How Taking Multiple Internships Helped My Launch My Career

Over the summer, I interned at Studio Pura, a photography studio in West Hartford, CT. The entire internship experience was very hands-on and allowed me to greatly improve my own photography skills and editing skills within the Photoshop software. I was also required to assist with photo shoots and attend client and business meetings. Since Studio Pura is a small photography studio, the owner is the sole photographer and I was the only intern and person working for her. The small size of the company is partly why I was given so much responsibility with my workload for my supervisor.

While at school, my major is English Creative Writing, and I study Photography as my minor. When I started at Studio Pura for the summer, I thought my skills with photography would really be the only area of study that would lend help to my internship experience. My supervisor, however, needed help with her blog, so I was basically able to take over writing the blog for her. I was so happy that both my major and minor were put to use with this internship.

One of the best experiences happened right at the end of the internship when I assisted my supervisor with a wedding in the middle of August. During all of the other photo shoots that I had assisted on, my job had mainly been to hold reflectors and move props around. However, at the beginning of this specific wedding, my supervisor handed me her other camera and asked me if I wanted to shoot as her second photographer. I was so happy and pleased that my supervisor trusted me enough to shoot a wedding with her. This was the perfect end to my internship experience with Studio Pura.

I go to Endicott College, where, as an undergraduate student, we are required to complete multiple internships throughout our four years of study. Although finding internships seems scary and confusing, it is not so difficult or daunting. If you have an idea of what you want to do and know where you want to be or might want to be, it’s easy to just type, “photography studios in Boston” into Google or an internship searching site, for example. It’s also helpful to use any relationship that you have—whether it be a parent, teacher, boss or friend’s relative—to help you get a foot into a potential internship site. Once you have a list of a few places that you want to intern, it’s important to write a cover letter and perfect your résumé and then email both along to the company. For me, when I applied to Studio Pura, I didn’t even know if the studio accepted interns, and although I was the first, all it takes is one email to find out!