Let the Waiting Begin

Image Courtesy of Graphic Stock

While it is only day 2 of my internship I was hoping to have some cool images to share with you but instead I have the first lesson I can share from my Internship - be prepared to wait.  Things don't always go as planned!

I actually had 2 different shoot scheduled before today.  Last weekend I had scheduled to shoot the model that I am working with for our football team.  The shoot was part fashion for her and part team shooting / special projects for us.  The location we were shooting was an outdoor location.  Fear of looming storms had us reschedule for a different day.

So I planned to shoot my team the day before my internship actually started.  Practice cancelled due to our insane 40 degree weather in May.  We had hoped to do a few cool shots we could use for future fliers and we want to test a few things we will  be using for our formal shots next week. The formal shots we had to reschedule.

Today we have a practice. Well it looks like rain so it maybe rescheduled.  So now we are down to Sunday. I actually had plans to shoot a cool horse event on Sunday but it looks like I may have to  go shoot the team instead. 

I don't believe in being stagnate even though I've not been able to shoot.

Yesterday the owner said to me we should come up with one more fundraiser for the team.  We tossed around a few ideas and came up with one that we thing will be fun and raise a bit of money.  NO!! You just have to wait and see I'm not ready to spill the beans on this one yet!

So what have I learned so far as my first two official days of an intern?

1. Sometimes you just have to be patient!                                                                                    Even the best laid plans don't always work out in any  business.  This is especially true if you are an outdoor photographer.

     2. Make a back up plan or maybe 3!

         The only thing you can do to combat when things don't go the way you want is to have a

         a few back up plans.  While the internship is approximately 10 hours a week some weeks you

         due to things going wrong you may work 2 hours and the next week you may put in 20 hours.  

         Just like with any job sometimes you have to put in overtime when it is needed.

  3. Don't panic!

      You do want to make the most of your internship but panicking when things don't go right won't

      help you at all. 

Part of the internship process is about learning to work in a professional environment. This week's discussion is about 7 behaviors that that a professional has to balance. I can tell you that at least one of those behaviors had to come into play this week so I didn't freak out on my employer over things going wrong. 

In reality no matter what type of photography you shoot things will happen.  Clients won't show up. Equipment will decide to not work.  Your entire concept for a shoot may suddenly fall apart on you and you will have to scramble to make something work. So in a way this problem is exactly what you want to have happen in an internship! It is a good lesson to learn while the stakes aren't so high.

Fingers cross everyone that we don't have a bizarre blizzard, or monsoon this week so I can share some of the images taken late this week and what we are doing with them as we wait for our season to start!

Upcoming projects before the season starts include team photos, modeling shoots, fund raiser, and youth football camp! It will be a busy few weeks. Our official season starts June 6th.