Develop and expand as an artist in this transformative program. Join a community of image-makers as you study the discipline and realize your individual artistic vision.
Explore photography in all its forms, from its material possibilities to its role in contemporary culture. Challenge assumptions, experiment with new processes, and develop a practice that is critically aware and personally resonant. We welcome contemporary artists excited by the photographic image, whether your practice is lens-basedβfrom analog cameras to digital sensorsβor extends to found imagery, moving pictures, and critical research.
Students and faculty create a tight-knit and supportive community, finding inspiration in each other and developing a shared visual vocabulary. Small class sizes and an intensive studio culture contribute to a rich and challenging learning environment.
State-of-the-Art Facilities and Exhibition Spaces
Students have their own individual studios for both years of the program at Dock 72, our new facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which also features dedicated fabrication shops and a 1,500-square-foot gallery space.
Our main Brooklyn campus offers a full suite of state-of-the-art facilities:
35mm, medium, and large format film cameras
the latest DSLR and mirrorless cameras
medium format digital cameras
lighting equipment, exclusively for graduate student use
dedicated 1,000-square-foot digital photography lab with wide-format printers, film scanners, computers, and industry-standard editing software
black-and-white darkroom
non-silver process studio
1,500-square-foot shooting and lighting studio
Students are always welcome to set up a one-on-one instructional meeting to gain a deeper understanding of our tools and technology.
Photography as a medium inspires critical thinking. Through our Photography Talk Series, Visiting Artist Lecture Series, and individual studio visits with visiting artists, critics, curators, and writers, you will explore the photographic medium within the various disciplines of contemporary art.
βMy practice is centered around unanswerable questions. How are our identities formed through visual culture? What do collective cultural traumas and experiences feel like inside other peopleβs bodies? Alongside obsessive research, I employ strategies of the archive, the re-make, and impersonation, to create images and videos that collapse history with the present and offer possible answers, if only for a fleeting moment.β
The 60-credit curriculum includes a wide variety of core and elective studio courses, along with a complement of liberal arts offerings geared toward artists. The core curriculum, largely shared with the general MFA in Fine Arts, includes required courses in Studio Practice and Theory, Thesis, and Graduate Symposium. For Photography majors, the curriculum includes Acts of Recognition, a seminar that introduces perspectives on art, ethics, visual culture, race, and equity. This required course focuses on photography and lens-based media and the politics of representation through art history, cultural studies, critical race theory, gender studies, and queer studies.
The studentβs studio experience is augmented by the Visiting Artists Lecture Series and the Pratt Photography Talks, which together bring approximately 12 relevant artists and scholars to campus per year for talks and studio visits.
In addition, students participate in periodic and constructive interdisciplinary reviews: Survey in their second semester, Public Critique in their third, and Preview in their final semester. During the course of the program, there are robust opportunities for individual studio visits with visiting artists, critics, curators, and writers, as well as exhibition and open studio opportunities here in Brooklyn.
The program culminates in the capstone Thesis, which incorporates both an exhibition and writing representing individual artistβs works.
Expression (Artwork)
Artist conveys meaning based on their research, vision, and craft. That meaning is clear in the relationship of the work to the meta work such as speech or text. The evidence of meaning includes the production of knowledge within their work.
Expansion
Artist is open to a rigorous and evolving exploration of the potential for the work.
Research
Artist engages in an open and experimental approach to visual, textual, contextual, sensory, and material approaches in their work. Artist embraces risks, failure, and digression.
Context
Artistβs statements and artwork express a relationship with an internal (ie. personal history) or an external (ie. social history) space of meaning. This can include synthesis of art history, criticism, and analysis into the studio work.
Connection or Community
Artist and work engender a meaningful relationship with other artists, citizens, and individuals or groups which enhances the meaning of the work and the experience for the audience or public, as defined by the project.
Our Faculty
Our faculty members are distinguished artists and creative professionals who hail from diverse backgrounds, contributing to the expansive nature of our program. They are dedicated to nurturing each studentβs creative potential. See all Photography faculty and administrators.
βYouβll be amongst the most intelligent, responsive, caring, and engaged faculty possible. Youβll have access to excellent facilities, and the opportunity to take classes that push you outside of your comfort zone, while still honing your specific processes and craft.β
Nic Anselmo (he/him), MFA Photography β23
After Graduation
Our alumni are thriving in their careers after graduation. Some have become full-time artists, while others are working in notable organizations across industries.
Where They Work
Photo Editor at New York Magazine
Senior Designer at Scape Landscape Architecture
Studio Manager for Yigal Ozeri
Client Advisor at Tourneau|Bucherer
Senior Production Technician at Aqua Steady
Studio Assistant at Studio RM
Freelance Video Colorist
Studio Coordinator of Long Term Partnerships at Studio in a School NYC
Appraisal Assistant
Creative Director of Pan’s Dance
Photographer at The Korean Cultural Center New York
Social Media Manager at American Lung Association
Director of Photography at Lighthouse Creative Group
Education Director at Moscow Contemporary
Adjunct Professor
Photographer at Bentex Group
Image Specialist at American Gemological Laboratories
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
Whether your goal is to advance your career, pivot to a new field, or explore your craft or groundbreaking research, our 33 graduate programs provide the rigor and support to achieve your vision. Explore our graduate programs in architecture, fine arts, design, information studies, and the liberal arts and sciences. Learn More.
You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.
Join us for events, follow us online, and learn more about Prattβs impact in the world.
There are TWO π more days to catch the last round of our fall Open Call series, featuring:
Synthesis by Keongbok Lee
Bang, Crunch, Shriek, Whimper by Brooklyn Cobb
Lopez Island Photographs by Claude Cobbs
π Open 10AM - 5PM today and tomorrow
π Pratt Photography Gallery, LL ARC
@prattinstitute @soartpratt @keongboklee @brooklyn_cobb @pseudoname01
Interested in applying to an MFA program? Learn more about Pratt Photo MFA in a virtual info session β¨
The sessions will be led by Director Katherine Hubbard and first-year student Chance Allen.
Hope to see you there!
Register with LINKS in Bio π
LATELY β¨ a round-up from in and around the department, featuring: a trip to ICP with Milagros de la Torreβs MFA Contemporary Photo Seminar, a trip to Photo Lab NYC with Josh Kolboβs MFA Technical Seminar, Lectures by Zoe Leonard and Phil Taylor, a Lunchtime Talk with Adam Putnam, Open Call Exhibition Openings, and Digital Photo, Senior Thesis and Junior Research class critiques π
@prattinstitute @soartpratt
TOMORROW: Join us for the second of our fall Photography Talk Series with Zoe Leonard β¨
ποΈ Wednesday, November 5th
π 2PM
π E-2 Lecture Hall, LL ARC
We hope to see you there! π
@prattinstitute @soartpratt
Opening NOW β¨ the next of our Fall 2025 Open Call Student Exhibition Series, featuring:
Bang, Crunch, Shriek, Whimper by Brooklyn Cobb
Synthesis by Keongbok Lee
Lopez Island Photographs by Claude Cobbs
ποΈ November 3rd β November 14th
π 10AM - 5PM
π Pratt Photography Gallery, LL ARC
β¨ Opening Reception today 5-8PM
We hope to see you there! π
@prattinstitute @soartpratt @brooklynbcobb @keongboklee @pseudoname01
Today is the LAST π day to catch this round of our fall Open Call series, featuring:
Nos Sentimos⦠by Maria Montes Duran, Edward Hernandez, and Angel Ortega
Shifting Landscapes by Sherry Lin and Brianna Acevedo
π Open 10AM - 5PM today
π Pratt Photography Gallery, LL ARC
@prattinstitute @soartpratt
UPDATE: We are happy to share the Tech Office and Labs are now OPEN, with the exception of E-8, which should be online tomorrow. Please visit the VTO to make appointments. Thank you for your patience!
Studio Sneak Peak β¨ Emmett Orgass (Lancaster, PA) is a first year MFA Photography student working on capturing how things heal, how it feels to be short of breath, and how masculinity is expressed through physical touch and close contact.
Join us for Photo MFA Open Studios!
ποΈ Date: November 8th
π Time: 12PM - 6PM
π Location: Dock72, 3rd Floor
Register in advance with the LINK in our Bio.
@prattinstitute @soartpratt @35mmett.photo
