Photojournalism Sequence

Overview

How to communicate with photography is the main concern of the photojournalism sequence. Students are introduced to the techniques and styles of photography for newspapers, magazines, public relations, advertising, general business and institutional use, long-term documentary work, and artistic and personal expression.

Facilities

There are two complete darkrooms for student printing and processing of color and black-and-white photography. All enlarging equipment has a full complement of lenses and accessories. Small print-processing rooms are available for special projects.

The graduate student/staff darkroom is for graduate students and faculty only. The fast-news darkroom is available to students with written permission from a photojournalism faculty member. A fully equipped studio is maintained for student use and is available whenever classes are not scheduled for the space. The photojournalism labs are available only to those students enrolled in photojournalism classes.

The digital lab area contains 10 stations with Macintosh G4s for photographic processing and manipulation. All computers are loaded with the latest versions of software Photoshop, QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, PowerPoint, and Macromedia Flash and Fireworks. The lab has a number of output options, such as quality ink-jet printers, photographic quality ink-jet tabloid printer, color laser printer, black-and-white laser printer, dye-sub printers, flatbed image scanner with transparency accessories, and an eight-bit 35mm/120 film recorder. The advanced digital lab contains five high-end workstations, dye-sub printers, film scanners up to 4x5 negative size, and film recorder.

Equipment

As needed for course assignments, 35mm Nikon and Canon cameras with lens accessories are available to photography students. Thirty low-end and 25 professional digital cameras, several larger format cameras, and studio-type lighting kits are also available for checkout.

Application to the area

The upper-division application process occurs in October and March of each academic year. Please see Applying for Upper-Division Standing for the necessary information. The photojournalism sequence admits 40 students a year.

Typing and basic computer skills are required for all photography and design classes.

Students transferring photography and design credits from another college must meet with the photography program director to determine at which level they should enter the program. Please bring samples of your previous work and course descriptions to this meeting. (We generally do not substitute more than two photography or design courses.) Students should be aware that even if the University of Texas has accepted transfer credits, the credits won't necessarily be applicable to our program.

Students entering the program must have the recommended equipment. All photography classes require that students have unlimited access to a 35mm camera with a manual mode, two lenses, a flash, and various accessories. Paper, film and accessories are provided at the expense of each student. A lab fee paid at registration covers lab supplies. All photography and design classes have a lab fee.