In what ways has your internship inspired you to think about college? Have you discovered new colleges that you are interested in attending? Have you discovered new courses to study or majors to pursue? Throughout my time with Hale Productions, I had realized that I would like to pursue a career in the photography field which is the biggest thing I wanted to get out of my internship experience. As for college, I have been thinking about studying a general topic, like business or marketing, in order to benefit me if the photography dream doesn't work out, but after my mentor interview that idea has changed. I interviewed Kirk for my interview and got a lot out of it, college wise. He gave me the advice to study something that I love, which I took and realized that if I go to college and study a boring, general area it won't be very motivating. For years, I have loved photography, so I have been considering possibly studying that, or I am really interested in the Media Studies major and might even pursue that area of study instead. Describe your reflections on your internship project -- what went well, what would you do differently, and what stands out to you?
My internship project was a big challenge for me considering I have never produced my own photoshoot before. I decided to set up a 70s fashion based shoot, using my co-mentor, Alexis, and another stylist/photographer from the team, Rachel. I came up with an overall concept, style guide, color palette, several locations as a first step, I then went on to Pinterest to pull shots for my shoot. Pulling shots was essential for my shoot because I had never taken fashion/portrait photos before. Next, I filled out a production schedule to help me sty organized on the day of my photoshoot. This schedule helped me figure out how to stage the models and how I wanted to frame, angle, and focus the shot. Then, the day finally came when I had to go out and actually take the pictures, look at every little detail, stage the model, and so on... I, personally, wouldn't change anything about my process leading up to production day just because I kept everything organized. However, the day of the shoot I wish I would have warmed up quicker because once I was comfortable and felt as if I knew what I was doing, I had a much better time. My biggest struggle throughout my project was making up my mind just because I am extremely indecisive. After sitting in and observing the different kinds of shoots Hale Productions takes on, I felt like I wasn't cut out to be a photographer because I was really enjoying the behind the scenes work that I was doing and because I didn't think I was assertive enough. However, after producing this shoot, it made me really consider fashion photography because I loved how all my shots that I picked turned out post-production. I realized that I really like the weird photography style, with the weird framing, cropping, locations, and having the model do crazy, weird looking poses. The photos below are 2 of the final edited photos.
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Read another students blog. What stands out to you? What experiences do you have in common? What contrasts do you see? What questions do you have? I read Haley's blog today, she is interning at local interior design company at Simply Stunning Spaces in the Mira Mesa area. What stood out most to me was that we both are having a lot of the same experiences, meaning that we both work with smaller groups of people with clients coming in and out constantly and we have similar struggles because of that. Because we both work in creative work fields, we have to deal with many different clients looking for a variety of different styles and aesthetics. We both struggle a lot with social interaction so we have had a similar disadvantage with being in working environments that are heavily reliant on clientele. One way I can see we have had a different experience is that she has been doing a lot of work that benefits the company directly which is different than what I have been doing. I have been doing some work here and there that is work for other clients, like pulling shots for certain shoots that the team will use on the day of. She is also in an office like environment, unlike me, where I am in a more laid back, chill environment that almost reminds me of how things are at school. What are you most thankful for in your internship? I am extremely thankful for the fact that I have been given work that directly improves my skills as a photographer. I have been watching youtube videos, reading books, and physically going out to shoot on my own. Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed pulling shots for clients, it's one of my favorite things I have done thus far, but I am really appreciative to have gotten such a hands on experience. I wasn't completely sure what work I would be doing while with Hale Productions, but I'm really happy with all of the growth I have accomplished. The photo below is one of the first photos I took when going out to get my 100 shots for the day and it is now one of my favorite photos I have taken. I had gone out the day before and taken really basic photos that were not artistically interesting. I had to go out the next day and take picture at the same spots I had the day before, but to to get 5 different perspectives. Ultimately, I was so much happier with the photos I got the second day because they were so different than anything I had taken before. What were some highlights from your mentor interview and explain what makes them significant to you.
What is the biggest challenge you face at your internship? My biggest challenge while at Hale Productions thus far has been the social interaction with my coworkers, mentors, and clients. I am extremely shy and introverted so I am not one to engage in conversations that often which can be a bit of a struggle in situations like these. I have slowly been warming up to everyone because they do make the effort, but it is taking some time. I think the best thing I could do in order to overcome this challenge is to really push myself out of my comfort zone and make more of an attempt to take part in conversations.
Describe the culture at your internship, including how people interact, communicate, work together.
I am in love with the atmosphere at Hale Productions because it is really casual and not your average nine to five workplace. The whole team that I have worked with so far is really close, which is really nice because it makes the atmosphere and overall vibe really comfortable and casual. It is a lot of independent work time which I really enjoy because I think I work best like this. They actually call the blocks of work time "office hours" which is really funny because its exactly what we do at school. They have office hours for everyone on the team to have time to edit, revise, and/or finalize the several jobs they have taken on. It is a style of working that compliments the way I work which makes things really easy to fit into. Most of the day we go to either their South Park office and work, or to their East Village studio and work there and its kind of like the commons at school. There is one big table that everyone collectively works at and we all get our work done at our own pace, with little to no distractions. It is really easy for me to fit into the environment that Hale Productions works in because it is a lot like how I work at school. What goods and/or services does your company provide to the community and how do they consider their role in the community, responsibilities to society? Post an image that shows something your company contributes or an image that shows the effects of the work your company does. Hale Productions is photo studio in South Park that has started to fit their work around commercial shoots for local shops and new developing businesses. One job that I went to the other day was for a local health and wellness cosmetic shop in North Park called Shop Good. We went there to quickly shoot a testimonial for Hale's very own trailer for their website, but it really provides for the community because in this particular case because the client was giving amazing reviews about her experience working with Hale. Because they don't work with big commercial companies, it keeps everything casual and close leading the local, up and coming trendy shops around San Diego to go to them for their services. The photo below is a shot that I got while we were at the store location before we started recording the testimonial. This photo studio, like many others, have a certain vibe that they like to keep with in the jobs that they take on because they want to continue to keep up the images and style that they have started the company with. Describe your internship project. What will you be doing? What will your final product be? Which skills (academic, creative, or technical) will you utilize and/or develop as you do the project? How will the project benefit the organization?
While I am here at Hale Productions, I am going to be doing a lot of tasks to help benefit the company aside from when I am working on my project. The main thing I will be doing is taking any extra shots from the different jobs they had throughout the weeks and compliling them into blogs posts with short descriptions of the job that was done and a bit about the client. Another task I will be doing is taking candid shots of the team while in the field doing their jobs. My mentor, Kirk, mentioned that there are not many photos of the team candidly working for their website, so I get the opportunity to take some photos for that purpose. My project for the month will be creating my own vision and actually producing a mock photo shoot. I will have to create a mood board with different applications in order to have/show my ideas visually to the other people involved in helping me produce my shoot. I will also learn how to find locations that will work well with whatever my overall theme will be. The next step after that will be figuring out if I have a male or female model and learning how to look and hire them for the job. Next, would be actually going to the location that I will have picked and taking the photos with my camera. I feel like this will be the most difficult part of my project because I will have to stage the model, meaning I will have to tell them where to stand, what do to with their body, etc. I am extremely shy and I am not one to give orders to people so I am really nervous to have to do that. Finally, the last step will be editing everything and getting the final product to be as perfect as I can get it. Write a blog post describing your hopes, dreams and fears for internship. Please make sure that your blog post covers all three. As you write, please consider your job description, your project, your coworkers, your internship site, and your overall experience and how it could fit into your education, life or family.
Thinking about starting my internship with Hale Productions is really nerve-wracking to me because I don't know what to expect. A lot of my questions were answered during my site visit, which was really reassuring because I don't like going into situations or commitments with grey areas. I am really excited about my project because I know it will push me out of my comfort zone and really make me a better photographer if I do decided to dive into this industry later in life. I'm still not completely sure if I would like to pursue photography as my career path, but I am really hoping that after this experience I will have gotten a good feeling about it. One thing I am extremely nervous about is making connections with my mentor and the other people that make up this company's team. I am an introvert which leads me to be extremely shy, so the ability to put myself out there, make connections, and be personable is a big struggle for me. In a past blog post, I had said that I really want to try to make good connections and network myself in order to possibly open up opportunities for me after my month long immersion. I usually have to get extremely comfortable with a person to open myself up, but knowing that, I really want to step out of my comfort zone and make that extra effort in order to also have an amazing experience throughout my time at Hale Productions. What are you looking forward to most about your internship experience? What are you most concerned about in your internship? What type of work do you plan to do, what are your hopes for your project. etc? What are your goals for the site visit? What questions do you have about internship?
I am extremely excited that I got my internship confirmed at Hale Productions, a photo studio near my house, because that was my dream internship. I wanted to have a creative and interesting internship site and I am beyond stoked for this. I'm really looking forward to learning and growing as photographer and having the opportunity to network in this particular industry. However, I am really nervous about staying busy throughout my time at Hale Productions. At a photo studio it really depends on the jobs they have booked for the month, so I'm really hoping it's a busy month. During the month-long internship I am supposed to be blogging on the company's website and taking some photos of my own for their projects. I am really hoping to grow my knowledge about cameras, learn new photography techniques, and create a great working relationship with my mentor. Additionally, when I go on my site visit I really want to get a lot accomplished so that I will be fully prepared going into January 2018. I would like to meet my mentor, get a feel for the environment I will be in for a month, and solidify what my internship project will be. I still have no idea what I want to do for my project, so I can't wait to collaborate with my mentor and try to come up with a really interesting project to show off to my advisor and peers during my IPOL. I have been working on my resume a lot, taking my time picking which words to use and what work/experiences I want to highlight. I have been really trying to reorganize my DP because I haven't worked on it since 9th grade, so I need to update all of my work from 10th grade. However, I haven't really been focusing on my content from the past couple years, but rather the visual aspect of my DP, for example, I took all the photos myself so I've been trying to make it aesthetically pleasing. I haven't really been searching for an internship yet just because I've been trying to solidify my DP and resume first. I do have an idea of what I want to explore for internship. I really enjoy photography and I think it would be really interesting to try out that field of work for a month. I've been on a set once, I really liked the vibes and overall environment so I would really want to immerse myself into that, but I'm not totally sure which branch of photography I would like more.
One goal I have for internship is to use the time I have to my advantage and try to socialize and network while I'm there. There are several accounts from past students that didn't really like their internship, but my mindset at this point is to use my time, no matter if I like it or not, to my best ability. Another goal I have is to really push myself to mingle with my 'coworkers' and start networking. I'm going to try to make a good impression on the people at my internship because if I really enjoy it, there are so many opportunities that can open up to me for my future. I just want to have a good experience and use this time to benefit myself. At the beginning of the school year, the thought of internship made me feel really overwhelmed because I felt like I wasn't going to be prepared enough. It's also that thinking about my future and having to be independent it really exciting, but nerve wracking to me. I am really excited to be on my own, but I feel like I'm not prepared enough and it's just a really intimidating idea. However, thinking about internship no I am really excited and eager to start up in January. I think my classes are definitely preparing us at a steady pace so I'm feeling calm about the whole idea. It's also the fact that I've started to narrow down the general field that I want to do my internship at which has been really helpful to know when making my resume and DP because I am highlighting the work that can benefit me. |
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