Professional Practices in Photography: Fine Art Focus - Winter 2025

In this course, we will cover a wide range of topics that are geared towards helping you build the skills and knowledge to run your own photography business, with an emphasis on fine art photography professional practice. We will discuss various stages of promoting your work and cover specific topics including national photo reviews, gallery representation, publishing, image usage, and editorial cross-over opportunities. Students will gain clearly defined objectives for their career development and success in the fine art photographic industry. This will be accomplished by using a combination of lecture, guest presentation, research, and professional practice projects.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Survey elements of the business of photography with a fine art focus, including:

• Business plans and goals, estimates, invoicing, licensing, taxes and planning, copyright, etc.
• Marketing plan and strategies, networking sites, mailing lists, promotional materials, social media, branding, etc.
• Opportunities and funding such as call for entries, grants, fundraising/kickstarter, etc.
• Portfolio presentations from physical prints to websites
• Showing work, exhibition costs, editions, etc.
• Working with Galleries
• Additional income streams, such as crossover opportunities with editorial and commercial work
• Publishing considerations

COURSE OUTCOMES

• Basic understanding of issues facing a fine art photography business from business plans and marketing strategies to elements of exhibition development and crossover opportunities
• Working knowledge of several photography business models
• A "business blueprint" outlining considerations and steps needed to establish your business

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR STUDENTS

• Weekly attendance is vital to student success in PCNW courses. We require that students attend the first meeting in order to retain their spot in the class. A waiver may be granted if permission is given by, and subsequent arrangements made with, both the PCNW Registrar and Faculty. Please see our Education Policies for details about attendance policies and academic expectations.
• PCNW adheres to a strict payment, cancellation and refund policy. Please review our Payment & Refund Policies prior to registration.
• Intermediate and advanced courses have prerequisites which students must satisfy prior to enrollment. Prerequisites may be waived based on experience or prior courses taken through other institutions. To verify that you meet the prerequisite(s) for a course, contact Jennifer Brendicke, Registrar at jbrendicke@pcnw.org.
• Students are required to provide their own camera, unless otherwise noted in the course description. If you have questions about camera equipment or resources, contact us at pcnw@pcnw.org.
• Additional materials and supplies, not covered by a materials fee for a course, are the responsibility of the student. Detailed information about course expectations, required texts and materials will be provided at the start of the quarter.
• Students should prepare to spend several hours per week completing assignments outside of class, which may require use of the PCNW facilities; view our Rental Rates for details about additional fees. Rental fees for use of PCNW Facilities are a separate cost from tuition.

Image © Lilly Everett from PCNW's 2023 Photo Zine & Book Fair