The Race for Studio Space in the Photography Department

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Feb 27, 2013

We need more studios.

This is not a new statement from photography major students at Parsons. It is not that there isn’t enough time in the studios (approximately three hours) or that there is a shortage of equipment (the resource center has a whole list) or the lack of technical knowledge. It’s that there are only 123 slots for 250-300 students.

Three reasons why we need more studios.

#1: Photography classes are taught in them.

“Studio and Light” and “View Camera” are two required courses taught to sophomores in a studio space. And some elective classes are also taught in the studios.

#2: homework is assigned with required studio usage.

If there are approximately 15 students per class and there are three classes that use studios, then there are 45 students who need to use the studio before the next class. One could argue that students should learn to be creative and shoot with the space they have in their dorms, apartments, outside or rent a studio. But in the real world professionals use studios for product photography, fashion photography, and portraiture. They work in spaces specifically with the type of equipment the school’s studios have. Students should be allowed to practice their craft the way professionals do. After all, one of the purposes of any class in Parsons is to prepare a student for the real working world…

#3: studios are creative safe spaces.

Students are taught the technical things in class, but they have to combine them with conceptual work. Studios offer an environment where they have almost three hours to develop their ideas and control light. They do not have to struggle with imagining or drawing it. They can actually make it come to life in the space that is rightfully theirs to use.

However, like any metropolitan university, The New School always had issues with space.

“We have little adjacent space now or no easy place that could logically be a shooting space,” said Assistant Professor of Photography, School of Art, Media, and Technology Colin Stearns about the department’s space. “Photography is lucky. We have over 9,000 square feet of space. Comparatively, this is a tremendous amount of space.”

If the photography department is considered lucky to have that much space, imagine what it would be like if there was less of it. We might not have the same darkroom or the equipment resource center. Or we might not have gotten that new studio just last semester.

“Three years ago there were 105 slots, then 118, now 123,” Stearns said. “In three years we have added about 25% more studio time.”

Stearns also did mention that students don’t use the 9 a.m. morning slots and the department did expand their hours from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., which adds four more time slots.

Getting more studio space is not easy. The photography department is doing the best it can with the space it has but The New School doesn’t have much space to begin with. With so many students and so little time, not everyone can get everything done. Still, studio space shouldn’t be something to stress over.