Girl's Life Magazine

My name is Sarah Adams and I am a Senior Photo Major. This July, I started an internship at Girl’s Life Magazine, as their Art Intern. I had been searching since January for an interesting and relevant internship. However, after all that time my friend who had previously worked with Girl’s Life said that they were looking for a new intern and suggested my name. I spoke with them and we set up a meeting to meet in person and discuss what they needed and expected. From there on out I would go into their office a few times to meet everyone and get a feel for what Girl’s Life is all about.

I got to go to a lay down shoot with my supervisor Jess D’Argenio Waller (Girl’s Life operations manager and fashion editor). A lay down shoot is where they create outfits for the next issue, they then set them up in a studio with lighting and their photographer shoots them. I would assist him setting up as well as start on the clipping paths for the layouts. Clipping paths are essentially digital cut and pastes for the editors to use in layouts. They have to be clean and follow the lines of the articles of clothing, accessories and shoes. I learned from their photographer his way of working on clipping paths and working with files for clients. It really helped me to get to talk with him about how he works with clients like Girl’s Life-­‐ we talked about everything from how he got his start to how many copies of each file he saves. It was great to get these hands-­‐on experiences; it gave me a good sense of what options I have if I want to take them. I also got to go to a photo-­‐shoot with one of their other contracted photographers where I helped set up lighting and assisted with other equipment. It was fun but also informative, it was great to get to see how it works and a sense of the fashion world.

I really think that this internship provided an essential period of time for me to stretch my technical legs, so to speak. I really had to rely on my experiences and education to make it through, this isn’t to say that I had a hard time, but that I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful if I didn’t have my past 3 years of practice behind me. I really learned how to better manage my time between school, Girls Life and my part time job. I feel like I am much better prepared for professional settings and to work on the timetables of a professional setting. It was exciting to work with an admired publication. I had considered before looking into to publications, but wasn’t sure if my previous experiences were enough to know if that is what I was interested in or not. However, after Girl’s Life, I know that it is something that I am interested in. I am looking into an internship at Aperture Magazine as well as some other smaller publications.

While it was difficult to find this at first, I am quite happy I got this experience and I am proud of the work I did. I’m glad it was a positive experience and am looking forward to what is next.