Faculty Directory

Lane Barden

Lane Barden is an architecture photographer with a fine arts background. His client list includes major national and international firms such as A.C. Martin, Harley Ellis Devereaux, Atelier Jean Nouvel (Paris) Audi Bank of Beirut and Coop Himmelblau. His work is included in the collections of The Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center, The Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and The Los Angeles County Museum of Fine Arts.

Lane has taught at the Art Center College of Design and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. In 2015 he was a guest lecturer at the Annenberg Space for Photography. He holds an M.A. and an M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico.

Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

For over a decade, Kwasi has been photographing the urban environment. His work blends elements of landscape, documentary, and street photography to present a side of the city life that’s foreign to the unfamiliar. The experience of growing up in Los Angeles is the foundation for his photo essays, sharing a perspective that is often missing from the mainstream narrative.

In 2017 Kwasi was included on Time Magazine’s list of 12 African American Photographers to Follow and was featured on the New York Times Lens Blog. In addition to taking part in several exhibitions, Kwasi attended the 2018 New York Times Portfolio Review and his work has appeared internationally in Il Post and Slate France. Currently Kwasi regularly contributes to Curbed Los Angeles, the New York Times, and has several other clients including KCET and Netflix.

Andrew Hall

Andrew Hall has more than 30 years of experience working with such diverse elements as moving liquids, smoke and vapor, pure light and floating bubbles. Hall owns and runs the School of Light darkroom facility in DTLA. He teaches all of NYFA’s alternative processes and darkroom classes at his beautiful space in the Reef building in downtown Los Angeles. His clients include Kodak, IBM, Honda, BBC, Castrol, Infiniti, Lexus, Nokia, Nestle, L’Oreal. Awards won include The Association of Photographers Award, Communication Arts Annual Award, Graphic Photography Annual (Gold) Award, International Photography Awards, and Polaroid European Final Art Awards. His publications include Global Corporate Identity and The Art of Saying Hello.

Jon Henry

Jon Henry is a visual artist working with photography and text from Queens, NY (though he now resides in Brooklyn). His work reflects on family, sociopolitical issues, grief, trauma, and healing within the African American community. His work has been published both nationally and internationally and exhibited in numerous galleries including Aperture Foundation, Smack Mellon, and BRIC among others. Known foremost for the cultural activism in his work, his projects include studies of athletes from different sports and their representations. He was recently awarded the Arnold Newman Grant for New Directions in Photographic Portraiture, an En Foco Fellow for 2020, one of LensCulture’s Emerging Artists for 2019 and has also won the Film Photo Prize for Continuing Film Project sponsored by Kodak.

Baz Here

Baz Here is a queer fine art photographer and musician living in downtown Los Angeles. A multidisciplinary artist. Here is interested in the sound current and its effect on visual aesthetics. Through the use of self-portraiture, his work questions perceptions about race (white privilege specifically – White on White) and queer identity politics. His work has been exhibited at The Hive, Featured Resident Artist (DTLA) / The Getty Center, Pop-up Gallery/ Out There, Gallery 825 / Gallerie Sparta / LACDA / Gay Downtown LA Artwalk Pop-up Gallery / Beyond Baroque / Art Share LA Fall / Los Angeles LGBT Center Advocate and Gochis Galleries. His work is featured in The Advocate and The Cultural Weekly.

Alejandro Ibarra

Alejandro began taking photographs at age 17 after one of his brothers passed away. He mentions they did not have a good portrait of him to use for the funeral, so he decided to start documenting the people in his life.

With over ten years of editorial and commercial work under his belt, Alejandro works mainly with actors and people in the entertainment industry, musicians, politicians, among others. His work has taken him to four continents and has been shown around the world including: Australia, Turkey, Holland, Mexico, New York, Boston, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, and Spain, among other places. His work has been featured in GQ Spain, Cannes Film Festival, Out, The Advocate, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, PDN, HOLA!, Metro.co.UK, and various other publications. His projects Piece by Piece and Coming Out Stories have been shown in galleries and various festivals all over the country.

Alejandro obtained a BFA in Filmmaking and an MFA in Photography. He currently resides and teaches photography in New York, and travels to Los Angeles and Mexico City for work.

Linda Lewis

Linda Lewis received her degree from Cal State Fullerton. During a 25-year career as a commercial photographer, Linda has documented over 500 weddings, shot for dozens of artists throughout Southern California, and worked for a variety of corporate, editorial and university clients — including Toyota and USC — that have taken her to Cape Kennedy for a Space Shuttle launch and given her the opportunity to photograph five U.S. Presidents.

In addition to her work with the New York Film Academy Los Angeles, she has taught courses in media, photojournalism, wedding and public relations photography at Chaffey College for over 20 years, and given workshops at the Los Angeles Center of Photography and Brooks Institute.

Silvi Naçi

MFA in Photography + Media, California Institute of the Arts; BFA in Fine Arts and Graphic Design, Suffolk University. Silvi Naçi works with performance, video, sculpture, photography, text, and installation. They studied at the Instituto Cultural de Oaxaca (Oaxaca, Mexico) and Studio Art Centers International and have exhibited works at Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art Project Space, NYC (2019); MAK Center, LA (2019); MoCA Geffen, LA (2019); Other Places Art Fair, LA (2019); and Greater LA MFA Exhibition, LA (2019); and is a recipient of the Tim Disney Excellence in Storytelling Prize (2019) and the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Travel Grant (2018). Naçi took part in Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art (Berlin, Germany) 2019, and Elsewhere Museum and Residency (Greensboro, NC) 2019, among other residencies. Born and raised in former communist Albania, Naçi‘s practice investigates gender and cultural identity, language and time, the body as subject/object, and the consequences of patriarchy. Working with traumatic memories from their childhood, Naçi investigate gender and cultural identity as it relates to exile, immigration, and citizenship.

Nikk Rich

Nikk Rich studied abroad at Savannah College of Art and Design in Hong Kong. With strong knowledge in lighting, post production, medium and large format, her work largely surrounds black women in beauty. Pulling from from her community and personal experiences, Nikk shares the nuance of these interactions in her work and actively uses her platform to influence a change in beauty standards.

With her distinct soft lighting, muted color palette and fine art approach to portraiture, Nikk’s specific style and aesthetic has led to multiple shows in China, Atlanta, and Washington DC. She currently resides in Southern California.

Saul Robbins

Saul Robbins is interested in the ways people interact with their surroundings and the psychological dynamics of intimacy. His photographs are motivated by observations of human behavior and personal experience, especially those related to loss, unity, failure, and the latent potential residing in personal history and traditional photographic materials. Robbins is best known for “Initial Intake”, which examines the empty chairs of Manhattan-based psychotherapy professionals from their clients’ perspective, and “How Can I Help? – An Artful Dialogue”, a pop-up office into which he invites strangers to speak with him about anything they wish for free and in complete confidence. Robbins recently re-launched the project in accordance with Shelter in Place and Social Distancing orders due to the Coronavirus, scheduling sessions by phone and video. For more information and to schedule a session, visit his website: https://www.saulrobbins.com/index

Robbins received his MFA from Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he studied under Roy DeCarava. He is Adjunct Professor of Photography at International Center of Photography, NYFA, and SVA, consults privately, and leads Master Workshops internationally about communication and professional development.

Amanda Rowan

Amanda Rowan Parker is a visual and performing artist and educator, currently living in Los Angeles, California. She graduated cum laude from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her visual style is timeless, with an emphasis on color and juxtaposition. Her photographic work examines performance and power within the realm of domesticity. Some of her publishing credits include: Float Magazine, People Magazine, I-Dress, FVM Global, and Bluegrass Today. Rowan’s images have been exhibited at the Carrie Able Gallery, Red Cat, Photo LA, Paris Photo, and the Leica Gallery in Los Angeles.

Daughter of Grammy-winning Bluegrass and country legend Peter Rowan, Amanda began shooting rock concerts during high school. In 2014, she launched the project “Born Backstage,” a portrait series that chronicles artists and performers who are all the children of folk and rock legends, including The Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills & Nash; The Beatles; Frank Zappa; and many more.

Rowan’s colorful lighting, combined with her knack for engaging with her subjects, has led to a flourishing commercial practice that translates her distinctive visual style into imagery for advertising campaigns, as well as corporate branding including Disney, NBC, HBO, and Hilton Entertainment. Her editorial portraits include global artists, performers, and pop celebrities alike.

Natasha Rudenko

Natasha Rudenko is a photographer and an educator, and has exhibited her work internationally. Her work was part of a few group shows in New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, Budapest and some others as well as a few annual publications of feminist and queer art, including Issues II and Femme Fotale Volume III Analog and Femme Fotale Volume IV Leafless.

In her work Rudenko interprets her personal experience as a human being. She addresses self-reflection and investigates the realm of her feelings and emotions. Through being honest and personal she aims to make people relate to the ideas explored in her work and provoke their own self-reflection. Rudenko also believes art education can change the world and make it a better place. MFA, New York Film Academy.

Thomas Werner

Thomas is the author of the book The Fashion Image for Bloomsbury Publishing, London, with a second book on fine art photography in progress for Routledge Publishing. An Editor at Large for IRKmagazine, a Paris based fashion and culture magazine and web site, founder of Thomas Werner Projects Podcast, and past Photography Program Director at Parsons School of Design in New York, Thomas lectures internationally on photography, fashion, innovation, education, and contemporary professional practices, with a series of recent presentations across China. The former owner of Thomas Werner Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Art District, and a former National Board member and New York Chapter President for the American Society of Media Photographers, Werner also lead a team developing a media and literacy web site and resource center in five languages, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic and English for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations/UNESCO. He has worked with the United States Department of State on cultural projects in Russia, and been a photography consultant for COACH and Rodale Publishing, among others. Thomas was a recurrent instructor at the United Nations Education First Summer School, and is now presenting workshops on effective message development and visual communication on an international basis.

John Tona

John Tona is a photographer and artist based in New York City. He uses photographic portraiture to investigate human nature and consciousness. His work employs strategies ranging from social-documentary, tableau, and reinterpretations of the portrait.

His most recent and ongoing project, (A)typical Typology, depicts pairs of people from each country of the world without cultural elements such as clothing, makeup, or other man-made products, leaving only the individual as the unique identifier. As a result, the lines of race and culture are de-emphasized, leaving us to consider the subjects more simply, as members of the human race.

In addition to publications in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, his work has been exhibited at Art Space Artion, The Canson Gallery, and the Jeonju International Photo Festival in Seoul, South Korea as well as Art Basel in Miami Florida and Photoville in Brooklyn New York.

John is a graduate of the one-year photography conservatory at the New York Film Academy.

Andreanna Seymor

Andréanna uses photography as a means of inquiry into social class, subculture, and counterculture. Her vivid color work captures the organized chaos of everyday people, and illuminates them in ways that prompt the viewer to think about what is occurring beyond the frame of the photograph. Taking her interest in understanding identity within subculture communities, Andréanna began exploring these individuals with the collodion process in order to create decidedly unperfected imagery, to bring to light the transformations of identity.

Born in Southhampton, New York, Andréanna earned her B.F.A. in photography from the School of Visual Arts, and her master’s in social sciences from Queens College. A seasoned photographer with over 20 years of professional experience, Andréanna has shot for numerous editorial publications and has been invited to participate in group shows throughout the United States. Her professional experience has included numerous publications in American and international publications including Blender, Bloomberg Businessweek, Discover, Fortune, Life, Marie Claire, Mother Jones, Newsweek, New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, Teen People, O: The Oprah Magazine, Rizzoli, U.S. News & World Report, Wired, and Working Mother, among others. She has been assigned to shoot newsmakers from Bill Gates and Linda McMahon to Zach Galifianakis and Taylor Swift.

Andréanna’s first monograph, “Scars and Stripes: The Culture of Modern Roller Derby” was published by Schiffer Books in October 2014. Andréanna was also featured in the book “25 Under 25: Up and Coming American Photographers,” published in 2003 by Powerhouse with a foreword by Lauren Greenfield. In 2017, Andreanna’s images from “Scars and Stripes” were acquired by The Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Jackie Neale

Jackie Neale is a hybrid photographic artist creating storytelling installations in mediums ranging from alternative processes to low-fidelity recordings. Her process relies on community immersion to depict honest interactions in underrecognized communities and serving as personal testimonials as oral histories. She is the former Online Features Imaging Director at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, completing over 300 storytelling projects over 15-plus years. She is also a published author, and undergraduate Photography Professor at Saint Joseph’s University and the New York Film Academy. Neale has completed residencies in New York City, Philadelphia, Texas, Mexico, Calabria and Milan, Italy.