The undergraduate program in photography prepares students to meet professional challenges and to pursue myriad career opportunities in fine art, commercial photography, digital editing, and as practicing artists.

Our students have gone on to careers at regional publishing houses such as Meredith Publishing in Des Moines and Nordstrom Photography Studios in Cedar Rapids. Likewise, we support students interested in working within the fine arts industry through professional internships at the Stanley Museum of Art here in Iowa City. These experiences give students valuable working knowledge within a museum setting and from these opportunities students have been hired at commercial fine arts galleries and worked in imaging departments at museums.

Photography BFA Course Workflow

What to expect in our courses 

Students are immersed in an environment that emphasizes studies of historical and contemporary photography to develop creative and critical thinking. Technical skills range from traditional darkroom practice to industry leading instruction in lighting, software use, and professional inkjet printing. Each course in our program focuses on specific technical and conceptual skills which increase in complexity as students move through the program.

Facilities include a large lighting studio, darkroom, 15 station iMac classroom with adobe software, and a community printing area with many sizes and models of Epson printers and scanners. Students do not need to supply any equipment to be successful in our courses. Each student may access free professional canon DSLR cameras as well as chose from a variety of lenses as they become more familiar with the cameras. We also have tripods, portable lighting equipment, remote times and camera releases, and myriad of other equipment to support the creativity and endeavors of our students assignments. 

The Community 

Here in the Photography Program at the School of Art and Art History we firmly believe in the Universities mission to serve the “Iowa Idea”. This is the mission of combining student lead research with scholarly activities and opportunities. Specifically, in photography we support our majors in their portfolio development which includes professional practice skills such as learning how to write cover letters, artist statements, scholarship proposals, and introductory website building skills.

We also provide ample opportunities to engage in the broader photographic community. Our students receive funding to attend photography conferences, and we regularly go on field trips to local artist studios and regional galleries and museums to speak with curators and see contemporary and historical artwork exhibitions. Additionally, the program brings in internationally acclaimed artists to meet with our photography majors as a way to share their own creative work, but also as an opportunity for our students to begin building their own professional networks.