Photography

Student scanning film strips.

At RISD we approach photography as an ever-changing set of technical, conceptual and aesthetic conditions that exist within a broad social and cultural context. Here you make, present and interpret photographic images, learning how to use cultural signifiers, symbols and metaphors in the content and structure of image making.

Degree programs

a black-and-white photo by RISD alum John Shen of hands focusing a camera lens
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)

In the Photography BFA you develop advanced techniques, historical and contemporary processes and knowledge of contemporary issues to produce powerful, self-directed photographic projects within the realms of art, studio, editorial, documentary, journalism, and photobook publishing.

a monochrome photo by RISD alum Kate Sarrantonio, featuring only the torsos of two people wearing button-down shirts
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Through coursework, research seminars and independent studio work, the MFA in Photography invites you to explore the medium as a basis for self-expression across a range of professional contexts.

In the studio

After learning the fundamentals of film processing and darkroom printing, students move on to experiment with digital capture, high-end printing at medium and large scales, video, installation work and other approaches of their choice.

a student at an open window (surrounded by string lights and with the word "photography" written above) works at a desk as another student pulls equipment off a shelf in the background
a student kneels on the floor in front of several arranged objects, in preparation for a photo shoot, with faculty and classmates looking on
two students face several photographs mounted on a white wall

Student work

an red animal heart atop a cracked gray concrete surface
black and white photo of a person holding a piece of glass in front of their face with their hand, face out of focus
a person in a white shirt stabs at a pomegranate as they drool a stream of red liquid, the rest of their head out of frame
black and white image of a mountain face covered by trees, with a long path climbing up its center, another tree in the foreground
glowing green foliage grows from a rock against a purple lit sky
black and white image of a nude figure laying on a mattress in the corner of a room, flanked by curtained windows, curtains tied at the center corner
metal tongs hold a miniature rocket over a lit stove flame, fingertips with red nail polish visible against a silver foil background
a person in a white dress sits on a reclined futon while holding a rope ladder inside a white room with wooden door and pantyhose hanging from a clothing rack
black and white image of a white butterfly wing shaped object sitting in very dark gray grass
a thin strip of material with small arrows pointing upward, layered atop a larger nature image layered atop an even larger image of tree covered hills

Alumni

Photography alumni pursue a wide range of options after graduation, with some going on to specialize in commercial or editorial photography and/or video, while others teach, run their own businesses, make and exhibit fine art photography or do a combination of commercial and fine art work. Most become lifelong image-makers adept at expressing a unique way of seeing the world.

a still from a film by RISD Photography alum Natalia Almada
Natalia Almada MFA 01 — documentary filmmaker

A 2012 recipient of a MacArthur “genius award,” documentarian Natalia Almada was the first Latina filmmaker to be so honored since the program’s founding in 1981. Almada found RISD’s graduate program in Photography to be “very conceptually rigorous, very experimental,” in ways that helped lead her to making documentaries marked by a quiet, muscular empathy trained on social and political realities.

a photo portrait of a crying child by RISD Photography alum Jill Greenberg
Jill Greenberg BFA 89 — commercial and fine art photographer

Whether photographing Hollywood celebrities or taking her own fine art photos—often of children or animals—Jill Greenberg focuses on the iconic. Her use of light and color exaggerates the figure while reducing it to its essence, allowing her to capture raw emotion, bringing her inimitable style to assignment work for clients such as GQ, HBO, Showtime, Universal Pictures and Wired, among many others.

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