Photography, MFA

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.

A photography student's cluttered studio, with images of the student and by the student, furniture, and multi media

Type: Graduate, MFA
Start Term: Fall Only
Credits: 60
Duration: 2 years
Courses: Plan of Study
School and Department: School of Art,
Photography

An Expansive Understanding of Photography

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-based—from analog cameras to digital sensors—or extends to found imagery, moving pictures, and critical research.

Learn More

A Curious Culture and Responsive Community

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.

a photography student's work table with images, books, and creative tools

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.

Learn more about our photography facilities.

A contemporary art gallery with white walls, an open ceiling exposing white-painted pipes, and wooden flooring. The room is illuminated by ceiling-mounted spotlights. Various photographic artworks are displayed on the walls, with images ranging from abstract and blurred portraits to black-and-white conceptual photography. A black bench is positioned in the center of the room, and a white pedestal holding a book or artwork is placed towards the left side. The gallery has a minimalist aesthetic with two white columns supporting the ceiling.

Critical Understanding and Cultural Discourse

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.

“My 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 people’s 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.”
Baillie Vensel, MFA Photography ’23

From the Catalog

View all Photography courses

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 student’s 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 artist’s 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
Artist’s 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 student’s creative potential. See all Photography faculty and administrators.

Shannon Ebner

Chairperson of Photography

School of Art

Photography
Allen Frame

Adjunct Professor – CCE

School of Art

Photography
Katherine Hubbard

Associate Professor & MFA Program Faculty Director

School of Art

Photography
Carlos Jimenez Cahua

Assistant Professor

School of Art

Photography
Josh Kolbo

Visiting Assistant Professor

School of Art

Photography
Asha Schechter

Visiting Associate Professor

School of Art

Photography
Milagros de la Torre

Adjunct Associate Professor

School of Art

Photography
Sara VanDerBeek

Adjunct Professor

School of Art

Photography

“You’ll be amongst the most intelligent, responsive, caring, and engaged faculty possible. You’ll 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.”
Nic Anselmo (he/him), MFA Photography ’23

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

Career Support for Life

Students and alumni can schedule one-on-one appointments with career strategists in Pratt’s Center for Career and Professional Development. A career strategist can work with you to develop your job/internship search strategies and life and business plans, as well as review résumés, cover letters, websites, and other marketing materials.

Learn More

News

Ashley Carvajal, BFA Photography ’25, at the student-run WPIR radio station on campus (Edward Hernandez, BFA photography ’25)

HERE’S HOW TO APPLY	Graduate Studies at Pratt	OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
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 Pratt’s impact in the world.