This week has been a busy one! Sickness is gone and in replacement, schedules have come up and deadlines has been set.
Twice this week we went to swimming lessons that one of our director's friends were giving to a couple children at a time, and in between each one- we were able to practice underwater children photography.
This was phenomenal because I realized that I can properly do underwater children photography at my home since my mom teaches swim lessons in our backyard pool and the families may want photographs of it!
We also learned how to create a business plan, in order to focus yourself so that you can effectively market to a target customer group and start making money with the photographs that we have the ability to produce.
I also had my first real model shoot, where half of our group were the photographers and half were the models, so that we could give an example of sample photos to a new company in order to help market their clothing. It was a fantastic experience, and it turns out I am a natural at modeling!
Also, I have finally started writing the feature article on De Hoop, one of our clients, and their accomadtions and animals, in order to hand it in to our marketer by Sunday so that she can pitch it to travel magazines around South Africa!! My name will be getting out as a photographer and as a journalist!
This week I learned about all the possibilities to keep photography not as a hobby but as a business that can bring in money. I learned that there are so many different niches of photography, and that there are so many families who would be interested in good photos of moments in their lives, and many businesses who are itching for good marketing and need it in order to get clients. More importantly, though, I learned that there is a ton of work one needs to dramatically realize in order to make the business work. That was probably the most financially helpful thing that I've learned while here, because I learned how to work out the start up costs needed in order for my freelancing to begin.
I accomplished the creation of a one year business plan and will accomplish writing the feature article by Sunday evening.
I also accomplished not getting sea sick on the chumming boat we went on this morning to get photographs for Oceans Research marketing and breaching sharks!
Finally, and maybe most importantly, I accomplished properly riding a horse!! We rode through dunes and brush, and seriously rode through bushes. It was my first time for full on cantering for a while (felt like I was race car driving!!) and being taught how to properly sit, hold the reigns, and trot. It was a fantastic time :)
I have faced some difficulties and challenges this week.The biggest three were how little time I have left and how much still needs to be done, how little money I have left, and how my photos are turning out worse than last month.
To overcome these three challenges... I'm praying. Not much more can be done than that- except cutting down on what I buy (mostly food), paying more attention to details and working things out immediately so they get done, and letting the Holy Spirit work in my photos.
That's one thing I've honestly realized in the last two months- my photos are truly only good when the Holy Spirit is behind it, and Sinikka isn't.
I can take an average shot- but it's the Holy Spirit nudging that makes me move to the perfect angle, so close up it could be bothersome to people, checking the exposure so that it's so right it's insane.
I can do small things to work through these issues, but the one thing that will help the most is prayer. Because without the Lord, my work is not the best it could be.
The world of work that I have been exposed to here is not what I expected, since it's been on African time instead of the States time. But it is turning out to be exactly what I think I expected (I didn't expect anything. I expected to be taught, and I have been) because I am writing articles, taking photos, and learning how to create the business that will be desired among customers and happily simple. I knew that photographers did not get much money, but in what I know will bring in money (family shots, senior portraits, weddings, engagement photos, stock photography, business clients, hotels and restaurants) is seriously appealing to me since it's generally photography of people, so what I have been taught is exactly what I expected. I did not expect the equipment to be as expensive (still paying for that), and I did not expect to see a photographer like my director to be as well off as she is, since she is in underwater photography- a niche so small that if you succeed, you so seriously do so.
So far, the highlight of my internship has got to be the shoot that we did this past Wednesday where I was a model. I was still basically directing and helping the shoot so that things would get done, and different shoots would happen at the same time. But modeling for it was seriously the best time I have had with all of the interns during our work hours. We had music going, and since half the interns were models, we were all laughing and having a good time, as we got selling shots for the clothing client. No one was disappointed :)
My other highlight was actually horseback riding today, that was not part of the internship but it was the best experience I've had in South Africa as just an amazing thrilling thing to do. People have gone bungee jumping, cage diving, sand boarding... which I didn't have the money for (and cage diving visibility was bad for me both times I went so it wasn't great at all), but I did for horseback riding, and the thrill of a canter, the bruises from hugging the horses sides, and the sheer happiness I had from being able to properly direct the horse, and have a serious communication with him, made it AMAZING.
My greatest challenge of this internship has been the interns. I do get along with everyone since I am an easy going person, but the peer pressure that I have indirectly and directly felt has truly challenged my perspective and my view of the internship. The first two weeks of this month, I hated the internship because of the way it was being run and how disorganized it was, yet the majority of those feelings stemmed from seeing how disrupted others in the internship were. Last month, I was also challenged due to how negative the interns were about the internship. Through this carelessness, it made it difficult for me to do what I wanted to- which was to learn and enjoy what was here -because the staff was being affected as well.
If I was to pursue this field as a career, I would definitely need to improve my creativity in photography as well as my skill of shooting and in post processing. Also don't forget that I would definitely need to get better at accounting and running a business. To build these skills I could take such classes at IU Bloomington, which I am planning on doing. I will also be trying to join up with Dekard Photography and run alongside them to help and shoot where I can to learn more about wedding photography and learn more practical shooting skills.
Overall, the most surprising thing I have learned about myself throughout the course of this internship is that I may be built like a rock, but spiritually I am not one.
With the Lord, the most surpising thing I have learned is that in life hard things will come, but those do not mean He is not still there, still helping, still in charge, or still on your side.
I won't explain those last two bits because it's too dense, but let them sink in- if you have questions... pray or message me.
Cheers!