Photography
The BFA in Photography is a professional undergraduate degree for students desiring extensive studio experience with an emphasis in Photography and associated media. Students in the program develop critical thinking skills, refine their intellectual and creative processes, and learn both traditional and contemporary aspects of the photographer's craft.
As digital technology effectively blurs the line between films, periodicals, television, and photographs, students of photography are constantly challenged to define and reexamine the photographer's role in society and contemporary art practices.
A photography student will approach the study of Photography beginning with traditional black and white materials and progress to color processes with a concentrated examination of contemporary still and moving digital medias. By examining the history of photography, students will understand the roles photography played in culture throughout the past and its current position as an art form and cultural phenomena. Technical proficiency, personal growth, as well as conceptual and aesthetic development are emphasized equally.
Herron's photography facilities are among the best in the nation. With our hybrid approach to both analog and digital media, the department supports multiple black and white labs, a computer lab with state of the art scanning and inkjet printing equipment, a shooting studio, a large dedicated finishing area complete with wall cutters, hot and cold mounting presses, and a convertible gallery space. This permits students to work in a variety of formats and media, including black and white silver gelatin printing, analog chromogenic development and printing processes, large scale inkjet printing, historical, alternative, and mixed media processes, sound and video. Students will have access to professional equipment, including medium format, and 4x5 film based camera, and DSLRs, video cameras, studio lighting kits, light meters, tripods, and limited state of the art digital equipment.
At various points in the curriculum students will be required to purchase their own personal equipment to grow their creative and technical capabilities. This includes purchasing a light meter in their sophomore year, a DSLR by fall of junior year, and a laptop by spring of junior year. Students are also required to complete an internship as part of the curriculum as it provides for extremely valuable real world experience that classroom teaching cannot simulate.
Mastering technical processes and developing your own artistic vision prepares you for a choice of multiple careers in photography and related fields. Employment opportunities include working perhaps as a studio artist and exhibiting work in fine art galleries and museums; being employed as a documentarian, publishing work in newspaper and other print venues or working in museum documenting works of art; as a commercial photographer; or as a portraitist. Many of our graduates work in emerging digital media, still, moving, and the worldwide web.
For the most current curriculum, please see the Herron website. For the recommended four-year plan of study, please refer to IU indianapolis degree maps. The BFA degree requirements meet the standards established by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design for professional undergraduate degrees in the Fine Arts.
Degree requirements
General Education30 credits corresponding to IU Indianapolis' Indiana College Core.
Foundation Studies
19 credits
Art History, Theory, and Criticism and professional development15 credits distributed as follows:
- HER-H101 History of Art I (3 cr.) (may be used to fill Arts/Humanities General Education requirement)
- HER-H102 History of Art 2 (3 cr.) (may be used to fill Arts/Humanities General Education requirement)
- HER-H205 Introduction to Contemporary Art (3 cr.)
- HER-HXXX Art History electives (6 cr.)
Professional and career preparation
HER-X201 Professional Practice in Visual Arts I
HER-X301 Professional Practice in Visual Arts II
HER-X401 Senior Capstone Focus
Major Studio Requirements
- HER-K201 Introduction to Photographic Processes (3 cr.)
- HER-K202 Analog to Photography 2 (3 cr.)
- HER-K211 Intermediate Digital Photography (3 cr.)
- HER-K300 Photography and Intermedia: Time-Based Art (3 cr.)
- HER-K301 Lighting for Photography (3 cr.)
- HER-K302 Hybrid Approaches to Photography (3 cr.)
- HER-K303 Color Photography (3 cr.)
- HER-K330 OR HER-K430 Photography and Intermedia Seminar (Variable Topics) ( 3 cr.)
- HER-K401 Photography V (6 cr.)
- HER-K402 Photography VI (6 cr.)
- HER-K411 Individual Research in Photography (3 cr.)
Studio Art Electives
27 credits, of which 3 must be N208 Integrative Studio Lab: Rotating Topics (3 cr.)
Non-Studio requirements
6 credits
- English Literature Course (3 cr.)
- Academic elective (3 cr.)
Total: 125 credits
Last update: March 2024
