Ok....I've been researching schools for photography. It seems my choices are very limited around here. I can go to a 4 year college and major in arts...one of the best Rhode Island School of Design (think Harry Callahan, someone whose photography I greatly admire) is in my home state.....but also costs major money. I can go to a 2 year community college, spend less money and less time, or I can take a correspondance course. All schools meant specifically for photography are 2 to 3 hours away from where I live. So I guess I'm wondering if anyone here has heard about or taken courses from New York Institute of Photography. I just received the application yesterday....and of course they're gonna rave about themselves. One disadvantage I can think of is the fact that I will not have access to a dark room....although I could easily equip my basement with what I needed. Good? Bad? What do you guys think?

I should also add that....going to back to college actually sounds kind of fun, I always enjoyed school, but in my mind I can't see the need to learn Western Civ, Psych, and English, etc. when all I really want to do is learn the important technical stuff. And of course some history relating to the arts. Oh yeah, and I'd also have to take drawing classes.......something which I suck in very badly...why do ya think I'm into 3D stuff!

No Alpha, no degree....I was a Communications major at a state college here in RI. I finished my freshman year with a decent gpa....but I felt kind of lost, not really sure what I wanted to do, and just left. I was also thinking if some of my credits would transfer over, but it has been more than 15 years. I think RISD's tuition is about $30,000 a year if not more......I really can't afford it. :~( ALPHA: (The only thing that bothers me about doing a distance thing is that you don't get the hands on experience that you do in an actual school lab as far as print making goes, and you loose the interaction with other students. I will say that I personally have never heard anything bad about the NYIP) That's one of my concerns too.

Your input has been extremely helpful Alpha....maybe someone else has something to add to this too. :~) I do have a bit more thinking to do!

I think I'm the one you want to hear from since I have taken the path of New York Institute of Photography. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you are looking for recognition, like, "Hey I went to this school", forget about it. You won't get a degree. You'll only receive a certificate of graduation. If you are looking for good, easy to understand info on virtually every aspect of photography, I recommend you try it out. You can cancel at any time. They really do give solid info and even a lot of stuff pros don't know about. I will say you can expect to see a couple of cheezy guys straight out of the seventies on video and audio tape and some reading materials that seem to contain some older works, but that's because not much changes in the fundamentals of photography. They only update what needs to be updated which isn't much. It is an economical course and with a wealth of info, I think it's worth it. Give it a shot. If you need to, you can pay month to month. It is a reputable school having been around for nearly a hundred years and only going strictly correspondance recently. Another nice thing is you can work at your own pace and get feedback on your assignments on audio cassette whenever you feel like turning them in. I suppose this could creat a motivation problem for some. You must stay motivated and involved with the materials so you don't become overwhelmed. They won't won't pressure you so yu must pressure yourself. I hope that is helpful for you. The bottom line is, if you're looking for excellent insider info on all aspects of photography, it's a good course. If you have any questions, feel free to IM me. I'll be happy to help. =) Andrew

Thanks for the input on NYIP, I really needed to hear what someone who took the course thought.