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.
Awards and Honors
Dan Farnum is the recipient of several notable awards, including Best in Show in the Midwest Contemporary exhibition juried by Natasha Egan and Karen Irvine at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, an 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, and the Juror’s Selection Award given by Christopher Rauschenberg in an exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography. Farnum was also selected to participate in the Tulsa Artist Fellowship (2019–2020).
Farnum’s prints have been exhibited at galleries including the Burrard Arts Foundation in Vancouver, Royal Albert Hall in London, Root Division in San Francisco, Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, Photo Book Melbourne, Millepiani Gallery in Rome, and Aperture Gallery in New York City. His photographs have also been featured in multiple solo exhibitions at venues such as the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Newspace Center for Photography in Portland, the University of Wisconsin, and Alibi Fine Art in Chicago. 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.
Education
- MFA, San Francisco Art Institute
- BFA, University of Michigan
Research interests and 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
