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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2002-12-24
Why bother with internships?
By Jim McNay, Brooks Institute of Photography
Doing well in school should be enough, right?
After all, students who do well in class, get "A's" on their assignments and shoot for the school paper or the local weekly or daily should be able to waltz into a job after graduation-no sweat, right?
Not exactly.
Professional editors like to know a new hire can meet a deadline-regularly. They like to know a new staffer can produce pictures at an acceptable level-regularly. They like to see if someone has the inventiveness and passion to go beyond the ordinary picture or project-regularly.
And this is true whether the publication is in Scapoose, Oregon, Scooba, Mississippi or Sacramento, California.
The student who demonstrates these skills while in school-probably through internships-has the edge.
It is insufficient for students to tell working professionals they can do the job. Editors and other potential employers have to be treated as if they are all from Missouri: The "Show Me" State. They want to see the proof in a portfolio, not just hear it talked about in an interview.
Internships give students the chance to show their work ethic and their ability to be consistent. Spending 10-12 weeks shooting two to five assignments a day gives temporarily employed students this opportunity. Interns can show they can come to grips with a new town, a new part of the country, perhaps a new regional culture and still deliver solid storytelling pictures made in an unfamiliar landscape.
And interns get to show they can do this day in and day out for the length of the internship. This may mean hunting for a lot of features, especially in small towns where traditional news pictures are rare. The student's resourcefulness to learn an unfamiliar town and get to know people in the community will be tested.
When students are hitting on all cylinders during an internship, the resulting glowing reports from their boss or supervisor can get the word out about their successful performance around the profession with lightening speed. Other pros will be lining up look at the student's portfolio, waiting for the chance to offer the student a bigger challenge with the next internship. Nothing beats a "win" at a publication, with the editor in the student's corner as they move to the next level.
Bottom line: The work at an internship offers students the chance to show it, not just say it.
***
Photographers, particularly those in school or seeking to break into the photojournalism, are welcome to send ideas for future columns to Jim McNay at jmcnay@brooks.edu.
Questions about getting started in photojournalism that might be answered in future columns are also welcome.
Related Links:
Jim McNay's Member Page
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