Earning a photography certification from the New York Film Academy encompasses everything from learning to shoot and use equipment to mastering the art of printing. That breadth of knowledge is put to the test as photography students spend an entire semester on their thesis project, fine-tuning their concept, shooting photos, receiving critiques, editing their images and, finally, printing the end result to display their work to the world.

The best images of the semester are chosen for display for the students’ graduation ceremony, and left up, gallery-style, on the walls for several months.