Three times a year we bring in three to four interns eager to learn the business of photography. The interns experience every side of the business: they chat with clients, work on set, work on marketing plans, build sets, research ideas and actually get hands on experience on running a photography studio. Some of them have no experience in photography at all. Others have gone through four year photography programs at great universities. Still others were film majors who want to explore the still side of communications. And others were laid off from cushy desk jobs and are looking to explore photography as a new career path.

We call them Spring, Summer and Fall internships, but they last for four months. Some of my regular assistants and full time employees started with the company as interns. Other interns realize that the business just isn’t for them. While others love the business and go on to make a successful career of their own. And still others, seems to fade away and we never hear from them again (That makes me sad by the way, so if you’re one of them – send me an email, or give me a call). While they all come from different backgrounds with different levels of experience, one thing that every one has in common when they begin the internship is that they’re very eager to learn, and to me that’s the most important quality.

The interview process is a bit tough. First, they must find out about our internship and apply. Usually with a resume and hopefully with a cleaver cover letter. Then my Production Manager, Adrianna (Who started with the company as an intern and who has kind of become my H.R. person as well) sorts through the maze of resumes and invites about 15-20 candidates in for an interview. Adrianna gives them a 5-page application form which they usually sit and sweat through in our waiting area. By the time their eyes glaze over from the application form, they are finally called in to interview with Adrianna. If they pass the “Adrianna Test”, Adrianna contacts them again a day or two later to set up an interview with me. Adrianna is a very good judge of character, so I trust that the candidates that I’m meeting with are probably all qualified in the first place and really the interview just becomes a “who has the best chemistry and fits the culture of our studio more” kind of interview. All in all, we have somewhere between 50 and 100 applicants each season and three or four are selected to join us.

Our Fall 2009 group of interns started a few weeks ago. One of the interns (I won’t mention names) kind of has a good sense of humor about just about everything. The Intern (and I say “the intern” because I don’t want to identify the person), when assigned a “not so fun” task would say, “So THIS is the life of an intern.” After about the third or fourth time, I realized these guys have something that they can share with the world — The business of photography isn’t always glamorous. We work long hours, get dirty on set, sometimes have to do very monotonous jobs, and, yea, sometimes we have to get the clients (or the boss) coffee. Of course, there’s a ton of fun when you work in photography too and most people really have no clue. There are things that go through my interns heads that, well, have probably gone through my head a million times also, but I don’t share here on the blog because I don’t find it interesting… It happens every day.

And so… The idea. What if I gave the interns an outlet to share the funny things, the dirty things, the crazy things, the amazing things that they see each week working at a busy photography studio. I have the readership, I have the forum, let’s do it.

So every Monday starting next week, we will release a new article written by the interns, called “The Life of an Intern.” I’m sure you’ll find them as crazy, interesting and as smart as I do. They really are smart, in fact, I’ve told many of my colleagues, I learn a lot from them because they ask such stupid questions sometimes that it really make you think… I’m just playing their questions aren’t stupid, they actually get me thinking!

We also invite you to send the interns emails with your questions about photography, about internships, and about working on set. Maybe your question will give them something to blog about.

Before I sign off, I wanted to introduce you quickly to the three interns at The KMR Group for Fall 2009 that will be taking you through their internship journey.

First, there’s Ernesto Malinis. Ernesto is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Photography Program. His focus is environmental portraiture and editorial photography. Ernesto is quiet, I find him very hard to read sometimes – maybe getting him to write for this series will allow us to read him a little better.

Then there’s Lauren Schneider. Lauren just graduated from Fordham University with a BFA in Theatre Performance. An interesting fact about Lauren – she was living in Louisiana and going to LSU when Katrina hit. Her family moved to Texas and then to Africa shortly after. Of course, they left her behind in New York City to pursue her educational dreams, but she still seems to have an amazing portfolio of photography from Africa (maybe she’ll invite me on her next trip there) and an inspiring portfolio of her work from a return trip to New Orleans.

And, last but not least, there’s Curtis Reese Brown. This guy’s a character and always has something funny to say (though we don’t always think it’s so funny). He’s also quite obsessed with his hair but we’re still not sure why, as you can see in the picture he doesn’t have much. He also just got a job at Apple – we love Apple Geeks at the studio!

To contact The Interns email: theInterns@kmr-nyc.net

About the author

Kevin Michael Reed
Kevin Michael Reed (Google+, Facebook) is a fashion & beauty photographer and producer/director based in New York City and Los Angeles, CA. He is the President/CEO of RedFOG Visual Media, a production company in New York City, and a partner in Passion of Photography, Inc, a company dedicated to teaching photographers and sharing our passion through charitable causes. Kevin has lectured and hosted workshops throughout the United States and the world teaching photographers the business and creative sides of photography. (Kevin's Fashion & Beauty Photography Portfolio can be seen here).