International Center of Photography School

Nice place to buy a book of photography!

Nice place to buy a book of photography!

So sad Gallery is closed (September 05, 2019) pending their move (?) to a new location.

I have taken a couple of classes of an introductory nature at ICP's school. They have an impressive breadth of courses and equally impressive faculty to teach them. Their facility is clean, the hallways replete with excellent examples of the handiwork of their students. ICP is an institution that is meant to be liked and loved. One counter-stereotypical feature is that their students don't seem to be the starved artsy kind--many of the full-timers are Apple MacBook and iPhone wielding hipsters who are likely recipients of handsome grants, thanks to ICP dot org. Perhaps that explains the steep prices for the courses? All said, I wish I had the time and disposable dollar outlay to take their endless dosage of formal instructions in digital and film photography. While I don't expect to turn into Ansel Adams, ICP can certainly transform me into a technical know-it-all in photography.

MUSEUM: Great museum space - saw a few cool exhibits here. Not that big of a place but big enough to have a good collection. I prefer museums I could see in their entirety in one shot. Some compelling things here too.....great photojournalism projects. I get in for free as a member but there's a student discount available ($10) and pay what you wish on Fridays 5-8pm. SCHOOL: Took a couple classes here. Happy with my results - nice school, good classes and teachers. Really love the amount of classes they offer - take a look at their offerings, they have a lot of specialized courses - both digital & film, portraits, fashion, lighting, photojournalism, documentary filmmaking, food photography, and much more. I feel like they have everything covered here. They offer both beginner and advanced courses. They additionally have international photo classes and interactive NYC photo courses. Hope to take more soon!

"If you don't know what all the buttons on your fancy new digital camera do, then all you've really got is an expensive point-and-shoot." This is how our instructor, Maynard Switzer, began the one-day course at the International Center of Photography that I recently attended. Switzer, a professional photographer with three decades of experience, runs a hands-on, intensive class each weekend titled "How to Use your Digital SLR." I really enjoyed the class, which was geared for amateurs like me. It wasn't cheap -- about $320 with tax -- but it was worth it. We all sat around a table facing each other, cameras pointing out, as Switzer covered a ton of material not mentioned in the manual. Over the course of the day we discussed modes (M, P, A, S), focus (auto vs. manual), exposure (including a look at those wacky histograms!), hardware (memory cards, etc), software (adobe v. aperture) and even workflow. It's worth mentioning that by registering for this class, I was given a card that gets me access to ICP through the semester, so I can go back, check out some exhibits and act cool like I'm still in school. As an added bonus, my class didn't start with that annoying, obligatory "let's-go-around-the-room-and-introduce-ourselves" crap. I was dreading that and pleasantly surprised when it never arrived. Also, you know those buttons on your camera with the icon of the mountain (for landscape), the running man (sports), person (portraits), etc etc? "I call those the Brain Dead Modes," Switzer said. "After this class, you won't be using those anymore." Now I just have to go out and start shooting.

I had heard great things about ICP, so when I could spare the money I signed up for a portrait class sight unseen. I then proceeded to fly across the country (I live in SF) for a two-day waste of time and money. The description said we would be going out and doing studio and street portraiture under the supervision of an established photographer. What we actually did was sit in a dark room for two days, watching an abrasive, obnoxious has-been subject us to screening after screening of documentaries she'd made. And not even documentaries about photography. There was no tutelage, no practicum, and nothing even remotely resembling instruction beyond a brief cursory portfolio review on the first day. I would've learned more from the local Learning Annex, not to mention saved myself over a thousand dollars in tuition and airfare. I got in contact with the school and managed to convince them to give me a credit refund to use toward another class, but they never sent further information on the refund and any attempts to contact them went unanswered. Considering that they gave me a 12/31/2008 deadline on using said credit, their lack of response to my emails and phone calls means that it wasn't much of a refund. I'm not about to judge an entire school based on one has-been professor and a poor customer service experience, but I will say that if you intend on taking any classes here, do yourself a favor and do a LOT of research into the professor first.

I just completed Lester Lefkowitz's How to Use Your Digital SLR course and left wondering why I waited so long to take this course! This is a terrific overview for anyone who wants to understand how to do more with a fancy DSLR than use the automatic settings. I would recommend this course for someone like myself who enjoys photography, but is by no means an expert on aperture, shutter speed, exposure, etc. After this course I feel as though I have a much better grasp on these basics and how to control them on my camera. Only note is that the class is fairly pricey ($320), but it is a six hour class with lots of individual attention - money well spent in my opinion!

Great teachers, great experience! My daughter attended for a summer program and througoly enjoyed it. We will take more courses!

I went to the school at ICP to brush up on some of my Photoshop skills. My Photoshop 1 instructor, "M," was really great. I took the course mainly to get the pre-requisite for Photoshop 2 out of the way and figured that I wouldn't learn much in an "introductory" class. WOW. "M" showed me so much about non-destructive editing in layers in addition to color management that my entire workflow has changed. He was not self-serving or egotistical in any way and really focused on delivering the goods instead of promoting himself. He was so effective and efficient that we got to spend the last class printing stuff on ICP's high-end Canon inkjets. I got to make 20 new prints and, thanks to everything that "M" taught me, they looked 1000 times better than what I had been schlepping around in my portfolio before. Now for Photoshop 2. This course was taught by "S." I only attended the first class but that was enough. She spent this class evaluating 2 images by each student. I brought two images that I was having difficulty with in terms of post-production THINKING that, you know, because it's a PHOTOSHOP course, she would focus on how to correct color/exposure/etc. issues. NOPE. All I got was her very strongly-worded opinions on my composition and technique. (For the record, she really liked one of my images so this not a sour grapes review.) Furthermore, she was extremely narcissistic, kept going off on tangents about herself, her work, her history at ICP, etc. She simply could not focus on what she was talking about for more than 30 seconds and very little had anything to do with teaching or discussing Photoshop. Apparently she also really dislikes luster photo paper. How do I know? BECAUSE SHE WENT ON AND ON AND ON AND ON ABOUT IT! Due to ICP's draconian refund policy, I also lost roughly half of my tuition (over $400) just to find out that the instructor sucked. 2.5 stars for ICP. You win some; you lose some.

Speaking as someone who took one class as a part time student, this school was a total waste of my money and time. I didn't learn anything. The course description made it seem like the class would be far more advanced than it was. The class had pre-requisites that also indicated it would be an advanced class but it was basically a 101 level class. The curriculum was useless, the teacher barely demonstrated anything at all and interjected no guidance the few times that students were meant to shoot in class. I already knew everything that was covered in the class, for the people that had no experience, I don't know that they even learned much of anything, saw almost no improvement from the other students. The critiques were a joke with zero constructive criticism... really no criticism at all. This was my first and last experience with this school. It was twice as expensive as other schools and because I was only enrolled part time I didn't have any access to the school's studios or equipment, which meant I was stuck with doing my homework at home with what I had on hand, which I could have just done for free since I was also not gaining anything during class. I have two art degrees from two different schools, have taken a lot of studio classes, the one I took at ICP was atrocious. If you actually want to learn something, have a challenge and have access to tools/equipment to be able to experiment and apply what you were supposed to learn in class, do not take a class here, this is not a serious school. Try one of the accredited schools like SVA and FIT.

I was a photo student here and it was a great experience I relearned a lot and had a chance to develop photos in the darkroom for the ever first time. BUT Im only giving this place two stars because of the racial profiling that had occurred. I was staying after with almost half of my class washings/drying photos, when I decided to take a seat and wait for some of my photos to dry. When a older female staff member came down stairs, she walked pass most of the kids, sorry to say but (yes they were white) in my class. She almost passed me when she stopped halfway to turn around to ask me ''Who are you with, are you supposed to be here''. I was reading at the time when she asked me the question, so i was caught off guard. Then one of the younger intern staff who was the watching our class realized the wrong she was doing and came to my aid and told her ''yes he's with me'', Thank God she did. But the worst part was when i saw that bitch try to play off the wrong she did buy asking (yes another white student) *who just walked out from the dark room with dripping wet photos in her hand' if she was with use too, Really? But hey since I love photography "whoohoo! Their equipment is as good as it gets", but "Meh. I've experienced better."

i go to school here and i love it. the museum is beautiful. my favorite place to go and relax. both are across the street from each other.