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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Photography Department students Photobook exhibition at EKA Library

This exhibition features handmade books by EKA students as the culmination of a course in which they worked with photographs in book format. They explored the similarities and differences between artist books, self-publishing, and book dummies. In addition to creating and editing visual materials, students tried their hand at design, pre-press, and binding by hand. The books contain ...
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EKA gallery is looking for graphic design and photography interns!

Deadline: December 1, 2025 Tasks of the photography intern: Taking photographs of gallery events (e.g. openings, tours, workshops) and editing them (1-2 times per month) Taking exhibition views and editing them (1-2 times per month) The photography intern can use equipment from EKA rental and use computers at EKA for editing. The intern will receive ongoing feedback from the gallerist and the ...
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Artist Talks: James Prevett and Maarit Bau

.  Artist talks with James Prevett and Maarit Bau Mustonen on October 22 at 5:45 p.m. in room A501 at EKA On October 22, 2025, at 5:45 p.m., artist talks with James Prevetti and Maarit Bau Mustonen will take place in room A-501 at EKA. The artists have been invited to conduct a master class for students in the EKA photography department. All interested parties are welcome to attend the talks! ...
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Gardens: Tanja Muravskaja and Light

Gardens: Tanja Muravskaja and Light 05.09 – 31.10.2025 Open: Wed–Sat 13:00–19:00 Free entrance Limited wheelchair access Public Programme: 13.09, 14:00 Guided tour (in Estonian) 20.09, 14:00 Artist talk (in Estonian) The exhibition is part of the main programme of the 8th Tallinn Photomonth Tanja Muravskaja’s new work Gardens explores the boundaries between reality and image, as she gives the ...
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Book Presentation & Discussion: And Then It Fades (Away)

As part of Tallinn Photomonth, FOKU gallery hosts the presentation of And Then It Fades (Away), a new bilingual (Lithuanian-English) book on contemporary Lithuanian photography. The publication brings together twelve artists whose works explore themes from placelessness and archives to instability and identity, weaving personal, cultural, and ecological narratives into a vivid map of the ...
Exhibition of artists’ films at the Tartu Art House

Exhibition of artists’ films at the Tartu Art House

On Friday, 20 June at 5:00, the exhibition of artists' films “Once More I Would Like To Return” * will open in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House. The exhibition is being curated by Marge Monko and designed by Karel Koplimets.   The exhibition features five films by artists that deal with home and the memories, longing and melancholy associated with it in various psychological and ...
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Photography students’ shorts in Cinema Sõprus

Public screening of the short films by the 2nd year students of the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts will take place at 10:00AM on Monday, May 26th in Cinema Sõprus (Vana-Posti Street 8, Tallinn). Films were made during the Art Project 3 course, supervised by Paul Kuimet, Lauri Laasik, Mattias Veermets and Jevgeni Berezovski. The screening is free and everyone is ...
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Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 30.04.–20.05.2025

Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 30.04.–20.05.2025 The spring assessment marathon is here! For three weeks, you can once again experience works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects are presented: every day there will be a fresh showcase of university students’ works on display. Works in animation, contemporary art, installation and sculpture, painting, ...