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Student photographs hang on the wall in a gallery

Photography at UCLA

The Photography Area defines photography broadly as a lens-based medium, and has a rich history of alumni who practice in both traditional and experimental modes. The area concentrates on issues of contemporary photography, encompassing print, installation, and video. The medium of photography’s history is discussed through a unique understanding of the historical/material relationship in fine-art photography. The program emphasizes the student’s perspective within the medium through critique and technical expertise in the courses offered.

 

Photography Faculty

Associate Professor in Photography Area

Tarrah Krajnak

Associate Professor and Photography Area Head

Rodrigo Valenzuela

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Lecturer

Siri Sahaj Kaur

Lecturer

Matt Lipps

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Lecturer

Sean Sprague

Photography Lab Supervisor

Valerie Green

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Location & Contact Information

Photography Area Location

The Photography Area is located on the 1st floor of the Broad Art Center, Suite 1101

Photography Classroom – 1145

Photography Studio – 1135

Photography Lab Hours and Info

Photography Lab Supervisor

Valerie Green

E: valerie.green@arts.ucla.edu

T: (310) 825-9859

Office: Broad Art Center 1101C

Lab Supervisor Office Hours

Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Faculty Office Hours

Email faculty directly to arrange virtual office hours

Photography Faculty

Tarrah Krajnak, Associate Professor in Photography Area

E: tarrah@arts.ucla.edu

T: (310) 825-3281

Office: 2275 Broad Art Center

Rodrigo Valenzuela, Associate Professor and Photography Area Head

E: rodrigov@ucla.edu

T: (310) 825-3281

Office: 1149 Broad Art Center

Siri Sahaj Kaur, Lecturer

E: siri@sirikaur.com

Matt Lipps, Lecturer

E: m@mattlipps.com

Sean Sprague, Lecturer

E: sean@seanjsprague.com


Facilities & Equipment

Photography Area facilities include a black-and-white group darkroom; film and digital cameras, ranging from 35 mm to medium and large formats; a computer lab; and large-scale Epson printers.

Instructional Materials Fee

All students must pay an Instructional Materials fee each quarter in which they are enrolled in photography classes. This quarterly fee supports area resources, including the Photography Lab and Studio, black-and-white chemistry, digital printing facilities, and other photography tools and equipment available for student use. The fee as of April 2024 is $110 and payable to the UC Regents.

Product/Service Unit Measure Rate
Lab Use Fee Per Quarter $110.00
8.5"x11" Luster Print*e Per Sheet $1.80
13"x19" Luster Print* Per Sheet $4.50
17"x22" Luster Print* Per Sheet $6.75
8.5"x11" Glossy Print* Per Sheet $1.45
13"x19" Glossy Print* Per Sheet $5.40
17"x22" Glossy Print* Per Sheet $6.75
8.5"x11" Matte Print* Per Sheet $1.00
13"x19" Matte Print* Per Sheet $3.00
17"x22" Matte Print* Per Sheet $4.40
Pictorico Transparency Print* Per Sheet $2.30
Sheet Print, User Paper* Per Sheet $0.65
24" Luster Print* Per Linear Inch $0.35
44" Luster Print* Per Linear Inch $0.65
24" Matte Print* Per Linear Inch $0.30
44" Matte Print* Per Linear Inch $0.50
Roll Print, User Paper* Per Square Foot $1.00

*denoted items are subject to price change based on current market price


Photography Undergraduate & Graduate Courses

Undergraduate Photography Courses

ART 11B. Photography

Units: 4

Studio, eight hours; five hours arranged. Fundamentals in technique, with emphasis on individual projects. Varied approaches, processes, and applications of photographic medium within the context of art, supported by studies in theory, aesthetics, and the history of photography. P/NP or letter grading. Instructional Materials fee: $75.

ART 21A. Production: Photographic Print

Units: 2

Studio, four hours. Limited to art majors. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 20. Techniques and processes, including basics of shooting, editing, and output for still images and photographs. Professional setups and standard practices as well as alternatives. Review of tools, software, workflow, storage, and output modalities. Instruction in postproduction skills and tools for editing and altering images and producing high-quality printed images. Letter grading.

Art 147. Advanced Photography

Units: 5

Studio, eight hours; seven hours arranged. Requisite: course 11B. Selected projects in photography and related media, concentrating on development of individual students’ artwork. Studio emphasis with special topics in theory and critical analysis. May be repeated for maximum of 20 units. Letter grading. Instructional Materials fee: $100.

Art 147A. Advanced Photography: Topics in Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Units: 5

Studio, eight hours; seven hours arranged. Requisite: course 11B. Varied approaches to photography's history, media, and content to develop students' technical, expressive, and conceptual tools to understand and explore anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Combination of courses 147 and 147A may be repeated for maximum of 20 units. Letter grading. Instructional Materials fee: $100.

Recent Student Work


Photography Graduate Studies

Photography is one of six areas of study offered in the M.F.A. art program. Graduate students in this area are encouraged to experiment and strengthen their individual practices of making works of art using photographs. Faculty, visiting artists, and a strong cohort of peers expose students to diverse approaches to art making and encourage critical examination of the historical and contemporary role of photographic imagery and objects in society.

Photography faculty Catherine Opie and Rodrigo Valenzuela serve as the primary advisors to students admitted to this area of study. Students also may work with faculty from other areas within the Department of Art or other departments across the university.

All M.F.A. students are offered the use of off-campus individual studios in the UCLA Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios, located in Culver City. In addition to individual studio spaces, the studio building houses photography, sculpture, ceramics, and computer labs, as well as open spaces for exhibitions, lectures, and group critiques. Although the Department of Art does not offer graduate-level courses in the summer, the graduate studios are open year round.

Graduate Photography Courses

Art 274. Graduate Photography

Units: 2 to 8

Studio, eight hours. Studies concentrating on development of individual students’ artwork. Studio emphasis with adjacent studies in theoretical and critical analysis. Specific attention to original, expressive, social, and humanistic values of art. May be repeated for credit with consent of adviser. Letter grading.

Art 276. Graduate Group Critique

Units: 4

Discussion, four hours; tutorial, to be arranged. Group critique/discussion of students' research. Additional tutorial meetings by arrangement with instructor. May be repeated for credit. Letter grading.

Art C280. Graduate Seminar

Units: 4

Seminar, three hours. Advanced topics in critical theory and study of contemporary art, with emphasis on individuals, issues, and methodologies. Possible areas of study include structuralism, deconstruction, feminist and psychoanalytic theory, commodification, and censorship. May be repeated for credit. Concurrently scheduled with course C180. Letter grading.

Photography M.F.A. Candidates

Amie Sillah, www.aminasillah.com

Dakota Higgins, dakotahiggins.com

Mingcan Ma, www.mingcanma.com


Photography Resources