First Post

I have been in New York for a little over three weeks. It has been interesting to say the least. As a small town guy, it has been kind of a big difference from back home. Back home is South Dakota. I landed a photography internship with Hearst Publishing and it has been kind of a whirlwind of non stop action since i found out. I found out August 20th that i got the internship and i needed to be in New York City by September 3rd. I had 2 weeks to pack all my belongings, get rid of my apartment, get things squared away with my school schedule, find a place to live, and figure out transportation. Luckily i got it all done, with the help of a huge support system of people who care about me. This blog is going up because my professors back home asked me to make it because people at my school were curious what is going on while i am here. So the blog is born.

The first three weeks have been busy and eventful. The Internship with Studio D at Hearst has been both exciting and slightly disappointing. Only disappointing in the sense that it isnt quite what i was expecting. Studio D's main focus is still life product photography for the many magazines that Hearst publishes. They have some people shoots but not many. The exciting part of it is that i am working along side photographers that do much more then just the still life photography. Some of them do some amazing work in the industry. I dont think they are names you would readily know off the top of your head, but they are photographers that you should know. In a later post i will include some links to their photography websites so you can see their work. And the cool thing is that I am the only intern from outside the city that works with them.

Back home, some of the other students are surprised to find out that i am not shooting any photos for the magazines which kind of makes me laugh. There is no way a magazine would ever let an intern shoot photos for them, they dont even let photographers assistants shoot for them. But what i do on a daily basis at Studio D is assist the photographers in light and equipment set up and break down, getting additional equipment they need during a shoot, some times carrying around equipment for locations shoots (ive done that twice so far and its cool), and then some grunt work that goes along with any internship. Now that may not sound all that exciting but what you dont see is that i am making connections with people in the business, from photographers to magazine editors to models. I've already had one of the photographers say that he would hypothetically hire me as an assistant and pay me $250 a day doing that. Connections are huge in this industry. The other thing i get to see is how the industry works, from how photographers set up and shoot, to how they have to interact with assistants and stylist, to how they have to interact with magazine editors to get the shot that the magazine wants. Which will be invaluable information for later on in my life and career path. This internship is the opportunity of a life time for someone from a small town like me. Follow this blog to see more of my adventures in NYC. The next post will be about the places i have explored so far in NYC.