A Year at Hallmark

Every week brings something new in Hallmark's intensive 10-month program. Retrace the journey of our most recent graduates, the Class of 2008, from orientation to graduation. As you step through this timeline, realize that a given week in 2009 or 2010 will likely be diffferent from the "same" week in 2007 or 2008 — unlike multi-year programs, Hallmark is unfettered in its ability to rapidly adapt to industry changes. We take advantage of that freedom to give every class the most current and relevant instruction possible. (You can follow the Class of 2009 on our Week by Week page.)

Class of 2008 Graduation — During their ten months at Hallmark, students learn the technical aspects of photography, they hone their artistic and creative skills and they spend approximately 40% of their class time learning the business of photography, such as marketing, promotion and record-keeping. While all these skills are necessary and important, they also learn things such as determination and perseverance (illustrated by Mark Denman here), which aren't necessarily taught in a lecture, but rather learned through completing assignments including the year-end portfolio. These skills will serve Hallmark's 215 graduates well as they seek employment with already established professional photographers or open their own professional photography studios. Pictured: Keynote speaker, and renowned photographer, Andrew Eccles, shares his experience of becoming a professional photographer in the highly competitive New York City market by telling graduates the secret to his success is that when he was starting out, he refused to give up.