BFA, Photography

The Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Photography is designed to balance your acquisition of technical skill with the theoretical and conceptual tools required by you as a photographic artist. You will explore the dynamic technical and historical relationships photography has to the world of visual representation.

The photography program is designed to teach you essential skills in a variety of digital and analogue formats, with an emphasis on conceptual development. The major in photography prepares you to continue your artistic practice, provides you the skills required to work as a professional photographer and provides the necessary requirements for you to continue on to graduate studies.

Division: Media Arts/Foundation
Degree: Bachelor of Fine Arts
Program: Major in Photography

Program Length: 4 years (see Degree Requirements)

Campus: Fountain Campus

Admission Deadline: March 1 for September; October 1 for January

Graduates of NSCAD’s photography program are successful artists, commercial photographers, writers and arts administrators. Other graduates pursue graduate studies and become curators, critics, art historians and college/university professors.

What Our Photography Students Can Expect

– Extensive facilities for both film-based and digital imaging. Students have access to a gang darkroom and individual film processing cubicles, as well as a suite of computers available for digital photographic work. Technical staff are available to assist with equipment booking and inquiries.

– A faculty of accomplished artists, scholars, educators and leaders in their craft.

– By the final semester, many photography students will exhibit at NSCAD University’s Anna Leonowens Gallery or other local venues.

Featured Courses

Introductory
Photography

Introductory Photography: This is a project-based course exploring the concepts and techniques of contemporary photographic practice. Through lectures, discussions, demonstrations and photographic projects, students will explore relationships between photographic form, concept and content. It is recommended that students taking this course supply their own DSLR camera, as a variety of digital imaging applications and techniques will be explored.

Sem: Persuasion,
Propaganda,
Photography

Sem: Persuasion, Propaganda, Photography: An examination of historical and contemporary uses of photography as a tool of psychological persuasion, with a particular focus on the arenas of politics and marketing. Through readings, discussions, presentations and critical essays, students will explore a variety of paradigms in the dissemination of the photographic image as an instrument for the exertion of influence.

Otherness in Photo

Otherness in Photo: Photography has long been used as a means to ‘other’ peoples from a variety of cultures, nations, regions, races, classes and sexual orientations. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this course will examine contemporary photographic works and texts that aim to scrutinize and/or disrupt othering practices. We will survey works produced within and outside of the so-called Western world, fine art and vernacular photographies, as well as images from popular culture.

RPAS (Drone) Pilot Training

In collaboration with the Canadian Drone Institute, this course offers Media Arts students the training to acquire a Transport Canada Small Basic RPAS licence for legally operating Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (drones). With the successful completion of Transport Canada’s RPAS examination, students will be allowed to operate compliant RPAS in unrestricted airspace according to NSCAD’s Standard Operating Procedure. Students will learn common ground station interfaces and flight techniques for still and moving image-based applications. This class requires coregistration in The Canadian Drone Institute’s Small Basic Drone Pilot Certificate Preparation Course which has a fee.

Please visit the Academic Calendar for a description of all courses available during your undergraduate studies.