Mission Statement The School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa's mission is to furnish the resources, environment, tools and instruction to develop the students' signature style, hone their photographic skills, and cultivate their visual literacy. Motto Vision, Content and Craft. SPAO was created to deliver intensive photographic training. The SPAO Portfolio Program full-time curriculum is portfolio driven and designed with the committed student of photography in mind. Part-time Studies courses and workshops offered are geared to many levels of experience, but still share an intensity of concentration, and emphasis on craft and execution, with the full-time program. The 2-3 year, SPAO Portfolio Program, produces skill-sets that exceed industry standards and merge the fine arts with commercial applications, while allowing students the freedom to develop their portfolios. The small class sizes, (ratio approximately 1 instructor : 5 students) grant students ample one-on-one attention. This school is a unique facility that provides a lot of creative freedom and open access to its full-time students. Open 7 days a week, the Portfolio Program students have regular access to the darkroom, computer lab and studio. Critiques and thesis-style advisory sessions encourage the pursuit of a personal aesthetic and evolve individual talent. As it educates through performance, the program maintains an organic relationship between its component courses. Digital and analog course content merges classic and contemporary techniques seamlessly. The core curriculum addresses: Photographic Theory, Photographic History and Achievement, Studio and Lighting Techniques, Printmaking Techniques, Digital Techniques, Portfolio, Magazine and Exhibition Design and Concepts, and Personal Aesthetics. To further enrich the SPAO Portfolio Program regular Intensive Concentration Workshops are presented both on and off site touching on topics ranging from alternative printmaking processes to fashion photography. Courses, Workshops, Safaris and Master Classes are offered at SPAO year-round in its Part-time Studies program. Instruction is geared to various levels of experience (basic, intermediate and master) and class sizes are small to ensure personal attention. Three calendars of courses available, Winter, Spring/Summer and Fall, are distributed annually. A Part Time Studies Certificate of Completion is available to part-time students who wish to add structure and goals to their self-directed studies. The SPAO Part Time Studies Certificate is an entirely separate entity from the full-time SPAO Portfolio Program. Courses and workshops are not transferable between the part-time and full-time programs.   Directors, Faculty and Part-time Instructors The two directors of the School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa, are Michael Tardioli and Khalia Scott. Both have strong academic, professional and artistic backgrounds in photography. Michael Tardioli has been a professional photographer for 20 years, with a degree in photography. Working primarily in Ottawa, he has had extensive experience in all aspects of high-end image capture and production, and is a nationally recognized master printer. A former instructor at Algonquin College, Michael co-founded SPAO to create an intensive photographic experience for those seeking to hone their skills or pursue an artistic or professional photographic practice. Khalia Scott is a co-founder of SPAO and a working photo-based artist. President of the X Ottawa Photography Festival, and a grant recipient, she has worked in the photographic print media for over 10 years, and has produced and shown her work in various studios and galleries in Ontario and Quebec. She has worked commercially as an assistant photographer and stylist at the professional level and as an instructor both privately and in academe. Michael Tardioli and Khalia Scott are both directors and instructors of the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa. The school was opened due to the demand by students to learn the traditional art of photography. Michael Tardioli and Khalia Scott are both directors and instructors of the School of Photographic Arts: Ottawa. The school was opened due to the demand by students to learn the traditional art of photography. listen to interview All instructors in both the faculty of the SPAO Portfolio Program and teaching the Part-time Studies Workshops and Courses are working artists and/or professionals who have distinguished themselves in their fields. SPAO’s teachers are actively connected to the photographic world and instruct specifically from their personal knowledge base, with a generosity and personal attention exclusive to the SPAO atmosphere. SPAO Portfolio Program Instructor Biographies Part Time Studies Program Instructor Biographies The School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa also regularly invites professionals and recognized artists as guest lecturers to provide intensive workshops and seminars on their areas of expertise and bodies of work. Board of Directors The School of the Photographic Arts: Ottawa was founded in 2005 as a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to photo education, Ontario Corporation Number 1668750. The school’s six-member Board of Directors meets quarterly and is headed by Jean Fortier. SPAO Board Members and Biographies