2-Year Photography Program

The New York Film Academy 2-Year Certificate Program in Photography is a dynamic two-year program, which provides candidates with a focused grounding in the fields of Commercial, Fine Art and Documentary Photography.

Across four semesters, students are immersed in all aspects of Photography study, representing a progression of knowledge that provides them with scholastically rigorous and creatively challenging courses.
The two-year conservatory program is an intensive, hands-on immersion program designed to train aspiring professional photographers in the art, craft, and business of contemporary image making. Encompassing state of the art digital technology, the moving image as a natural extension and 21st-century convergence of photographic and cinematic technologies and aesthetics, while being firmly grounded in the history and photochemical processes of the medium, students graduate with a comprehensive set of skills tailored towards making them fiercely competitive in today’s saturated marketplace.

The New York Film Academy 2-Year Certificate Program in Photography is a 2-year including summers, 4-semester conservatory-based, full-time study program.

Students will spend an additional twenty to twenty-five hours a week beyond the classroom on the preparation of their final portfolio and exhibition and the completion of homework assignments. Production or practicum hours are considered separate from lab and lecture hours. However, they remain necessary to successfully complete the program. The New York Film Academy recognizes that these hours will vary from student to student. In addition, students will collaborate with their classmates and instructors to ensure that projects are completed thoroughly and during the designated times.

Our prescribed four-semester Photography curriculum serves to address the following core competencies:

• Students will demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of available and artificial light and apply this to their images
• Students will demonstrate proficiency in the use of Lightroom as an organizational tool, Photoshop as a non-destructive editing tool and other image editing software
• Students will demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of and proficiency with lighting tools, digital and analog camera systems, digital output systems and the video controls on DSLRs
• Students will demonstrate an applied understanding of the visual language and aesthetic theories of photography and incorporate these in their creative work
• Students will demonstrate working knowledge of industry standard marketing and business practices
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the history of photography, aesthetics and technology
• Students will demonstrate their ability to produce photographic work that is consistent with high professional standards