When I first applied for this internship, I had no idea what I was getting into--all I knew was that I would have to drive two or more hours three days a week to DC, and that I was going to work with this fantastic photographer, Frank Hallam Day. On my first day of the internship, Frank put me right to work with editing images that he was going to later hand out in packets during his travels to Europe to accept his Leica Oskar Barnack Prize for his series of RV Night photographs.
I spent many, many, many hours of the day just staring in front of the computer screen editing photographs, designing templates in InDesign, and printing and reprinting these images until they were perfected to Frank's liking. I was so surprised how much he trusted me right away with these images that had won him an award; I thought it would have taken him some time to trust me with my editing skills because I have never really edited photos to the extent that he does. He did help me along the way with the editing and I had to ask him a few times until I got the hang of it if he approved of what and how I edited. Learning the key moves and editing modes in Photoshop was invaluable knowledge; I am so glad I finally know how to do these so I can use them in my own work.
Before he went away for a month in July to accept his award, we traveled to Georgetown where some of his work was going to be shown. The purpose of the show was to allow a gallery to pick out pieces it wanted to use in a show it would present later in July. That was a really amazing experience because I had no idea what went into submitting work to a gallery and picking which pieces would be shown.
This summer was an overall great opportunity for me. I learned so much about the art world from the perspective of an individual artist. Frank is definitely living the photographer's dream and I hope to some day be as great as he is and accomplish what he has.
