottawa (Lynne Cohen)

But there are also many courses/schools out there with numerous excellent "no name" teachers

And it depends if you are looking for a more technical course or a more creative type course.

In my (probably not so humble...) opinion, taking a broader arts course, but maybe biased towards photogorpahy, is probably of most value - you will probably learn more about being creative in your photogrpahy by exposure to the other creative arts and artists than by a course which is mainly just photography

(but if you really want to make money at it, take a business course instead....)

[adrian_4747]

There is a guy called John Blakemore here in England. He used to teach at Derby University
but has retired. 20 years ago he was one of the most famous and studied landscape artists
here, and still commands a lot of respect. Now? - I doubt many people could tell you who he is.
His work is as good as ever, just that the spot light of fame is a fickle thing. Don't let yourself
be guided by that alone.

If I may offer you some advice - a degree is merely a stepping stone to whatever comes next.
Decide on the path you want to take then work backwards to find the faculty for you. Got a
passion for architecture? Then look for a photography school with a strong presence there.
Look at their exhibitions - are they all flowers, weird modern stuff or more in tune with
what you want to do? Then you will know. The fit will never be exact, but you can rapidly
weed out the faculties that are just plain wrong for you.

Best regards,

Adrian

[Louie Powell]

Jason -

My sense is that its relatively unusual for famous photographers to teach regularly at the college level. There were a couple of exceptions - Steiner at RISD, for example. And of course RIT has Andy Davidhazy.

That is not to say that college programs aren't any good , or that the instructors are turkeys. An example is College of St. Rose - they have a very small photography program, led by an excellent and creative photographer. But he chooses to not push himself on the international scene, and he doesn't do commercial work.

A better question might be which schools offer the best and most challenging programs. But when you ask that, you also need to specify what kind of program you are looking for - commercial, journalism or art.

Louie

[Frank Petronio]

If you want to learn from the famous (and the not-so-famous but good teachers), spend the summer at the Maine Photo Workshops (or equal) for college credit, and get a BS or BA from a good liberal arts or technology school. In other words, don't major in photography but get a more well-rounded education in the Sciences, or History, or English, or Art History - so that you actually have some ideas and reasons to photograph.

Mark Klett studied Geology; Robert Adams has a Phd in English; many of the best commercial and fine art photographers are educated, but not in photography.

Photography is a medium, not a lifestyle or an end of itself, although many hope to elevate it to that level. To my way of thinking, this is wrong - photography should be like a language you learn, a tool that you know, a way to communicate IDEAS. To major in photography is kind of like being incestous with your brain...

If you must, go to a photo grad school for an MFA, but I hestiate to suggest that anyone waste time and money getting an MFA. To get an MFA so that you can get a teaching job only perpetuates the photo education industry, without actually creating better photographers. If photographers with MFAs are so much better than photographers without, then we should be awash with 10,000X more great photographers after 40 years of granting MFAs in photography...

I've taught and lectured at several schools, but once I give that speech I usually don't get invited back...

[David A. Goldfarb]

If you're looking to stay in the area, Jason, NYU has a degree program affiliated with ICP. An acquaintance of mine who shoots for the _New York Times_ and did his degree at NYU (probably prior to the NYU/ICP program though), says that in retrospect, as a photojournalist, it would have been better for him to have majored in history or poli sci and just done enough photography courses to learn technique and art history without actually majoring in the field.

[Joe Smigiel]

I took a workshop from Mark Klett a couple years ago and was very impressed with him as a fellow teacher. He teaches at Arizona State. Don't forget our list friends Sandy King and Sam Wang at Clemson.

[Frank Petronio]

Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester is part of the SUNY (Brockport) system and offers a good but low priced grad program - so if you have to go to grad school, why spend $100K?

[Raymond Bleesz]

Jason----When I entertained your question myself (late in life, after being a high school history teacher), I directed my interests to ASU (Arizona St in Tempe), because of one man & his books, ideas of photography, that being a Brit by the name of Bill Jay. He was a mentor to me at the time & my thinkings regarding photography. I was also impressed with Mark Klett who was just starting to teach & become a "younging". I regret not going to ASU due to "complications" in my life.

I have taken the hard academic road-----learn as you go.

I also think that working for a newspaper as a "photojournalist" is a very valid journeyman's way of becoming a diversified photographer.

The city of Denver offers CIA, Colorado Institute of Art with numerous instructors under the direction of Frank Varney, top notch in his field.

The University of Colo has a photo program under Alex Sweetman & New Mexico is strong & becoming more recognized in its photo dept.

But it is most important to have an understanding, a knot of an idea, a certain reason in your thinking prior to entering a school program for photography on where you want to go with photography----for me it was a mentor, even though I did not get a chance to go------his philosphy is still working with me.

[Ted Harris]

I am not directly teaching photography in a classroom setting at the moment but I am teaching in a 'mentor' relationship. I work with students from both the University of New Hamsphire and Keene State College who are required to complete an internship as part of their degree program. I am currently working with my third intern who has done almost everything with me (scout locations, matting and framing, studio setups, location setups, of course actual shooting, etc.)

I agree totally with Tim;s comments and would only add that you make sure you are in a program that takes you out of the classroom somewhere along the way and gives you some practical internships.

[paulr]

Several years ago, when I was looking at MFA programs (before coming to my senses, some would say) I was impressed by the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. I like their faculty and students, and their undogmatic approach to teaching. Also, it's a state school, so the admission price (at least then) was way below most of the other top programs (Yale, etc). Might be worth a look.

[Kirk Gittings]

Without sinking into a debate on the merits of MFA programs in general (I basically agree with Frank though I participate in that system as an "outsider" who teaches the token practical class in a sea of useless crap), let me say that if you intend to teach at a university level you need an MFA. Robert Adams and Mark Klett are extraordinary individuals for academia you will neded an MFA. If you simply want to be a good photographer there are many routes to that goal, many appropriate forms of education, apprenticeships etc. I have stradled both areas. I have an MFA (which for me was a truely great experience) but frankly most of my photo knowledge came from books, workshops and working things out myself outside of the university. I also learned a great deal from teaching photo. It is amazing how shallow your knowledge is revealed when you try to explain it to someone else.

[Andre Noble]

"Photography is... not a lifestyle ". I disagree.

With photography, you don't have to 'communcate' with anyone. Why do I need to 'communicate' through a photo? Face it, most people are morons. Witness George W. Bush on his way to winning his second term. F__k that! ('communication' that is - I'm feeling a little upset like George Carlin)

Photography is meditation. It can be an alternate reality if you choose to devote time to make it that, as Adams Atget, as a host of others have done.

Otherwise, I agree with what Frank P is saying. Bear in mind, some photographers do also like teaching and an MFA might be a valid route.

[Steve Feldman]

Don't forget Brooks in Santa Barbara, California.

[Sharon S.]

Cal Arts in LA and the Art Center in pasadena...

[Matthew Cordery]

Having been to a couple of Big Name Universities, I can vouch for the following relation:

Famous and Illustrious Person does not equal Brilliant and Effective Teacher.

People with Big Names or Big Reputations often have associated Big Egos. You want someone to teach you good technique and to help you on the path to developing your own vision. You don't need someone imposing their technique upon your nor their vision.
I am reminded of Matt Groening's "School is Hell" cartoons wherein he describes the 9 types of teachers... The flip side of this is that people with strong egos and opinions give you something to think about and accept or reject.

[Blake]

moreover,

study the cirriculum and then tour the facilities before you ever plonk down your hard-earned student loan monies. i've been enrolled in photo majors that by the looks of the course descrips in the catalog, purported to have what it takes. only to find the teachers lacking passion if not experience and the studios and darkrooms severely lacking the goods. in the end, you wanna come out with a kickass portfolio, or in the very least, the start of one. teachers can take you so far and the gear is too damned expensive on a college budget. some JUCOs have better facilities than their 4-year bretheren across the state. if i had it to do over, i'd have taken all that money and spent it on cameras, glass, film and chems.

luck to you,

me

[Ellis Vener]

I taught for two years at Portfolio Center in Atlanta. Portfolio Center is a very fine commercial arts school on the same level as the Art Center in pasadena California.

You haven't said what aspect of photography you want to study Jason. This is very important. Most schools are better in one or maybe two areas than they are in others. These areas can change over time as faculty change. Worry less about the big names and talk to some of the recent and current students in the photography program.

Another approach is to look at doing your photography studies at summer programs at either the Santa fde Workshops or the Maine Photography Workshops; They both have good internship programs -- and your academics atthe best school for your real degree. If I was looking for an MFA photography program right now I would really consider Yale or Harvard.

[Kirk Gittings]

For whatever it is worth (maybe not much), the people who review and rank graduate schools of all kinds including MFA photo programs, have ranked the University of New Mexico and the Art Institute of Chicago in the top three (actual position varies) for the last twenty plus years. The third of the top three has varied greatly, but it has never included any ivy league schools that I can remember. The third school in the trio has included RIT, UCLA, University of Arizona, RISD, U of Illinois at Champange Urbana and NYU(I think?)-I can't remember more. It is based on the quality of the faculty, fascilities, curriculum and resources in the community like museums etc. based on reviews by graduates and university professors nationwide.