Dynamic Fashion Photography Schools
Three of the Best Programs for Aspiring Fashion Photographers
Mar 6, 2009
Fashion photographers arrive at their careers from many different avenues. Helmut Newton fled Berlin and spent five years in the Australian Army before embarking on his career. Inez van Lamsweerde took a more typical route and studied at Vogue Academy of Fashion, but then made her start as an artist with a studio grant at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center. After studying painting at Rhode Island School of Design, Steven Klein went to Paris, where he landed his first job in fashion, a commission from Dior.
Should an aspiring fashion photographer go to an art school, or a fashion school? Or is an institute of photography a better choice? Here are just a few of the interesting programs for those who want to work in the world of fashion photography.
Art Center College of Design
One of the best art and design schools in America, Art Center College of Design has a Photography + Imaging program where undergraduate students take 72 hours in studio classes as well as courses in humanities and additional electives in photography to earn a degree. Classes include Fashion Photography I and II, but also Location Lighting and Composition. The school is located in Pasadena, i.e. the greater Los Angeles area.
Like many photographers today, students work in more than one genre. For students, this means exploring and finding one's niche. But bridging categories is not at all uncommon in the professional world of photography. Recent graduate Marla Rutherford, for example, does fashion, editorial and advertising photography. She is both represented by galleries and working in the world of magazines and publicity.
School of Visual Arts
Located on 23rd Street in Manhattan, SVA offers an undergraduate degree in photography that lets students focus on fashion, landscape, figurative or social documentary. Their photography staff of over 100 includes beauty, fashion and celebrity photographer Guy Aroch; Eva Respini, Assistant Curator in the Department of Photography at MoMA; and photo editor William Nabers, who used to be at Elle and is now at Fortune magazine. Students thus have the opportunity to work with major figures in the field of photography.
SVA is an art school, and emphasizes the importance of developing one's personal vision and the ability to discuss one's work. Students study the history of photography as well as taking classes like digital imaging. The photography department recently renovated their facilities and has new studios, darkrooms, digital labs, Canon D30 digital cameras, Omega D-5 enlargers and Hasselblad systems. David LaChapelle went to SVA.
Spéos Paris
Pierre-Yves Mahé, inventor of the Stop-System, started Spéos in 1985. This school in Paris now has a variety of programs, from one-week workshops to a European Master's that runs almost one full year. Many of the faculty members work in fashion photography: Zaklina Radovanovic photographs for Louis Vuitton and Peter Lindbergh's work appears in publications like Italian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. The studio classes at Spéos emphasize production techniques and aesthetics.
In addition to the classes, there is an extensive lecture series at Spéos which features professionals working within the field. Guests include successful stylists, editors, artistic directors, and photographers, some of whom began their careers at the school. And incredibly Spéos has opened a museum in the house where Nicéphore Niépce took the world's first photograph!
Spéos, School of the Visual Arts, and Art Center College of Design all have the additional advantage of location: they're in major fashion, film and advertising centers. Professionals working in the field are more often than not teaching the classes and they can give students practical advice on how the world of photography works. They can also be valuable contacts. Wherever a student chooses to go, he or she should keep in mind that fashion photography exists at a curious intersection of genres.
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