Program Overview

Photographic Arts and Sciences Exploration

Overview

For students interested in photography but unsure which major best meets their career aspirations, the photographic arts and sciences exploration option provides an overview of the two photography majors and their options. Students will learn about the curriculum, course work, and career paths associated with the BFA in photographic and imaging arts (with options in advertising photography, fine art photography, photojournalism, or visual media) and the BS in photographic sciences. This exploration option allows students to take up to a year to learn about each major while completing general education and liberal arts courses.

Featured Work and Profiles

• Photographing a who's who of celebrities Kwaku Alston '94 (photography) was named RIT's Outstanding Alumnus for his highly notable portraits of the likes of the Obamas, Beyoncé, Brad Pitt, Chadwick Boseman, and LeBron James.
• 'Triad of Learning': Merging Photography, Design, and Marketing Jess Campbell, a 2019 visual media alumna, has worked with numerous direct-to-consumer personal care brands, primarily directing and curating campaigns for product launches. Campbell credits the ...
• Designing Camera Systems of the Future Bobby Gold '16 (photographic sciences), as a senior image quality engineer at NVIDIA, designs and tests camera systems for autonomous vehicles and robotics platforms. As a student at RIT, he completed...
• Pulitzer Prize Legacy William Snyder RIT photojournalism alumni have a strong legacy of journalistic excellence, highlighted by the many Pulitzer Prizes they have been recognized with.
• 'Absence and Presence' Vincent Alban's capstone project about gun violence issues won a host of student and professional competitions.
• Short Attention Span Film Festival 2023 RIT's Short Attention Span Film Festival is a showcase of moving media projects by students from a variety of majors in the College of Art and Design. Submission includes animations (2D, 3D, and stop...

Curriculum

Photography undeclared, typical course sequence

• First Year
  • Choose one of the following:
    • PHPS-101,102: Photography I, II (BS)
    • PHAR-101,102: Photo Arts I, II (BFA)
  • PHPS-106: Photographic Science Fundamentals
  • PHPS-107: Photographic Technology II
  • FDTN-111: Drawing I (BFA)
  • FDTN-112: 2D Design I (BFA)
  • General Education: First Year Writing
  • YOPS-10: RIT 365: RIT Connections
  • General Education-Artistic Perspective*
  • General Education-Global Perspective*
  • General Education-Ethical Perspective (BS)
  • General Education-Mathematical A Perspective (BS)
  • General Education-Mathematical B Perspective (BS)
  • Choose one of the following: (BFA)
    • General Education-Natural Science Inquiry Perspective
    • General Education-Scientific Principles Perspective
    • General Education-Mathematical Perspective
  • Total Semester Credit Hours: 32

Facilities

• Ophthalmic Imaging Lab
• Fourth Floor Photo Studios
• Airport Lounge

Events

• Film+FotoFest@RIT'25
• All RIT Events

Related News

• RIT storytellers capture the heart and hustle of Special Olympics athletes Students from various majors across RIT made a website providing wall-to-wall coverage of the 2025 Special Olympics New York Winter Games. This was the fourth year RIT partnered with Special Olympics to document the events.
• Students, colleagues remember photography faculty David Turner David Turner, who began teaching in RIT's School of Photographic Arts and Sciences, died June 18 at the age of 65, according to his obituary. Former students and colleagues paid tribute with stories of his generosity, creative abilities, mentorship, and friendship.
• Choirs and the cosmos: student’s artistic universe is a symphony of light Prodigious photographer, vocal virtuoso, and astronomy aficionado — Quinn Freidenburg '24 (photojournalism) is an RIT renaissance man.