My name is Ian Kline and I am a junior Photography major. During the summer of 2016, I was an assistant to Jordan Baumgarten, a photographer who has his MFA from RISD and is currently based in Philadelphia, PA. I first saw Jordan’s work when he had an interview on Vice Magazine’s website that followed up on his first book Briar Patch in 2013.
At the 2016 Philadelphia Photo Art Book Fair, a bunch of us went out for dinner after the first night and Jordan was in the group with us. He mentioned that he wanted to find an intern for the summer to help him out in the studio and in the field. I told him I was more than interested and willing, but he said I might be too qualified and that one of his students at University of the Arts may gain more out of the internship, but he said he would let me know. He texted me about a month later saying that if I wanted to do the internship I’d be more than welcome, so I excitedly said yes.
Unlike some internships that may be one sided with the work you do, Jordan wanted to make the work closer to equal, so I would help him with whatever we needed to get done, then we would turn the tables and talk about my work, talk about work in general, and nerd out on photo books from his library to help inform work. During the time that we would be working, there were three main things we would do: work on the sequencing/production/color correction of his forthcoming book Slow Blink Open Mouth, work on organizing and looking at work for a new in-progress project (which meant scanning film and making work prints to hang up to get the ideas flowing), and going out into the field to make photographs either for commissions or for personal work.
This experience of working alongside a working artist in the field I see myself going towards (photographer and educator) was incredibly informative. I saw how Jordan managed his work alongside his own life, and that’s important, to have a life and do things alongside just making work and being cooped up in the studio. I saw how he held himself while out making photographs, which is hard to explain, but was very valuable. I also got great feedback and insight on my own work. I am psyched that I was able to help Jordan out this summer, and what I learned by working alongside him is something that will continue to influence my practice here on out.
