A photo shoot from an intern's perspective

Today, I took the 7:30am bus into the city and the 7:30pm bus out. It was easily one of the most tiring days I've ever had at any of my internships. But hey, I guess that's the price you've got to pay to be a part of the magazine world, eh?

The reason for my 12-hour work day, commuting included, was that I wasn't in the office for my usual 10-6. Instead, I was assisting one of my editors at a photo shoot for a feature story that'll be in one of the fall issues of the magazine. I'm not going to lie--I was nervous. I had been on a few minor photo shoots beforehand, but I didn't really know what to expect this time around. I was sure I'd be intimidated by all the professionals( photographers, stylists, art directors, etc) with whom I'd be working for the day. Did they really even need my help? What exactly was I, as a measly intern, supposed to be doing at a big, fancy photo shoot?

But once I got there and everyone got situated, I discovered that, as per usual, my nerves were unwarranted. Turns out there was another intern (she's new) also assisting at the shoot, so I didn't feel so out of place. The other intern and I were given plenty of tasks to do; we ironed and steamed linens, packed and unpacked products, and ran an errand to pick up an item they wanted to shoot, among other things.

But the coolest thing about the whole ordeal was getting a behind-the-scenes look at how the magazine is put together. I can't wait to see the finished product when the issue hits newsstands in September, and I'm looking forward to being able to say "hey, I was at that shoot!"

Dozens of takes, one free lunch and 9 hours later, it was over. And while I was convinced that my assisting at the shoot wasn't really that much of assistance, everyone there thanked us interns profusely for all our help. So maybe, contrary to what I thought, we interns really do matter. Even though I'm still really tired from the hustle-bustle of the day, it really was so worth it to discover that I as an intern--even if just this once--was actually important.


Ed's Intern #1