SOMETIMES...
For those of you wondering how my internship is going, well, it's an extreme experience. But I remind myself that change can be rocky and growing pains are essential for, well, growth. I know that other interns have pushed through but I also know that they walked away with a lot of experience and also some positive feedback along the way.

I met the two previous interns - the ones who assisted before my term. I recently met the current weekend intern. All of us are women. The others are blond and I am not. I also see some personality trends amongst us. All positive, of course. I like them alot and we get along great! I am glad that the two previous interns are able to guide me. The weekend intern, she's become my venting and "study" buddy.

The nicest thing about meeting the other intern and the now full-fledge photo assistants is that we sorta have this working experience with the photographer. It's a bonding experience, so to speak.

EXTREMES
I don't want all of you to think that my experience, thus far, is all negative, because it's not. I was getting complimentary, overall feedbacks after every shoot I worked on, such as, "You did well today." Despite these positive comments, I know I messed up because I have been scolded and yelled at. It's a balance btn. the extreme negative and extreme positive. I have accepted that I am going to make some mistakes. As long as I learn my lessons fast and be more on top of it more often, I know I will progress fine.

MY 2 WEEK EVALUATION
Last Monday was my 2 week point and I wanted to know how I was doing. Since the positive feedback has been an overall, daily evaluation, I wanted to know if I needed to specifically work on my performance. I know I second guess my judgements or intuition because I didn't want to be yelled at. But by doing so, I ended up jacking up anyways. My first thoughts or my initial instincts were right. I made it clear to the photographer that I react this way, especially when he commented that I am lacking in 1) speed, 2) talent and 3) intuition. That night I was a bit pissed at his assessment of #3 and especially #2. But I reminded myself that it is in the context of being a photographer's assistant.

I know I can do better I just needed to get familiar with his setup, his needs, his analness and especially his directions and jargon. I just have to not let his working personality interfere with my abilities like I have when I started. Now that he knows that I am still adapting and I know what he needs, I hope that my performance will improve.

HAULING ASS
Yesterday, I assisted at his studio and worked my butt off to improve my speed (at fetching what he needs) and my intuition by listening more to his needs so that my "talent" can shine. Now keep in mind, his studio is at the bottom of a 4 story house, meaning there are 4 flights of stairs. The 1st photo set was on this level. The second set was on the second level, which is the make-up/styling mezzanine. And the third set was on the living levels: the 3rd and 4th floors. I was part of the ground level/studio crew but I had to fetch stuff and bring it up and down to the upstairs crew, too. Good thing the 1st assistant was there to work those sets.

I picked up my speed at getting what he needs. At the end of the day, he said that I am improving but I am like "this" - he air drew a jagged/zigzagged curve similar to the DOW stock graph.

It was a fitting ending to a project with Sit N' Sleep. We photographed their bedding for their catalogs and website. It will be up in late July.