Photography

What skills can be acquired in the field of photography?

The Bachelor’s program in photography at EKA emphasizes the exploration of contemporary art through photographic expression.

Key Focus Areas:

    • Conceptual Thinking: Students develop their ability to think critically and conceptually about art.
    • Visual Literacy: Our emphasis is on image analysis, the history of visual culture, and the interpretation of social processes in both the past and present.
    • Exhibiting Skills: The program trains students in effective presentation and exhibition of their work.
    • Interdisciplinary Relationships: Students explore the connections between photography and other art forms, including: Film, Sculpture, Installation, Graphic Arts, Painting.

Student Profile:

The photography program attracts curious, open-minded, and critically thinking individuals with a strong interest in visual culture and art. **Note**: After completing the Bachelor’s program, students have the opportunity to pursue further studies in the Master’s program in Contemporary Art, where they can continue to develop their camera-based artistic practice if desired.]

The Photography Department as a Competence Center for Camera-Based Art

We pay attention to visual literacy, image analysis, and focus on the broader understanding of photographic medium and visual culture as the intermediary of societal processes in the past and present. Technical skills also play an important role in our program. The Photography Department is small and cohesive, with collegial relationships between students and faculty. Over the course of twenty years, traditions have developed, including exhibitions, study trips, and of course, parties. The Photography Department is home to both recent high school graduates and those who have explored other fields in the meantime.

What careers can one pursue?

The Bachelor’s program in photography provides a solid foundational education that can be applied in various photography and (visual) culture-related fields. Our graduates work in art, education, and archiving; journalism; as well as freelance advertising, fashion, and architectural photographers.

Curriculum

The main goal of the Bachelor’s curriculum in photography is to help students develop their artist position, regardless of their specialization in the fields of photography or visual culture they choose to pursue afterward. The curriculum includes both  theoretical and practical courses, where students acquire basic technical skills and visual literacy, in order to analyze and interpret images. The total volume of the Bachelor’s curriculum in photography is 180 ECTS credits (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System). LINK TO DETAILED CURRICULUM

You can follow the Photography Department here:

Facebook: EKA Fotograafia Instagram:  eka_fotograafia Vimeo: EKA FOTO

News and events

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Jana Mätas at Keskpuur

The Last Spring at the Central Market and the Exhibition in Keskpuur A new exhibition is now open at the Keskpuur gallery on the second floor of the Central Market building in Tallinn. The artist Jana Mätas' “Oli siis siin nagu midagi. Või siis ei ole” (There Was Something Here, or Maybe Not) invites viewers to reflect on the past, present, and future of the Central Market through materials, ...
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Artist talk by Tris Vonna-Michell

Artist talk by Tris Vonna-Michell at 17:30 on March 4th in EKA, A-501 The artist is visiting EKA to run a workshop in the department of photography on March 24-26, 2025 together with Henrik Follesø Egeland. Tris Vonna-Michell (1982) is an artist, publisher and guest professor in Expanded Performance and Installation at the Royal College of Art in Stockholm. Recent works can be found in public ...
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Mika Taanila Film Screening

EKA Department of Photography invites everybody to the screening of the film “Failed Emptiness” on March 5th at 18.00. Duration: 66” Location: A-101 A discussion with the film’s director Mika Taanila will follow after the screening. ______ “Failed emptiness” (2024) describes a three-week vacation in the middle of a heatwave. The protagonist prepares reports that begin to bother her more. The ...
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Karlotta Lainväe at Uus Rada Gallery

You are invited to the opening of Karlotta Lainväe's exhibition "Where do I go when I follow the thread?" on February 20th at 18:00 at Uus Rada Gallery. In the exhibition "Where do I go when I follow the thread?" I invite you to join me on my journey to unravel the secrets of the place I call home. The sea, the forest, the fields and the rocks, they all hold mystery and knowledge deep within. ...
academic staff open call

Full-time Academic Staff Open Call

The Rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts has announced a competition for the following full-time academic staff positions starting from 18.08.2025: Faculty of Fine Arts Professor of Photography (1.0 positions) Professor of Contemporary Art, Head of Curriculum (1.0 positions) Application materials should be submitted no later than March 7, 2025 to the e-mail address personal@artun.ee or by ...
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“Fragile. Handle with Care” in Uus Rada Gallery

3rd year BA photography students of EKA will open their exhibition “Fragile. Handle with Care” at 18:00 on Monday, December 9th, 2024 in UUS RADA Gallery, Raja tn. 11, Tallinn.  The exhibition is part of the Assessment Marathon of the Fine Arts faculty of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Exhibition will be open until December 14th, every day from 14:00-18:00. Time drips steadily, ...
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Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 2.–19.12.2024

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery. Works in animation, contemporary art, installation and sculpture, painting, photography, graphic art, scenography curricula will be on display. On each ...
Berit Schneidereit ja Saskia Fischer

Artist Talks: Berit Schneidereit and Saskia Fischer

On Monday, 21 October 2024 at 17:00, artist talks by Berit Schneidereit and Saskia Fischer will take place at EKA A-501. The artists will be in Tallinn to conduct masterclasses in the photography department of the Estonian Academy of Arts. Berit Schneidereit's artistic work revolves around the question of the nature of photography and the physical and bodily act of looking. Rooted in ...