About
Dan Farnum is a professor of photography whose artwork focuses on themes related to adolescence and socioeconomics. These themes appear in various projects set in locations across the country, including a long-term portrait series in Michigan’s auto towns, black-and-white landscape images created in the suburban sprawl around San Francisco, images of young adults growing up near Hollywood filming sites in Los Angeles and scenes from the working-class neighborhoods of Tulsa. Farnum works with a range of digital and analog photographic equipment. He is also well-versed in both the history of photography and current issues in the medium.
Farnum’s work has appeared in the Beijing-based magazine Vision, Topic Stories, Adbusters, FotoFilmic’s JRNL series and Time magazine.
His photographic project titled “Young Blood” was released as a monograph, and his Tulsa series, “Centennial,” was published by Walls Divide Press.
Awards & Honors
- Best in Show in the Midwest Contemporary exhibition juried by Natasha Egan and Karen Irvine at the Museum of Contemporary Photography
- Award from Ann Pallesen at Photo Center Northwest in Seattle
- Two prizes from the Paul Sack Architectural Photography Contest at the San Francisco Art Institute
- Juror’s Selection Award given by Christopher Rauschenberg in an exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography
- Tulsa Artist Fellowship, 2019–20
- Burrard Arts Foundation Gallery Exhibition, Vancouver
- Royal Albert Hall Gallery Exhibition, London
- Root Division Gallery Exhibition, San Francisco
- Bergamot Station Gallery Exhibition, Santa Monica
- Photo Book Gallery Exhibition, Melbourne
- Millepiani Gallery Exhibition, Rome
- Aperture Gallery Exhibition, New York City
- Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Solo Exhibition
- Newspace Center for Photography Solo Exhibition, Portland
- University of Wisconsin Solo Exhibition
- Alibi Fine Art Solo Exhibition, Chicago
Education
- MFA, San Francisco Art Institute
- BFA, University of Michigan
Research Interests & Areas of Expertise
- Art and documentary photography
- Photoshop
- Lightroom
- Color photography
- Black and white photography
- Digital photography
- Large and medium format cameras
- Film
- Darkroom
- Inkjet printing
- High-res film scanning
- Lighting equipment
- Long-term project development
- Photo books
- Contemporary issues in photography
- History of photography
- Professional development in the arts
