sjsu | school of art and design

Advising

Many counselors will tell an entering student they should complete their General Education Requirements before starting on their major course of study– wrong. While this may be true for some areas of study, for those pursuing a degree in the Visual Arts, it is strongly advised that the student start on the major curricula as early as possible. There are simply too many prerequisite requirements (a class required in preparation for another class) to complete a degree program in four years if one completes only the GE requirements first.

Similarly, Photography students are encouraged to take classes listed in the “Preparation for the Major” section of the Photo Major form concurrently with the “Concentration Requirements:” Example: The materials covered in Two Dimensional Design (Art 12), reinforce much of the material presented in the entry-level photography courses: Beginning, Intermediate & Color Photography. (see Major Requirements below).

Major Requirements

Here are a few additional suggestions:

Take General Education requirements concurrently with the early major requirements and the Art History requirements.
If you are considering a minor, take the entry-level classes as soon as possible.
Try to complete the General Education requirements and all other support classes so that your final semesters can be focused upon creating a final portfolio, exhibiting a BFA show (if in the BFA program), and the transition to a professional career.

See the “Roadmaps” below. They outline possible course selections that fulfill the prerequisites and get the student through either of the degree programs (BA or BFA) in the specified number of semesters. Please understand that the Roadmaps are only a suggestion and not a required sequence: every student’s circumstance is different.

Sample Course Roadmaps

We've Gone Digital

As of January 2007 we have shifted our primary or core curriculum to one that is digitally based rather than one that is chemically based. This means that the entry-level courses of our curriculum: Beginning, Color, Intro to Studio Lighting, etc., no longer use film cameras nor darkrooms. Students now need a full-function digital camera (see below) as opposed to a full-function film camera.

We continue to support a series of classes that address the traditional film and photographic print mediums and have no plans to discontinue them.

Camera for a Digital Curriculum

Community College Transfer Students

General: If you discover that you wish to pursue a university degree in an art or design field, make the transfer to an appropriate four-year school sooner rather than later. This is particularly important in the visual arts for the reasons addressed above under Advising.

Photography Course Transfers: Because the quality and rigor of photography programs varies radically from college to college, the only class that transfers directly as part of the “articulation agreement” is Beginning Photography. All photography courses at San Jose State, except Beginning Photography (Photo 40), are upper division level while all courses at community colleges are regarded as lower division courses.

Because of this distinction, the awarding of credit for upper division classes at SJSU is done on a case-by-case basis using the “Credit by Examination” system—also called “Challenging a Course.” This requires a portfolio review of your photography (relevant to the class you’re challenging), so it’s important that you keep the photography work you do in advanced photography classes taken at a community college to accommodate this review process. You will need to meet with a full-time faculty member and present a portfolio of your photography during a brief discussion of your past experience in a similar class.

Digital: The transformation of the medium of photography from darkroom to digitally based is further complicating the transfer process. How this change affects you depends upon where you are currently studying: If you are considering transferring to SJSU soon, keep in mind that our entry “core” of several photography classes is now digital, so it would be to your advantage to take a “Digital Photography” class to help you better integrate.

Graphic Designers

Photography and Graphic Design are virtually the same group of students. Graphic Designers are required to take Beginning Photography “in preparation for the major” and many of them discover that photography is important, perhaps as important to them as Graphic Design. If this seems like it is relevant to you, take the next class (PH 110 or 112) soon. Many students, particularly those who transfer from the Community Colleges (having completed GE first) get caught in that “in-school-too-long” dilemma. (see Advising). As these students move toward graduation, they discover that while they feel the need to “finish” school they also feel that their studies are incomplete; they want to explore something more in their education. Most students only get to have a university experience once in life, and rushing through school is often counter-productive. Take all the classes you think might be important now. It is very hard to return.

Careers In Photography

Photographs are unique in the world of visual media in their verisimilitude – their illusion of representing the truth. Those who are familiar with the artifice of photography understand how a photograph accomplishes this representation, but for most folks this artifice is hidden and invisible. And so are the careers in photography.

Every time you see a photograph in the public arena – magazines, TV, books, newspapers, etc., there are at least four people, and often more, involved in creating that image as part of their career and livelihood. In a fashion shoot for example, there is the photographer, at least one assistant or more, a stylist, a make up person and the art director. In a food shoot there is a “food stylist,” and in a product shot there is typically a photographer, an assistant and at least the art director. But when we look at the finished, beautifully illuminated product or wonderful dish, all the multiple skills of the photographer and the staff behind the scenes are intentionally invisible.

In short, though not obvious to the unskilled observer, many potential careers are available to the photography graduate, from fine art photography (a career built on exhibiting and distributing work through galleries, books, and other possible venues), to teaching at the high school or college level, to commercial pursuits such as digital production, portraiture, fashion, or food photography as described above. Indeed, many photographers function within both the commercial and fine art realms with each part of their career informing the other. Your individual interests will determine the direction of your work and future career in the field.

sjsu | school of art and design :: photography

BFA Exhibition 2007 by Clifford Landon Pun