Vladimir Pinis's ePortfolio

While there was no event I attended, there is technically someone I would consider more of a role model here. It is my supervisor Jonathan Burch. He basically goes on all of the photoshoots with me and always gives me advice that ends up improving my skills and giving me better results. I appreciate that he started out with little to no experience and essentially learned from all of his mistakes to get to where he is now. I basically have the same learning process for myself so instantly we got along very well. Overall I like his approach to tackling problems. It’s very laid back but at the same time achieves results which is a very complicated thing to achieve. He is also quite good at communicating with people since I am not the first intern that has worked under him. Everybody seems to very much like working with him.

Overall this internship was a very interesting and unique experience for myself. I’ve picked up things here that I would likely have not gotten otherwise.

Hello professor and classmates,

I’ve always found self evaluations a difficult thing to do, not matter where I am. Theres always a little bit of doubt in the back of your mind about your own personal performance. I’ve been able to do everything they’ve asked (and more) in a timely matter as far as I can tell. At the start some of my photography skills and my edits weren’t exactly ideal but after getting a lot of feedback I seems that I’ve improved and my superiors are more satisfied by my work. Overall if I had to give myself a letter grade it would be a solid B.

Hello professor and classmates,

My internship doesn’t really offer me much collaboration since what they have me do is a one person job. The only time that I do collaborate is when I go out to photoshoots with my supervisor. The way that generally goes is me and my supervisor either head out from the office straight to the shoot, or I meet him there. Once there, he picks out what he wants to shoot and orders whatever food he believes will look good in the photos. Generally he has me start with photographing the ambiance, interior, exterior, etc, while he gets a head start on the food. Once I finish that up I start working on certain dishes of drinks as well.

In terms of communication I generally ask him for feedback in terms of photo angles, white balance, and lighting position. He gives me tips and after he checks out my photos basically says which ones he likes and what not to do as well. Overall everything has been relatively successful thus far and they seem to like me so no complaints.

Hello professor and classmates,

Luckily for me there is a lot that I get to do in my internship that’s related to my major, alongside my hobbies as well. Some of the key skills that I get to improve day to day are my photography skills, my photo editing skills, and my video editing skills. I am always asking for and receiving feedback in terms of my photography skills and how they pertain to what Clickdaily is looking to accomplish. Generally I am always performing duties that are only related to my major and it also helps that I get to talk to their clients and hear their thoughts on the company and what they want.

My typical day on the internship is pretty straightforward for the most part. I usually come in and start editing the photos, videos from the previous day right off the bat. Afterwards, if we have a photoshoot that day, me and my supervisor go there and get whatever shots we need to get. Then we head back to the office and if I have time left in the day I get a headstart on the editing, if not then I finish it up the next day.

Hello professor and classmates,

I very much like the culture of my workplace. Overall it is very informal which is always a good thing because it allows me to get into a nice comfort zone. Everybody generally wears a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and whatever else.

Generally I come dressed in a polo, jeans, and sneakers but this is mainly due to the fact that I have to go to a second job after my internship and they have a very strict dress code so I also wear all black most of the time. If I don’t have to go to my second job that day then I’ll wear a casual button up shirt if I know that I’ll be in the office, or if I know that I have to go to a photo shoot that day most likely I’ll have a T-Shirt.

The office has an open work area. This area is also divided in its own way. For example to the right of the office is where people mostly do graphic design and obtain clients, and to the left of the office is where the social media/photography people (and me) sit. It is also diverse in terms of computers. By this I mean that the office uses both windows and macs depending on who is doing what.

My typical workday is 10:30 to 5. This changes from time to time as well since if we have to do a photoshoot at a bar for example, the bar might not open until 4pm and that means my day is going to start at 4pm. When it comes to lunchtime, they allow me to go on break sometime in the middle of the workday and never really set a specific amount for lunch. Everyone comes back to the office and eats in front of their computer and just get back to work as soon as they finish eating.

Hello professor and classmates,

My role within the company is primarily a photographer, but as I discussed in my previous post, the position varies from time to time. As of right now though, I have only edited photos and been on site a one photoshoot. My supervisors name is Jonathan Burch who is head of the social media at Clickdaily.

Getting the internship itself was a long and tedious process. After applying to tons of internships through everything from Indeed to Linked In to any that were recommended from class, it was disappointing to see how many actually replied. Initially I had good feelings about Captiv8 Promos but unfortunately they decided against taking me on. There were also many internships with whom I followed up on, including the Columbia university internship, that had said we have received your application and will get back to you or something of the sort and then I never heard from them again. This was all obviously very discouraging but I knew that basically everyone has to go through this.

Eventually though, I had decided to follow up on another company called Clickdaily. It was a photography internship primarily dealing with food photography. They replied saying that while it seems I have no experience photographing food (from my Flickr,) if I wanted to I could come in for an interview. And so I ended up doing just that and a few days later I came in. They primarily asked me questions about software knowledge and what I would feel comfortable doing. They also wanted to know If i had my own camera body and lenses as that was one of the requirements. It also helped that I had my own computer so that I could work from my own computer if everyone computer there was taken up. While the internship is in fact unpaid, I am glad that at least I’m going to get experience from it.