VCU - Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

Richmond - 325 North Harrison Street - VA 23284

The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Photography and Film Program offers an immersive and forward-thinking education that bridges the technical, artistic, and conceptual dimensions of image-making. Housed within the School of the Arts, one of the nation’s most highly ranked art schools, the Department of Photography + Film provides students with the tools and critical framework to explore photography as a medium of visual communication, personal expression, and cultural inquiry. The program emphasizes both the craft of photography and the development of an intellectual and aesthetic sensibility that allows students to think deeply about the images they create.

At the undergraduate level, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Film with a concentration in photography combines rigorous technical instruction with creative exploration. Students gain experience in analog and digital photography, lighting, studio practices, and location work, while also studying the history and theory of the photographic image. The curriculum is designed to promote versatility—students engage with fine art, editorial, and experimental approaches, preparing them for a wide range of professional and artistic pursuits. Interaction with visiting artists, field trips, and industry workshops further connect classroom learning to real-world practice.

The Master of Fine Arts program in Fine Arts with a concentration in Photography and Film expands these foundations into a research-driven exploration of contemporary visual culture. Graduate students are encouraged to work across media—photography, film, video, installation, and new technologies—while engaging in seminars that challenge them to critically analyze the role of imagery in society. Frequent critiques, lectures, and collaborations foster an environment where innovation and conceptual depth thrive.

Through its blend of technical mastery, artistic inquiry, and interdisciplinary engagement, VCU’s Photography Program prepares students to contribute meaningfully to the evolving dialogue of visual art, culture, and media.

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All About Photo Magazine

Issue #54

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All About Photo Presents ’ Civilization’ by Damien Aubin

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All About Photo Presents ' Civilization' by Damien Aubin

In Civilization, Damien Aubin turns his lens toward environments shaped not by nature, but by ambition. These are places engineered at a scale that exceeds the individual — infrastructures, industrial complexes, vast architectural systems that dwarf the human body and often eclipse it entirely. There are no protagonists here. No narratives unfolding in real time. Instead, Aubin photographs what remains when activity recedes: structures that continue to stand, operate, or simply endure.

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Event

Elliott Erwitt: Gold Standard

Weinstein Hammons Gallery is pleased to present Elliott Erwitt: Gold Standard, the third exhibition of photographs by Elliott Erwitt (1928–2023), one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

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Event

FotoFocus Announces Big Tent Opening of FotoFocus Center

This summer, FotoFocus will expand on their vision and embark on a new chapter with the launch of Big Tent, the inaugural exhibition at the new FotoFocus Center, a 14,700 square foot, purpose-built structure to house photographic exhibitions and year-round programs. Bringing together work by over fifty artists (including An-My Lê, Catherine Opie, Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, Justine Kurland, Mitch Epstein, RaMell Ross, Sky Hopinka, Tina Barney and many more), the exhibition (on view May 29-August 22) reflects upon the current state of American democracy while also considering the efficacy of photography to be a catalyst for meaningful change.

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Event

The Queering of Photography by Asa Johannesson

Stills are delighted to announce their spring exhibition: The Queering of Photography by Åsa Johannesson; the artist’s first solo exhibition in Scotland. The Queering of Photography takes place from 1 May – 27 June 2026, Preview: Thursday 30 April, 6–8pm. Åsa Johannesson is an artist working across photography and writing. Over the past two decades she has explored the possibilities of queer visual vocabulary within photographic portraiture – a practice that intertwines queer documentary approaches with performative formalist aesthetics.

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Event

Eko: Japan In Two Visual Narratives

From 5 March 2026, The National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam presents the exhibition Ekō – Japan in two visual narratives. Curated as artists conversing across time, the exhibit juxtaposes early photographs of Japan from the museum's own collection, including those by Felice Beato, with the contemporary work it inspired as captured by photographer and visual artist Anaïs López.

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Photography and the Black Arts Movement at the Getty

From February 24 to June 14, 2026, the J. Paul Getty Museum presents Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985, a landmark exhibition exploring how photographic practices helped shape one of the most influential cultural movements of the twentieth century. Organized by the National Gallery of Art, the exhibition reveals how artists across the African diaspora used images not simply to document history, but to transform it.

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MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades

The Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago (MoCP) proudly announces its 2026 exhibition, MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades, on view from January 22 through May 16, 2026.

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Event

Brassaï’s Secret Paris

In 1933, captivated by the nocturnal rhythms and hidden corners of Paris, the Hungarian-born photographer Brassaï published Paris by Night, a landmark photobook that forever transformed how the city of lights was imagined. Through his lens, Brassaï illuminated the city’s shadowed streets, smoky cafés, solitary lovers, and night-time wanderers, creating images that were simultaneously intimate and cinematic. Paris by Night did more than document the city—it defined a modern vision of Paris after dark, capturing a blend of elegance, vulnerability, and intrigue that had never been seen in photography before

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Photo Vogue Festival: Women by Women

The PhotoVogue Festival, the first conscious fashion photography festival to bridge ethics and aesthetics, returns to Milan for its tenth anniversary in 2026. From March 1 to 4, during Milan Fashion Week, the festival will take place at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, one of Italy’s most historic and prestigious libraries—a fitting venue for a milestone edition that underscores the festival’s commitment to thoughtful, socially engaged photography.

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Call for Entries

AAP Magazine #55 Women

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VCU - Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

Website

Visit VCU - Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

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