Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online

One-Year Certificate Program
ICP's new online One-Year Certificate Program is designed for the global visual storytelling community, providing advanced students an intensive yearlong course of study to strengthen personal vision, refine skills and technique, and explore the many disciplines informing visual storytelling today.

About the Program

Upcoming Info Sessions & Deadlines

Deadline to apply: November 15, 2022.

ICP's One-Year Certificate in Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online runs on a calendar-year cycle, beginning in January and concluding in December.  

General Information

This 12-month re-imagined online program allows students who are unable to attend ICP’s full-time program in New York City the opportunity to participate from around the globe.  Tailored specifically to the online environment this rigorous program will offer a combination of intensive classroom guided study and independent fieldwork. 

Students will be encouraged to think both locally and globally about the stories they are creating. The student-centered curriculum emphasizes class discussions and critiques in a supportive learning atmosphere.  By exploring the history of visual storytelling, developing new and challenging technical skills in still photography and multimedia, students will learn strategies for publication, and create long-term documentary projects that examine the human experience. 

The faculty at ICP are some of the foremost practitioners in the field today. Working with world-renowned photographers and editors, students will develop their own unique visual voice, all within a community of other documentarians.  

The year is divided into three terms. In semester 1 and 3 students should expect to participate in approximately 12 to 15 live contact hours per week that may include a few additional intensive weekend workshops. In Term 2, students will work independently on a long-term project with faculty mentorship.  

Class sessions will be offered primarily in Eastern Standard Time. Students will be required to participate in courses and meetings during this time as part of the interactive live learning modality. Classes and mentorship meetings are live sessions in Zoom.  
 
The application for Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online is now open. The priority deadline to apply is November 1, and the of Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online students will commence studies on January 27, 2023.

TOP IMAGE: © Nina Kostamo Deschamps, DOC Online 2022

The Curriculum

There are three terms within the calendar year: 

Term 1: January–May 

Live classes (approximately 12 hours a week) combined with ongoing weekly assignments which include: photography assignments, readings, technical post-production and writing.  

Group discussions will focus on history, best practices and methodologies, and innovative media, as well as the political, ethical, and social concerns of the photographer. 

Term 2: May–August 

Independent field work.  Students will not meet in classes during this Term. Students will be expected to work on a long form independent documentary project during this time.  During this second Term of the program the student’s work will be guided by periodic mentor check ins.   

Term 3: September–December 

Live classes (approximately 12 hours a week) along with ongoing weekly assignments which include: photographing, post-production, and writing. Focus will be on resolving and completing long term projects, editing, and sequencing, bookmaking, multi-media production, and interactive web design. Each student will complete a long form documentary project that demonstrates a synthesis of their learning and creative experience in the program. 

  • Students must supply their own equipment: 
    • Professional camera gear  
    • Computer with stable internet connection 
    • Hard drive 
       
  • Students will be provided access to the Adobe Creative Suite and should be able to download and run all Adobe programs on their computer. 

Students who successfully complete their studies will be included in the end of year OYC exhibition in the ICP museum on Essex Street in New York City. Graduates will also be invited to participate in student portfolio reviews. 

Alumni Work

A woman covering her ears.
Fabeha Monir
A person holding a bow and arrow.
Rasha Al Jundi
A girl running at night.
Anamika Chowdhury
A girl under the window curtains.
Francisca Reyes
The Chair
Karen Marshall, chair of the Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online program, is a documentary photographer whose work examines the psychological lives of her subjects within the social landscape. Her photographs have appeared in numerous publications including the New York Times Magazine, the London Sunday Times, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, GUP Magazine, and PDN. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in many venues throughout the United States as well as in Germany, Austria, Canada, Israel, the Philippines, China, and Colombia. Marshall is the recipient of artist fellowships and sponsorships through the New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as grants and support from private foundations. Nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2011, her work is part of several collections, including the Feminist Artbase at the Brooklyn Museum. Marshall has been faculty at ICP for over two decades, an associate professor (adjunct) at New York University, guest faculty in the MFA program at the Maine Media College, and has taught numerous workshops internationally that focus on visual storytelling.