NYFA MFA in Photography: Hands-On, Entrepreneurial, and Interdisciplinary

The New York Film Academy (NYFA) offers a 16-month, 61-unit MFA in Photography at its Burbank, CA campus, emphasizing hands-on technical instruction, critical inquiry, and business strategies. The program features a 10,000-square-foot studio with cyclorama and sound stage, darkroom with 8 enlargers, and high-performance printers. Curriculum includes analog and digital photography, collage, graphic design, video art, installation, performance, and AI imaging from foundations through advanced electives. Students take two required business classes in their final two semesters. Faculty are adjunct working professionals, including Amina Cruz (work in Getty collection), Jon Henry (exhibited at MOCA Geffen), Lane Barden (collections at Getty and LACMA), and Suné Woods (recipient of Baum Award). Cohort sizes are 4–10 students. Tuition for 2025/2026 is $107,000; scholarships, federal aid, and GI Bill funding are available. No teaching assistantships exist. Alumni pursue careers as photographers, designers, artists, teachers, and production company founders. The program is profiled in Lenscratch's "In Focus: The MFA Review" series, which provides overviews of MFA programs for photographic artists without rankings or endorsements.