Looking Through a Common Lens
CFA Photography
written by
Pam Wigley
Andrew Carnegie founded Carnegie Technical Schools in Pittsburgh to educate and train working class community residents. The renamed Carnegie Institute of Technology began to offer four-year degrees in 1912, continuing with a focus on technical education. Carnegie was also committed to an education in, and exposure to, the arts, inspired by his mother, Margaret Morrison Carnegie. That commitment to arts and arts education for students in all areas of studies continues to this day at Carnegie Mellon University.
Within CMU’s College of Fine Arts (CFA), many courses are open to students outside of arts-centered careers. One exemplifies and reiterates the importance of exposure to the arts across all disciplines: CFA Photography.
Above photos by Leo Hsu, MCS (Physics '25).
“We connect with a wide swath of students at the university,” said Jamie Gruzska, special faculty and CFA Photography administrator. “We tend to attract deeper thinkers who value the arts. It’s a good platform to allow people to understand their creativity.”
Gruzska points to the fact that the current student body enrolled in various photography courses are comprised of people with diverse majors: architecture, art, physics, computer science, etc. Despite their areas of study being different, students bond over the common interest of capturing life through a lens.
“Every student brings personal techniques that propel the machine — the camera,” he said. “No matter the level of experience, creating your own art is possible through photography.”
Photo by Gretchen Kupferschmid, CFA (Design ’24).
Former student Leo Hsu found his pathway in the arts as part of his photography courses. The CMU alum, who graduated with a degree in physics and now lives in New York City, enrolled in photo courses because he was inspired by his sister, a photographer, sculptor and art educator in Chicago.
“I watched my sister work and produce fabulous photographs right next to me (like right next to where I happen to take an awful picture on my phone)” Hsu said. “That’s why I took Black and White I in my senior fall, and it inspired me to continue with the follow-up course the semester right after.”
He said being part of courses with students in other areas of study proved to be of value to him.
Photo by Victor Alfonzo, SCS (Computer Science ’23).
“The photography minor is popular,” Gruzska said. “Students can get a respite from the kind of work they do in their major studies while exploring the breadth of the medium, from its analog origins to the digital state-of-the-art. Most of the details can be found on our site and I’m happy to meet with students to advise a path.”
Photo by Leo Hsu.
Hsu said he’s glad he took the photography classes and encourages current students to follow suit.
“I would recommend the courses without a doubt. [They] especially provided me a creative outlet from my more STEM and lecture-heavy schedule and always gave me a good excuse to go on a weekend excursion somewhere in or around Pittsburgh,” he said. “It’s partially what led me to really enjoy the city so much! I would also recommend the class because, to me, the courses are what you give it — the more attention devoted often led to better and more rewarding results.”
Gruzska encourages students to become involved in the creative outlet of photography.
If you’re interested in supporting students’ photography expenses, which are out-of-pocket, you can find out more through the CFA Office of Advancement.
featuring the following:
photography by Leo Hsu, Gretchen Kupferschmid, and Victor Alfonso