Part 2 - Final steps in Applying for an Internship.

We took a little break last week so I could clarify something about the internship application process.  As it turned out there was a glitch with my paperwork! I wouldn't have realize that if I hadn't been writing this blog for all of you! So I'll clarify the mix up which I doubt you would run into since it was a bit of a freak accident.  (No worries it has been cleared up!)

Step 3 - Your Return Email from the Photography Internship Adviser

Shortly you will receive and email back for your Photography Adviser letting you know if it sounds like your internship will be approved.  The internship guidelines and next steps are reviewed as a reminder.

Here are the next steps and the guidelines!

1.  Find out when you can start.

The Silverhawks run at Football Camp 2015

You have to find out from your your Adviser or Financial Aid Adviser  when the start date of your 11 week billing cycle that falls the closest to your project start day of the internship.

This to me is the most important part! 

 My 11 week cycle date starts on May 14th and it ends on July 29th.  The Semi Pro-game season starts on June 6th and goes until August 2nd unless we make playoffs.  If I hadn't worked with my adviser to figure out my start date correctly and I thought I could start on June 6th I could have missed my chance to take this internship. As the next 11 week cycle date inn't until July 30th and I would have missed almost the entire season.

The question you might ask is what am I going to do during the first few weeks of my internship.  As you know I actually started shooting weeks ago.  I have several different things I will be shooting. I don't want to give out all the details in advance but we are working at making photography something special for our team this year since I'm doing my internship.  Would it have been a problem if I couldn't shoot or didn't have something worked out?

Not exactly.  It all depends on how you and your employer work it out.  The class lasts for 11 weeks. During hat time you have to put in 110 hours or on averaged of 10 hours a week.  If for some reason I couldn't shoot on one of those weeks and your employer didn't have work for you yet that is something that can be worked out as long as you put in your hours later in your internship.  If you are worried about that you can discuss it with the Photography Internship Adviser.


2.  Let your adviser know you are approved so that she can take the next steps required for your internship class.

The Photography Internship Adviser will ask you to let your adviser know you are approved he or she can take the next steps required for your internship.  About 4-5 weeks before the internship is supposed to begin you will be doing paperwork with the Internship Adviser.

Step 4 - Reviewing your approval with your adviser.

Once you speak with your adviser your adviser will either offer to keep track of when the next steps needs to be  done or ask you to keep track.  In my case my adviser offered to keep track of when we needed to take the next step.

In my case I had an adviser change so I actually brought up my internship to my new adviser. She confirmed everything was handled and scheduled me into the internship class.  At this point I thought everything was handled and only realized while writing this blog to you there was an error.   I had never filled out any paperwork with the Photography Internship Adviser.  Which leads me to Step 5.

                                              Step 5- Filling out your paperwork

This was just a slight clerical error but I want to give you guys the steps so it won't happen to you.   4 or 5 weeks out contact the Photography Internship Adviser if you haven't been contacted.  The adviser will send you paperwork to fill out about your internship and a list of rules to make sure you are successful in your internship.

                                                  Here are the some sample questions

• Brief overview of the company you will be interning for.
• Overview of the job you will be doing.
• Overview how this job relates to my major.

The other questions were about your schedule of work.  Any pay that you would be receiving, and your proposed end and start dates.

The paperwork is filled out with contact information for your employer.  You sign your contract stating you understand the terms of your internship.

                                       Step 6- Paperwork is sent to your Employer

Your employer will be sent an email with paperwork for them to fill out.  I was copied on this email.  It also stated that later on time sheets and other paperwork would be sent over as well.

Step 7- Your adviser schedules your Internship Class

We finally made it to the end of the line! When your adviser is told all the paperwork is in or possibly when the proposal is sent to you in Step 5 your adviser will get you scheduled in your internship class.

As I go through all the issues that arise during my internship I will be sharing them with you.  If you think of any questions that you have along the way be sure to ask! It can be about anything related to the internship, shooting sports, or any related topic that strikes you! I would love to see us get into some great discussions!

           Getting ready for Game time.  I'm ready for the 2015 season let's hope the team is too!

I look forward to sharing this journey with you!

Jessi

Here we go! The steps to take to apply for an Internship! Part 1.

Welcome all it is finally Friday so we continue our series on Internship!   Tomorrow is my team's first pre-season game.  I'm hoping we don't get rain and as crazy as it is that we don't get snow! I promise I will start to share some photos of these early days once we get past the internship application process! So let's get back to it.

So you are almost there! This is the exciting part!  You have finally found the perfect internship and you can't wait to get started so how do you get it set up with school.

If you start to ask other students it becomes pretty clear that many of them will never do an internship so they aren't really sure what you do.  Some will start telling you it is a lot of paperwork or that the process takes a long time.

 At this point you are starting to feel like maybe you should just give up! It already took so long to find an internship and then making sure it was the right internship for you.  You may start to loose hope and think about just let the little voices of doubt take over and have a party.  But wait...

Don't give up yet, no matter how bleak the situation looks! Ambassador Friday is here to help!

Here is a secret and you have to promise to not tell a soul!  This is the easy part.  Finding the right internship was the hardest part of process. Really! I promise you that I am not lying. I'll give you all the steps involved so you are prepared for the process of getting that great internship approved.


Step 1 - Contact your Academic Adviser

You can actually contact your adviser before you find an internship! You let them know you have potential interest in getting an internship and they will send you the internship packet before you even start looking for an internship. This is a smart way to handle the situation. Why?  Because not every internship would qualify as an acceptable internship.  I did not personally do it this way because I attended on of our amazing webinars that had taught me what would be an acceptable internship.

Since you have already found what you believe to be an acceptable internship, the first thing you want to do is email or call your adviser to let them know about the internship offer.  Your adviser will send you the Photography Internship Packet along with an email of questions that needs to be filled out and sent over to the Photography Internship Coordinator, Effi Karkaidos.


Step 2 - Initial contact Email sent to the Photography Internship Coordinator

After you have read over the PDF Internship Packet you will copy the template email sent over by your adviser and sent it to Effi.  It first asks for your contact information as well as that of your adviser.  The email has some important questions you must answer about your current status with the school as well as the internship.  Here are a few of those important questions.

• Have you completed 75 credits worth of core Photography courses?

          This one is a biggie! You need to make sure with your adviser at some point that you are on 

           track to do this around the time that doing an internship will work for you. There will be more           discussion about time in another section.

• Have you discussed your eligibility to enroll in the Internship course with your Academic Adviser?

          While Effi is glad to answer questions you do need to work with your adviser to make sure 

           you are fully able to do your internship before submitting this email.

• Why are you interested in an Internship?

          This question actually has 7 different reasons why you want to have an internship you choose 

          between 1 - 7 on what is the most important reason to you.  A few of those topics are as  to  

          earn 3 credits towards my degree, to earn a wage, to build my portfolio.  None of this has a

          wrong or a right answer so be honest!

                              There are three important foot notes on this email as well.

                   1. You must find your own internship. It isn't Effi's place to find one for you.

                   2. You can't intern for your own business or that of a spouse or close family member.

                   3. You must gain approval for your internship if you want to receive credit for it!

Not to leave you in suspense but just like I had to wait for my reply email from Effi the rest of the steps to apply for your internship comes next week! (Yes Effi's return email was faster)!

As always I look forward to your questions and comments!!

Why shouldn’t I shoot my family and friends for class?

Just finishing up my Portraiture class and I must say its been the toughest one yet. Not tough because the assignments where hard but tough in the fact that each assignment required a new person. In total I needed to photograph 25 different people in 6 weeks. It was hard to find all these different people and keep them to your schedule. Everyone has family they could always use but the problem with that is your family wont end up as a paying customer later on.  They will always expect you to shoot them for free. It seems pretty sad but that is the way it works.

In all of my assignment this past 6 weeks the hardest was to find 8 people to photograph together. To accomplish this I put some feelers out weeks in advanced but most of those options fell through. My last and final option was to ask a friend if she knew of anyone that I could get to photograph. I figured since she has 3 kids and herself that would kill off half of my requirements right there. However this particular week none of her kids could show up for the event. I was lucky though because she know a lot of other people and found me the 8 I needed in the nick of time. By the end of my shooting I had people asking for a card, wondering if I could shoot an up coming event.

I was grateful that these people who I didn’t know was asking me if could do other work and that they would be contacting me in the future. Without shooting these strangers I would have never got my name or my information out there like I did. I learned the in the end it might pay off to shoot people you don’t know because they may want your services in the future. The event that I was asked about is for the republicans in town so they will probably want a hand out, however it might be one of those handouts that gets your name out there for paying work. These politicians might need head shots or things like that. While doing the event for free might make them think you will do everything for free, you can quickly let them know what you charge for those types of services.

So I recommend getting yourself out there and looking for ways to network and find potential future clients. You obviously wont get paid to shoot them for your class assignments but if they can see the quality of work you can provide them, then you might very well have made a connection to turn them into a client.

Here is my funny face shot of my 8 people. In the end this probably was my best assignment. 

TBT

Thursday Ambassador

Wide-Angle Wednesday: Developing a Workflow

Good Day PSPN,

            Today I’m shooting for developing a workflow. Everyone has a daily routine of some sorts but have you thought about developing a routine not just for course work but also for everyday shooting? Monday I started in course PH124 Digital Image Management. One of the very first assignments is the autobiography but of course the instructor has also asked to describe our workflow and to include an image that is representative to whom we are.

Yesterday marked my fourteenth wedding anniversary and what is more romantic than to watch the sunrise with my husband. Of course I wasn’t going to allow the sun rising be just a memory in my head, I snapped a few shots to share here. This is the image I shared as a representative of me. In short I wake up each day around four thirty in the morning to kick start my day. I prepare breakfast and lunch for my family and send them on their way to school and work. Some time is wasted on social networking, but then I jump into my day. I check the classroom, read emails, and take a stroll around the property seeing if I can catch an image or two of nature. This is my routine, but it does not end there.

Corina Scoggins "Anniversary Sunrise Over St Robert" 18 Feb 2014 

Majority of images captured are for no reason, just part of my routine. Many end up on social networking for friends and family to see. Prior to Ai, I stored images in folders on my desktop and would share here and there. In December I transferred all my files to an external hard drive because my laptop was just about maxed out in memory. Little did I know I had over eighteen thousand images on that hard drive. Well the laptop had been beaten down over the years and even after transferring the files, nothing seemed to help with program lag. I upgraded to a 1TB iMac, and could not be happier. Something I never thought of was now I have a backup computer with all the programs I need just in case one goes down. We’re always asked to make sure we have a backup for Internet, but have you thought about a backup to the programs. Majority of computers have Microsoft Word, but do you have a backup of the Adobe Creative Suite and Lightroom?

Corina Scoggins "Winter Bird" 18 Feb 2014

I still utilize my external hard drive to store all the images, just in case something goes wrong on the main computer. I still create file folders on the external and copy all the RAW image files from my SD cards to the respective folder. I also import all images to Lightroom. If the images are for a specific project such as class, I assign it to a collection labeled by the assignment week and number. For everyday images I leave the images in the dated folder Lightroom creates upon import.

Corina Scoggins "Morning Moon" 18 Feb 2014

Of course not all images shot will make the cut, so I use flagging to narrow down the images I want to further develop. At this point I will add key wording, and give the image a title. I also rename the file to match the title. In some of our course we’re asked to do this for assignments, this is probably how I come to develop this habit. Key wording is important because let’s be honest, how many times have you thought about an image you shot and had to go through file after file trying to locate said image? This is where key wording will help you find that image amongst the thousands of images you have shot.

Don’t forget to add your information for copyright purposes but more importantly the information will be embedded to the image no matter where you post in online. Take credit for your work! Developing a workflow is more than a routine; it will help you develop as a professional. Being organized is a key to being successful.

 The question of the day

Have you developed a workflow? If so what additional steps do you take? Do you have a backup for files and programs?

I will be hanging around PSPN throughout the day. Feel free to leave your comments below.

From My Camera to Yours

Wednesday Ambassador Corina 

Corina Scoggins "Golden Hour Sunrise" 18 Feb 2014

Thoughts on Creating a Series and Presentation.

Good Morning and Happy Sunday... I have had a busy week with my current class and life in general. This Sunday I just wanted to touch base on a subject that I am currently dealing with, the subject is a photographic series. Im sure that many of you have seen these before. I know I have some are very interesting and others.. well, others not so much. Now the questions is why were they not so successful, I don't really have an answer, but the one thing that has been weighing on my mind is how the series is presented to the viewing audience. Does that series have that "WOW or SHOCK VALUE" factor. If they do then I would assume that they would be rather successful vs. the series that doesn't give the viewing audience something to think about or draw them in.

I have been working on my own series. Its the Post-Apocalyptic Gas Mask Series. Over the past few weeks I have photographed for this series, it part of my final project for class,but they will all fall into place when the project is done. The one thing I have noticed is that all the subjects I have photographed have one thing in common... The Gas Mask, they all have some "Shock Value", but Its missing something.. This weekend I figured out what it is, so I am on a quest to fulfill the missing aspect of my series. Until I get that done, I still have the task of figuring out how to present it. I thought of it as if it were a book. You have the title then all the chapters. I am in the process of working out the details, but if any reader has any suggestions or comments please feel free to comment,leave suggestions or opinions.. I love opinions. Again its been a busy week, sorry for a short blog today. Below are a few of the photographs from my current series.

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

 All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

All Photos Taken by Wayne Salat

Again if you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Increasing your portfolio without breaking the bank or paying out of pocket.

Good Morning and Happy Sunday Everyone! Today I wanted to talk about a great experience that I had last weekend. I recently joined a group called the Philadelphia Glamour Photography Group on Meetup.com. I joined at a time when they were just about to have their huge meet up that they have every year at Riddley Creek State Park, in Media, PA. The meet up was on a Sunday, close to 160 Models, Photographer's and MUA's showed up.  This whole thing was new to me, I was a bit overwhelmed as I didn't know any of the member's yet, but I did go with a friend, her boyfriend and her kids. That made it a bit easier when they arrived. Other than being overwhelmed, I was really taken back, by how inviting, accepting and friendly everyone was. They had a small ceremony for one of the members that  had recently passed and had planted a tree in his honor. This was very moving, being able to be a part of this was truly amazing.

Now on to my point... Many of us want to increase our portfolio, but you don't want to have to pay a model or you may not have the money. This meet up was free to everyone involved. The MUA's were paid for their work, understandable as they need to replace their makeup. Models brought many different outfits and then it was like a feeding frenzy. Models changing outfits, changing locations several times during the day. All with over a 60 or so different photographers asking them to do different things. Every model will get copies of their photographs, usually in digital form. (I'm assuming), but this was an opportunity to really expand your portfolio with several different models with different looks and not breaking your bank or paying out of pocket. There are many other groups that do similar meetups, some charge depending on the event, but I suggest that you take a look at this option and find  a group in your area or even start one of your own. So get out of your comfort zone and start taking a chance!  I did and I will never regret it.

Below are some of the photos I took during this meet up.

  Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

  Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

  

                                                      

   Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

                                                              

Photos taken by Wayne Salat of Flash Mob Photography Network

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Recent Class Assignment and a Road Trip

Good Morning Everyone and Happy Sunday! Today I am just going to talk about a recent project and school assignment that I had due. On Thursday of this past week I had the pleasure of going on a road trip. I had a class assignment due on Saturday so I chose to go to a different location other than what I normally use. The road trip took me to Baltimore MD and Washington D.C. I had always heard about this great place to shoot called the Graffiti Warehouse located in Baltimore, so that was the first place we headed. I also like to photograph National and Historical Site so for that I headed to Washington D.C.

The assignment for school we had to take portraits using only available light, no strobes or flash. This is something that I do all the time so I wasn't to worried, I used the Graffiti Warehouse for this they had a few rooms with huge windows that gave some amazing light. Below are some of the photos taken yesterday.

 Photos By Wayne Salat

 Photos By Wayne Salat

 Photos By Wayne Salat

Photos By Wayne Salat

For the other personal project, as I had mentioned, I went to Washington D.C. I have never photographed at night so this proved to be a challenge. Photographing some of the monuments during the day also proved to be a challenge as the light was quite strong.  Getting my settings right and putting the knowledge that I had to the test, produced some nice photos. Below are some photos of the U.S Capital Building taken at 10 PM and the others were taken during the day when sun was brightest.

  Photos By Wayne Salat

  Photos By Wayne Salat

  Photos By Wayne Salat

 Photos By Wayne Salat

Enjoy Your Sunday and Photograph Something Everyday!

Sunday Ambassador~ Wayne

Down to the Wire!

It is a beautiful Thursday in Michigan! It is 57° instead of 97° this morning. What a difference a week can make!

What do you do when your assignment is due in six hours and you don’t understand a concept? This can even happen for seasoned students…like myself…so first thing, DON’T PANIC.

Last week I had an assignment that I totally thought I understood. I went out and shot my images for the assignment (it was creating a planar panorama in photoshop or like software), sat down to process it, and it didn’t work. There were several choices to make in the process and I tried them all, and nothing worked. Now what? Professors don’t really like calls at the last hour when assignments are due. They really do have a life outside our classrooms.

Here are some options:

·         Check Skype and see if the professor happens to be online. If so, ask your question.

·         The internet can often be a great place to find solutions. Google the exact info you need help with. Often you will find your answer or enough information to get you past the obstacle that has you stumped.

·         Call a friend. Develop relationships with other classmates so that you can call on each other in times of trouble. I have a couple fellow students that I’ve developed friendships with whom we’ve shared phone numbers, and feel comfortable enough to call at late night hours J. A lot of times two heads are better than one. You will find that your classmates track along the same class schedule as yourself, so you will be learning together for the next three or so years.

·         If you don’t get your answers through any of the previous suggestions, turn in everything you have tried with explanations of how you did things and ask what went wrong. At least you will get partial credit, AND the professor will know how to help you.

The last option is actually what I did on my planar panorama problem and I got a 90% on it. So it didn’t harm my overall grade, the professor was able to work me through the problem and now I know what to do to create planar panoramas. (By the way linear panoramas are a lot easier to create. Hmmm…I think I feel another blog coming on.)

Planar Panorama (It takes a flat surface to shoot against.)

 Linear Panorama

Do you have any other suggestions for those last-hours-before-an-assignment-is-due problems? Please share them with us.

Have a great day!

Your Thursday Student Ambassador

Auto Giga 6.2 Review. Northlight Images. 2013. 24 Jul 2013. http://www.northlight-

     images.co.uk/reviews/software/autopano-giga_2-6.html

Boy am I Tired...

Good morning PSPN'ers.  Wednesday Ambassador here and I just wanted to say that I am tired.  It's been non-stop now for what seems like months.  Classes every day, full-time job, and family make it hard to find time to sleep let alone find a little me time...

In the past 2 months I have finished 2 classes, started 2 more, shot events on the weekends, and finally went off for 2 and a half days camping with friends and family for Independence Day.  That break was well deserved, but then I got home and had to make up for the lost time on Saturday and Sunday.  Ugh!

So aside from my ranting, there really is a point here...I promise.

How do I keep going, class after class; term after term?

Simple.  I have a goal.  My goal is to graduate next spring. 


                                                    Done.  Finished.  Graduated.



I like the sound of that...Graduated.  It's part of what keeps me going day in and day out with the break neck pace of AIPOD.  Every day I am challenged to come up with a new project idea, refine the ones I already have, find my voice, present my vision, and become a better photographer.  Truth be told it's not easy and it shouldn't be either.  But I have a goal and that keeps me focused.

What are your goals?  What motivated you to embark on this journey and what keeps you motivated as you progress further and further?

There are no right answers and there are no wrong answers, only what works for you...

Share some of your motivations on the right
side of this page... I'll be here waiting to chat about it if you like.  :)



                                                                                                              Works Cited
EDUCATION Graduation. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 10 Jul 2013.http://quest.eb.com/images/158_2464362

Eye Strain. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 10 Jul 2013.http://quest.eb.com/images/132_1271101