Job Description
Annie Leibovitz Studio Intern
A few summers ago, I worked as a studio intern for a photographer in New York City. People commonly associate the role of an intern with very mundane tasks. I will admit that, yes, coffee runs are included in the list of intern duties. However, I would like to give you a comprehensive summary of all the intern responsibilities.
A studio intern has three primary responsibilities at the office where I worked:
Archival research
Production assistance
Printing contact sheets
Production Assistance
Production assistance is the most exciting aspect of working as a studio intern. Common duties while working as a production assistant are as follows:
Assisting with set and lighting design
Assisting costume designers
Managing other administrative tasks
Working on a shoot is an extremely high-pressure, fast-paced experience. Everyone has to work under tight deadlines because the shoot usually does not last longer than four hours. People from many different teams are required to attend and so the shoot must revolve around everyone's schedules. I worked on a shoot which was set at Chelsea Piers along the Hudson river. The photographer was shooting a few supermodels on a boat at the pier. This shoot was extremely technical. I had to help the set design team install adequate lighting on the boat, run back and forth between the closets and the set with new outfits for the models, and carry crates of drinks and food to the set. Everyone working on the set needs to take a snack break at some point!
Printing Contact Sheets
In this role, the intern prints a few sheets containing all of the photos from the shoot. After viewing these thumbnails, the photographer will have a clearer sense of which specific photos they prefer. To make and print a contact sheet one must do the following:
Upload all photos from the shoot to and Adobe program called LightRoom
Arrange photos in grid form
Print contact sheets onto glossy paper and place in protective, clear sleeves
It can be difficult to get comfortable with the technology. After learning to navigate Lightroom, the printing process is actually quite simple and straightforward. When I printed my first contact sheet, I filled the printer with card stock rather than glossy paper. I assumed that using glossy paper was only an aesthetic preference. The card stock paper jammed the printer and I was absolutely mortified. My supervisor had to disassemble the printer to relieve the jam. I learned the hard way that glossy paper is essential to the printing process!
Archival Research
In this role, the intern gathers inspiration for future photography projects. Typically, there are mounds of art books to sort through and web articles to read. If a photograph seems interesting, you will bookmark it to later show to your supervisor. The primary goals of this process are to:
Highlight photos that may be of interest to the photographer
Gather inspiration for future photoshoots
When I conducted archival research, I was surprised by the lack of instruction. I was not sure which photographs to highlight. I eventually learned that this process is meant to be intuitive and relaxed. This is a process of using your best judgement.
Readability Statistics
Word length: 4.9
Sentence length: 11.2
Readability score: 62
What an incredible experience! It seems like it was a dream opportunity for someone who is passionate about photography and about learning how a mastermind like Annie Leibovitz approaches in creation of her work.
ReplyDeleteWhile many might find these tasks and experience as monotonous, it's great to hear that you found them to be fruitful and exciting. Perhaps your intern will say the same thing about their experience with you down the road!
Hey Emily! This sounds like an interesting internship! I like to take photographs as a hobby. I enjoyed reading about the ins and outs of a studio intern. I liked the description you wrote for the production assistance responsibility. I can imagine the pressures and excitement of working with various people under a tight schedule.
ReplyDeleteHi Emily. I enjoyed reading your internship. I can feel the pressure you talked about while working with many people. I loved how you were able to overcome the difficulty and the loaded work.
ReplyDeleteYou must be so incredibly talented to have worked as an intern for Annie Leibovitz, I am very impressed. Everything that you have described seems like an amazing experience and a fantastic way to learn about the business you're interested in. How did you get this position, it had to have been very competitive. -callie butler
ReplyDeleteHi Emily. My first thought reading this is that you must have the most visually pleasing social media. This is such a cool job to have had and I hope to hear more about it in class. I have always loved coffee table photography books and have always been curious about what goes into creating them. Strong intuition is a great this to have and I am sure it feeds your creativity.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an awesome internship! It also seems like you were kinda thrown into the fire to some degree, but good for you for learning the difficult things quickly and adjusting to the hectic nature of the business. I'm sure your bosses were impressed. In my internship experience, I can also relate to doing some grunt work but it is necessary to show proficiency in that before earning much bigger responsibilities!
ReplyDeleteEmily, what an amazing experience! I love the way that you included details, anecdotes, and examples to really make the writing memorable -- the photo shoot on the Chelsea Piers, the story about jamming the printer -- all these make a difference. A couple of nit-picky items: your "table of contents" bullet points were in a different order from the subhead sections -- I was momentarily disoriented, which you don't want a reader to be. Also, I wanted you to see your readability statistics, not word and sentence length. A Flesch Reading Ease of 62.5 and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 8 are good scores -- your writing is in the sweet spot of readability. Good work!
ReplyDelete