Last Week

My last week started with the CNN / Espanola anchor shoot. On Monday we had the two most well known anchors first. After they were interviewed on camera we shot portraits of each of them in business clothing and casual. We shot portraits of 8 other anchors in both outfits and a group shot with everyone in business clothing. We also had one of the digital processors processing images while we were taking them.

Tuesday was the last day of the shoot. We shot 8 more portraits with the anchors wearing 2 different styles with a large group shot in business clothes. In each portrait shot we changed up the position of the wooden and silver blocks, which became difficult toward the end because we ran out of idea and keep track of what we already had done. After the shoot John and I cleaned up the studio and broke everything down. We had to mark were everything was positioned incase we needed to rebuild the set for more pictures which took a good bit of time.

The next day on Wednesday I was supposed to meet up with Justin for headshots at CNN radio. When he didn’t show up, Mark and I ran over there to do the shots. We set up in a small room and got all the headshots except one. It was really interesting to see the inside of CNN, where before I seen the inner workings with all the information cables, but with CNN radio I got to see booths and production offices. Upon arriving back to Turner, Mark and I talked about how my internship went and what I had learned. I told him I was greatful for the crash course in photo assisting while being able to watch professionals and learn tips and tricks to help me in my future career.

The last day of my internship was an easy one. I came to help Jeremy with another corporate headshot and also cut up foam to fit in the new case for the 23 inch apple cinema display to travel with. I also helped Ted with a product shoot he had for the TBS store. I got to talk to everyone I had met in the department and thank them for their patients and teaching me.

The last day was also sad for me. I had really enjoyed meeting the people I had worked with learning about the company. I feel very fortunate that I was given such a great opportunity to learn what all I did from whom I did. Each person I came into contact with at Turner was friendly and very helpful. Even though I knew at times I was hurting more than helping, the photographers were invested in helping me improve my abilities, for which I am grateful.

Seventh Week

On my seventh week, I started on Tuesday getting my security badge, which was waiting for me in the security office. Then I set up for another corporate headshot with Jeremy and took them. We used the gray background with lights on them to create a gradient with large key light and medium soft box for a fill.

The next day Justin and I set up for pictures of a dog for a new show on the cartoon network. The costume was fitted with a guy inside and looked like a large Labrador. We went through some great poses of him drinking wine out of his dog bowl, holding a martini glass, and others. After cleaning up the shoot I was put to work priming the 16 x 16 ft wall. I thought this would be a good as time as any to try a time delay so I set up the camera and this is what I got.

On Thursday we had two portraits going on at the same time. We had Mark shooting headshots for executives of Latin / Boomerang Network. On the other side we had Justin shoot Headline News T-Shirts. I helped as much as I could with both sides sometimes getting equipment for both shoots at the same time out the equipment room. The headshots did not take as much time as the shirts so I helped out more with the headshots and then worked more with the shirts.

The last day of the week was spent setting up for the large shoot on the following Monday and Tuesday of the CNN / Espanola news anchors. I painted the wall again to make sure the wall was completely covered. It was the largest production so far in the studio while I was there as well as the largest lighting set up and largest shoot schedule. We set up two 12 x 12 ft silk diffusers with 2 umbrellas behind on each side for the group shot and then we had a movable beauty dish for the portraits with the 12 x 12 ft silks as fill light. We also laid down a wooden floor for the ground and we had 3 wood blocks and 2 silver blocks for props for the anchors all to sit on.

Sixth Week

On Monday, my sixth week I had a Behind The Scenes shoot with Justin in the studio. It was a video shoot about choosing candidates. It was great to see Justin in action doing documentary work because I thought that was one of his strong points. He explained to me how to get really great shots of the people between takes and to follow the video camera for nice shots as well.

The next day I came into the studio at 1 pm and unpacked Mark’s gear from his shoot in Las Vegas. I asked if I could stay to help out for two more weeks and they all agreed. Since my card stated my end date was the end of July, I had to get my card renewed for two more weeks. I talked to the digital department about sitting with one of them the next day.

On Wednesday I got to sit with one of the digital processors named Matthew. He showed me the process he goes through with each photograph, lightening the exposure and uploading the images all back on the server. Later on in the day I traveled with Jeremy to shot interior shots of a radio studio for references. Apparently they were going to put video cameras in the studio and wanted to mock up several scenes with ads all around the studio.

Fifth Week

At the start of my Fifth week at Turner we shot the second half of the first time voters league. I was out of town for the first half, so I was interested to see how the pictures would look. John, the assistant, pretty much had the routine of how Mark wanted the pictures to be shot so I watched and followed for the example. We shot 12 people while holding a card with words they had written about voting. They were also interviewed with a camera crew after we shot them for the piece. After each one was shot, John and I shot the cards in a copy work setup incase the card was out of focus for the portrait or they needed a better shot of it.

The next day was mainly breaking down from the shoot the two days before, nothing exciting just moving stuff from one place to another. I also cleaned up the studio for the next day because a video shoot was going to be there the next day.

On Wednesday, I watched a video shoot for Monica. It was for an overlay ad for her new show on Peachtree TV. During the promo shoot Justin and I set up for a corporate headshot and photographed him right after the promo was done. After the green screen from the promo was taken down with all the lighting equipment, I set up copy lighting and shot blueprints from Turner Studio. They wanted pictures of the whole blueprint and some details as well.

At the end of the week on Thursday, I built a set for a light test with a mannequin I had for another shoot later that day. I used all the light modifiers they had with one light on the mannequin to see what effect each one would have. After the test, I built a set on white for a shoot I had for Joe Dues showing their product on a dressed up model.

Fourth Week

My fourth week at Turner involved coming in and organizing the equipment room table in the studio. With four photographers coming in and out and pulling out equipment like cameras, camera accessories, lighting, and other various tools it can get quite cluttered. Later on in the day Mark and I shot another corporate head shot with EVP John O’Hare. After everything was put away from the shoot, Mark asked me organize his idea book with included images from many different fashion magazines, people magazines, and news magazines. He had books that were organized into men, women, and others.

On Tuesday I spent most of my day with Mark packing up for his shoot that he was traveling for the next day. We also cleaned up the studio because of a lunch event being held the next day. We moved the furniture and lights so they would have enough room for the tables and chairs. The last thing of the day was the most exciting. I got to pretend to be a photographer at a radio station for a show on cartoon network called “Fried Dynamite”. They were pretending to be the Jonas Cousins and the radio station thought it was the Jonas Brothers. When the DJ found out they cut the interview and I walked off the set.

The next day, Wednesday, I came in an hour late at 10 am. I had scheduled to do some photo editing with Jake but the servers were painfully slow. Images that would normally take a minute to load, took 20 minutes. We let a group of photos from the TBS show House of Payne load and come back to them. Jake went over some images with me to idea of what to look for when editing the photos like: you want cause and effect images, the best images technically, no images that would make the network or show look bad, etc. The server was to slow we decided to try another day. At the end of the day I helped Ted try out a time delay set up he was working on for PGA. Where he could get a picture every 15 seconds at a hole and also get the capture down to one every second for putts.

Thursday involved the pre-light for the shoot on Friday and Monday for the First Time Voters league. The studio brought in a set maker who built three backdrops (red, blue, gray) to look like the side of an old building. They were 16 x 16 ft with stretched canvas over them. Each one had to be lit and one had to be lit for a group shot. Mark wanted to see how the pictures would look with a Tilt Shift for the RZ so I ran to PPR to get one before they closed. I also picked up illustration board and markers for the voters to write what voting meant to them.

Third Week

My third week at my internship was a hard week with two different long shoot. I took the Monday off because I worked on Saturday at the Gay Pride Festival. So Tuesday was the most important shoot of my internship: shooting Ted Turner with different international journalists invited to hear him speak and get a picture with him. Justin and I photographed the journalists and Ted in his office on Lucky St. in downtown Atlanta. We shot around 9 portraits and broke down our lights (two lights shooting into umbrellas pointed into the corners of the room) and went back to the studio. The rest of the day we got ready for the big shoot for Boomerang, a “tween” network, that involved a lot of planning to get it all done.

The next day we shoot a large production for the “tween” network Boomerang in a neighborhood in East Atlanta called Gordan Parks. The day started at early at 7:30 am with meeting 4 assistants to pack and load up for the day. We arrived at the location and began looking at what we needed for the first set up which included all the pro-b lights (which was the first major time using all the new lights from Profoto equipment) many c-stands, and softboxes. The shoot idea was to create a stop motion look to all the action so each shot had to look seamless with lighting and angle. We started shooting in a spa setting with two other variations. We later went on to eight other locations with 3 variations each which included: outside with golf carts, inside a clothing store, inside a hair salon, outside in and near a fountain, and in the town square. The day was hot, long, and hot but I learned exactly how much goes into a big production for TV and I’m still amazed.

On Thursday in the studio we shot 12 people for ireport.com holding various cameras. Each person needed three different poses so it was easier to know what shots needed to be done and how to accommodate the photographer. Most of the models that were shot for the campaign were employees from image management, which included a photographer, editors, and creative people. I think this was the day where a lot of what I was doing solidified for me and I realized exactly what was expected of me and that I could accomplish it.

Friday of the third week began with another corporate headshot. It was asked of me to come in early to help Jeremy set up. After setting up and breaking it all down, I got to help organize the 2,000+ files from the shoot on Thursday using Capture One Pro. It was a stressful job because if I messed up I would lose a picture that we couldn’t get back exactly how it was. When I finished, Mark went over the metadata process with me. After learning how to enter the file metadata, I organized the large black cabinet kept in the studio. It is the home for the coffee makers, coffee, teas, cds and cd player, plates, cups, mugs, and condiments.