The use of the term art medium is,
to say the least, misleading,
for it is the artist that creates a work of art
not the medium. It is the artist in photography
that gives form to content by a distillation of ideas,
thought, experience, insight and understanding.

~ Edward Steichen

IVS Fine Arts Department & Photography Courses ::.

The Department of Fine Art has on its personnel some of the foremost artists of the country with years of professional and academic knowledge. They are supported by visiting staff of practicing artists with substantial teaching experience. Students have the option to choose Paintings, Sculpture, Printmaking or Miniature Painting as majors. They are exposed to an assortment of material, mediums and techniques to express their ideas and expand their artistic vocabulary. They work in an atmosphere that is flexible and encouraging for personal response and expression. In the 4th semester, students are introduced to photography. Later they may opt for it as a minor subject, which they study till their 7th semester. The fine art students started to learn photography around the same time as the design students but there photography minors began much later ... in the year 2002.

The IVS “fine art photography minor courses” emphasizes increase in the potential to explore the possibilities of self-expression with the photographic image. The students begin with a basic black & white photography course in 4th Semester. In the 5th Semester with advance techniques they refine the ideas presented in the Basic B/W Photography course. Here is importance given to the relationship between exposure, film development, and the finished print. Students have the opportunity to enhance darkroom skills, experiment with toners and other manipulative techniques, and explore different photographic papers and chemistry.The students learn various in camera special effects techniques in color. And finally they are to use the acquired knowledge to the best of your abilities, to prepare and present a fictitious photo-essay in color. Furthermore they are put together an unadulterated documentary style photo-essay in black and white.In the following semesters as the students move through the minor courses level by level they learn to use a manual camera to its fullest potential in conjunction with basic darkroom manipulation techniques and various studio skills. The students are encouraged to work more independently to expand their specialized skills in the creation & presentation of photographic imagery.

The 6th and 7th Semester students learn strobe lights studio techniques and various altarnative photography processes. They experiment with different electronic flash equipment, while learning how to control contrast, direction, and color balance. We help them explore a myriad of ways to modify light using umbrellas, soft- boxes, snoots, barn- doors, honeycombs, reflectors, projectors, spots, gobos and other diffusion materials. Color temperature discussed alongside ways of taking advantage of the various color properties of light and film combinations. Lectures go along side visual examples of various photographers portfolio of images, with shooting sessions or demonstrations in order to put the techniques discussed into practice. Effective compositions are emphasized throughout the course with technical considerations. Students are encouraged to explore creatively and technically with the full support and involvement of the instructor. They are also encouraged to discuss their ideas for the class assignments amongst themselves, and not just with the instructors, in order to learn independent problem solving techniques.

Photography, along with motion pictures and television, has been the crucial visual medium of the 20th century. As we begin the new millennium, the technical means through which we achieve photographic images is changing dramatically, but the core requirements of the eye of the artist, the insight of the journalist, and the soul of the poet the vision of cinematographer remain the same. The goal of the Fine Arts Photography Minor Courses is to develop in students the technical, philosophical, and practical skills necessary to function as fine art photographers.

A photograph can be as striking and as haunting as a great painting or a fine poem " ~ Anonymous