I'll being with questions from my professor and then we'll get to the good stuff!
Unanswered Questions from last week:
Is your experience longer than others? Why are some interns leaving early? - yes, my experience is longer than others. The internship is properly supposed to go for two months, but many people don't have $6,000 USD in order to pay for the experience, so those who needed to go home due to money, school, or work left on the 1st of July. The majority of the Underwater Photography interns did stay though. There were 11 of us last month, 4 left, and 4 arrived. So we're generally the same. The majority of the Oceans Research interns, those working and researching sharks here in Mossel Bay, left and i think at least 15 new Oceans research interns arrived on the 1st. That's why there is a big difference in the group.
This week was a very busy one. On Monday, we moved our computer lab from the Fiona Ayerst Office on the hotel grounds, to another area in order to have more room for the computers and the students. On Tuesday, I actually directed an entire shoot for a client of Fiona's who wanted campus type shots for their hotel and internship program (the client was actually Oceans Research, so we used our friends who were interns as models). On that day we also went in the evening to shoot the sunset and the moon coming up, which is more difficult than one thinks, because the moon moves too fast for a very slow shutter speed to work- but if you put your ISO too high, your photo will come out grainy.
On Wednesday, we spent the day at the computer lab and learned how to create a photo where you see the foreground of the city in the evening, but also the moon as well. We needed to compile them together in photoshop because it's impossible to take the photo since to take the moon- you need to underexpose everything else in the photo.
On Thursday, we trial and errored more with underwater photography in the heated pool and I got some very cool shots of children as well as Christine, an intern, blowing a bubble underwater.
Friday, we edited in the morning, and in the afternoon after dosing up with seasickness medicine, I was able to go chumming and try to shoot sharks breaching. It was a great time on the water! I also had the best lens possible for getting great closeup photos of the Oceans Research interns doing their work, in order to create a photo library for them (part of our job for them), like I do at the Career Development Center at home in Bloomington!
I know this seems like a list of stuff, and it is :) You can keep skimming if you'd like- but I'm really reiterating that this week was nonstop, there's a point, I promise!!
I thought the week was done, but at the last second- Grace, one of the interns, ran into my room to ask (as I was doing my push up workout) if I would take her spot to go to the Oyster Festival the next day to shoot it. Fiona, our director, had invited her to go- but she really didn't want to. So I had another day of shooting ahead of me.
The Oyster Festival was good, but it actually got rained out. So we instead got photos of sychronized body boarders in a competition. See them on my website or facebook in the upcoming week!
I was also given today, Sunday, an article to write on a location that we went to for a vacation magazine for Fiona, so I was working on that today.
The things I learned this week were too many too count in all practicality. But the number one was probably patience. It all really came together yesterday at the Oyster Festival shoot- it was either going to be a blast or a blow, and it was neither. It was enjoyable. But there were so many challenges to that day. We were tired, it was raining.. but moreso- all my equipment was mauled by a wave that came up when I was too close to the water, and after spending two hours in silence, working diligently to get sand off the lens because NONE of the equipment was mine... I realized that patience and silence was a key to getting through the week.
There was so much happening, and many days I was so needed from moment to moment that I was fried at the end of the day: many times in my own journal I wrote that I felt I was an intern and an employee because they're short on employees here.
It is great to have so much responsibility here, because it teaches me things like crazy. This week- it taught me patience.
Things don't happen here on American time, where everyone is punctual and if your not- that's not very okay.
Here, things happen at a slower pace- even when were trying to make them go fast. There are always hiccups and mishaps- and to be patient through waves crashing over your equipment, or all the interns being ready for a tutorial when the director arrives 20-30 minutes late... takes practice and prayer.
This week was generally an introductory week for the new interns, so other than patience- I didn't learn much else, and that was okay. Because this lesson was big enough to need to practice it everyday.
I did accomplish correctly editing two moon photos that I'm pretty happy with, as well as shooting the images I wanted to produce at the heated pool. The chumming and body boarder photos also came out well, so even though it's taken some time. I am definitely seeing a beautiful improvement in my photo taking skills. I have accomplished knowing what to bring, where, and when to take the shot or use a different lens. This is definitely only a skill that can be learned from experience- so it's been an accomplishment :)
The challenges that I had to overcome was negativity. On the 4th of July, we were editing the entire day- and it was beautiful out. But we had literally nothing to do but edit away, and the majority of the interns weren't editing, but facebooking- which discouraged me, and distracted me from getting the work I actually needed to get done- done. With their negativity towards the internship, it made it really hard for me to be anything but silent or sarcastic. So with overcoming the days where that happened- when I said something, it was encouraging- and I hung out with other interns in order to be joyful. Throughout the week I've been praying for joy, and words to be positive- and I've honestly been very encouraged by the blogs that my boyfriend has been writing. It's amazing to see that the Lord actually works so strongly in a relationship if you will let him. I know there's a verse in the Word that speaks about two swords sharpening each other- and that's exactly how the Lord works with Alan and I.
Right now, he is in Nicaragua, and he's moved to another area where he is working in the jails and with alcoholics... which is a bit concerning to me. But throughout this last month, he has been writing about how the Lord has been moving through him and around him and finally blogged about it... on the 4th of July when the negativity was getting to a peak.
It was there that I realized I am here to serve everyone. not to be served.
That was difficult to realize last month, because the people of last month- felt they were justified in being served... so I felt I was contributing to their problem by serving them. When in actuality, serving them genuinely did move them... as I saw in a few of the interns the Lord touched through me.
The other thing Alan's blog taught me was that broken plans are a blessing- for in them we realize we depend 100% on the Lord.
That was revelational because the plans almost everyday for the last month have been broken. On the 4th of July was the worst day and plans were broken all around. But honestly, after reading that blog from Alan- I realized it was true.
Today, I also saw that I am 100% dependent on the Lord for joy- it's not happy occasions that bring me joy, where I am just waiting for good things to happen to be joyful about... that's not real joy. the Lord's joy is not circumstancial- but eternal. and internal.
Joy is standing in the storm and realizing how much of a blessing it is and how much the Lord is showing His love through it.
This is how I have been overcoming my challenges this week :) They will continue to be small challenges, as we all know when the Lord works- it takes a while for it to follow through, for daily we need to come back to Him. But He's made his move in my heart. It was like a puzzle piece I forgot was there clicked into place. If you have 10 minutes of time, I definitely recommend you read Alan's blog (alanrohrer.weebly.com), and let it capture you as well.
For this internship, I didn't actually have any learning goals, except to be challenged and for the Lord to show me whether or not he wanted me to study photography as part of my major. Progress towards that- I have been challenged... in the lighting for underwater photography, in taking the correct shot so that I don't have to do so much post processing, and have been challenged by the Lord in order to be His Girl and not the world's. For the major, though... that one is still working- I hav realized with him that... yes- I'm still unsure enough to say that progess is going much slower.
The course I took at home really helped prepare me for this internship. It was only an introduction to the ideas of photography and videography, but it was enough for two companies to like what I was doing and hire me on to write blogs for their website, and create promo videos. The promo videography helped me learn Final Cut PRo- which I will be utilizing this coming week- as were doing a promo video for a client here in Mossel Bay. Other than that, the blog writing I did actually had me working with photoshop to compile some photos for the blog- which helped me learn the surface of layers in photoshop. To be honest, though, the photography handouts of the class seemed to help me more.
In my journalism class, I would go outside and practice taking shots of different hues, lines, focuses, and such things in order to get a vision for what things are good to shoot in photography. Turned out that I already know what those things were from having a good eye, but the paperwork really helped hone in those skills. Those have added to my internship here, because the better I can work my equipment, the better my shots are coming out- because my eye is taking over! Which is what happened this week.
This coming year, my courses are actually going to be in photojournalism and photography, as well as a speech class and human development class. This internship will enhance my experience in the classroom because I will be able to understand the majority of what they're speaking about, and be able to practice much more in depth with photojournalism and photography than I would have ever been able to without now knowing the lenses, the camera bodies, which camera I will need to buy- and those types of things.
I have not begun to develop my professional portfolio- in all honesty, I don't even know what that would look like. But I bet you I have been, because the photos I'm taking and editing look as professional as anything at times! The photos I could add to the portfolio would be shots of animals, the moon editing that I did, bodyboarding shots so that the employers could see I am able to capture the shot- with the right equipment, in the correct exposure, in the right angle. Which is a big deal-- among that, they would also be able to see that I can edit properly!
Well, that's all I've got for this week ladies and gents. I have been given opportunities to go to Cape Town again on Thursday and Friday this week for some shoots with Fiona, I have to buy a new case for Louis since I soaked his at the body boarding shoot, and I am getting sick...
but I will be joyful- for I am 100% dependent on the Lord. I am His- and He loves me :)
Cheers!