Professor Cyr spoke with us about his career path in class. He spoke about “evolving as a professional to work in different areas of photography”. He told us a lot about himself and how he got to where he is today.

            Professor Cyr earned his BFA with a concentration in photography from Connecticut College. He only attended two photo classes at that time! He also had the opportunity to study in Florence for one semester. From 2001-2006 he worked on Textural Compositions.

            For two summers, Professor Cyr did a work study and internship at Maine Media Workshops. World renowned photographers taught the workshops there, and he had the opportunity to meet them.

From 2003-2009 he worked at M.V. Labs, a film photo printing lab. He started as an unpaid intern,  but quickly became a paid apprentice. He printed for many famous photographers there, including Gordon Parks, Marilyn Bridges and Jim Goldberg. Work slowed down after a few years because digital photography gained popularity, and B&W printing wasn’t as popular anymore. In 2006-2007 he was master printer at the lab, and he spent a lot of his time off shooting for his own projects. He also started building a collection of signed prints given to him by the clients he was printing for.

2008-2010 Professor Cyr earned his MFA at SVA. During that time in 2009, he started his own B&W printing studio. Networking at the previous printing studio he worked for gave him connections of clients who wanted work from him. He explained to us that he knew how he was going to pay for everything before he bought it, and knew jobs would be coming in before spending his own money on equipment. In 2013, rent skyrocketed from $1500 to $6000 per month! He moved his studio from Dumbo to Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

From 2010-2014 he created Developer Trays, which consists of photos of famous photographer’s darkroom developer trays. He did quite a bit of travelling to make all the photos.

Professor Cyr’s goal since 2008 was to become a full-time teacher. Having the goal of having a career with a salary and benefits was important to him. In 2014 he was an adjunct professor, and he continued printing and selling prints. It is important to have income coming from different places, and that is just what he did. He also had the expense of running his own business, so he needed to maximize his income to continue that business.

Professor Cyr, is now of course, a full time working professor at Suffolk County Community College. Some of the advice he gave to us was , maintain a regimented schedule. Have good time management and maximize your efficiency during work time. Freelance work gives you flexibility in your schedule, but teaching gives you a set schedule and five months off! Plus a steady paycheck and benefits, which are always great too. Always look ahead to the next few years, things don’t happen overnight. Always build relationships, and the steps you take will continue to build upon each other.

Professor Cyr is, in my opinion, a great professor. His love of and knowledge about photography is easily passed to all of his students, and I feel lucky to have him as my teacher.