Fo:RCE Photography: Reflection, Creation and Teaching is a center for activity and critical thought with photography as its main focus.
It integrates undergraduate and master’s degree programs in Photography, encompassing research, artistic expression, community engagement, and technical development.
digital lab.
Undergraduate
The undergraduate degree offers a comprehensive education based on project-based practices. It combines technical, artistic, and theoretical skills, supported by professional spaces and equipment and by a dynamic environment in which faculty and students are actively engaged in the learning process.Integrated within DCAM – the Department of Cinema and Media Arts, the program is situated in a contemporary territory of creation and technology. Over the past decade, students have benefited from an energetic, creative, and multidisciplinary environment, which has been fundamental to the development of their careers.
1st year — focuses on essential technical and theoretical foundations of photography, aiming to develop project-based creative tools and individual and group working processes. It is a year of discovery and intensive work, during which students build the groundwork for experimentation, sustained practice, and the gradual development of autonomy.
2nd year — addresses different fields of photographic practice, their historical frameworks, and their technical and theoretical specificities, which in turn generate diverse photographic practices. Students put their newly acquired skills into practice through the development of photographic projects of varying character, with a primary emphasis on creativity, while maintaining strong technical and theoretical rigor.
3rd year — is dedicated to creation; students develop the photographic projects they conceive, supported by faculty through collective presentation and critique sessions that promote a shared learning process. At the end of the year, the projects are exhibited in a public space. In parallel, this is also the year in which students complete a professional internship, supervised by a faculty member, allowing them to choose the area of Photography in which they wish to continue their future professional path.
Master
photos © 2025 João Quirino (insta: @jquirinophoto)
The master’s Degree in Photography was designed to provide a demanding second-cycle education, fostering the development of technical, creative, and artistic research skills within the expanded field of photography.
Its curricular structure combines advanced practical and theoretical training with immersive artistic residencies, encouraging experimentation, reflection, and critical thinking.
With an innovative character within the national second-cycle academic landscape, the Master’s Degree in Photography is grounded in a professional technological infrastructure, a faculty that integrates artistic practice with academic research, and facilities dedicated to photographic practice.
Admission Requirements:
Applicants to the Master’s Degree in Photography should have prior academic background in Photography, Visual Arts, or Media Arts, or in other fields, provided they can demonstrate relevant professional experience. In addition to a detailed CV, all applications must include the following materials:
a) An individual portfolio allowing for the assessment of the applicant’s artistic and professional trajectory, as well as the relevance of prior experience. The portfolio should preferably be submitted in digital format.
b) Letter of motivation.