As a mentioned many blog posts ago, I am not only taking
classes but I am also interning.
Really, the internship is the main purpose of the program. I guess I should finally give everyone
a little insight to what exactly I do for more than 20 hours a week. Now, the reason I haven’t talked about
it until now is not because it is awful and boring, there were just other
things that seemed more interesting to write about. All that has finally changed after this week of work. My internship is with Quintana Couture,
which is a couture design house specializing in evening and bridal wear. Pretty much, I was taken on as a
marketing and PR intern. They
desperately needed to redo the website and improve their appearance on Facebook
and Twitter which is mainly where I come in. I’ve also created marketing materials and on certain
days, act as a PA to the designer.
It’s a small company so I really get the opportunity to do a lot of
different things for the business. Up until this week, my responsibilities kept
me inside the studio, glued to my computer, but on Thursday and Friday, I
finally had the opportunity to see what else is needed to run such a high
profile, luxury company.
In
order to advertise themselves, Quintana donated a custom made gown to the
Terrence Higgins Trust Auction. If
you have never heard of THT, it is this amazing charity that raises awareness
about HIV and AIDS. If I remember
correctly, it is currently the largest charity in Europe. The auction was held on Thursday and Quintana had three models
walk in the auction in order to display our style of clothing. The winner of this lot would receive a
custom made gown appropriate to the amount that was donated at the auction. Anyways, since we were unaware what
kind of photography coverage would be there, Quintana decided to take me along
as their pseudo-personal photographer for the evening. I will admit that I am no amateur with
a camera, especially since I now have a DSLR. For the most part I can hold my own. On the other hand, besides my projects
on the goat farm and Mizzou’s More For Less campaign, I have never been in the
situation where others will judge my photos. As excited as I was for this event, I was terrified because
I began doubting everything I ever thought I knew about photography.
Once
my supervisor and I arrived at the event, I was able to relax and take photos
as we waited for the designer, models, makeup artist and jewelry to
arrive. I tried to snap photos of
the event space but really I was just trying not to run into anyone. I seriously felt like I was surrounded
by the cast of “Made in Chelsea” and a part of me just wanted to crawl under a
table and hide the fact that I was wearing a dress from Target. Even though of all the professional
photographers there, I had the smallest most entry level DSLR, people still
tend to respect people that carry around big cameras. For the most part people either left me alone, unless I
stood directly in front of them during the auction.
To
add to the glamour of the event, Quintana borrowed some exquisite diamond
jewelry from Mozafarian for the models to wear during the auction. My supervisor wanted me to get some
shots of the pieces before they were put on the models. It was pretty easy to move around all
the pieces to pose them for photos until I was notified that I was handling
£150,000 worth of jewelry. Let me
reiterate that that is in Great British Pounds, so it would be about
$275,000. To say the least, I
touched the jewelry a lot less after that.
The
rest of the event ran pretty smoothly.
I took a lot of fashion photos of the models and for the most part I
think everyone was impressed with my photography abilities. Or maybe they just weren’t
disappointed. I can’t seem to read
people anymore.
For
Friday, we were holding another photo shoot and although this was not the most
remarkable experience, it was cool to be on the set. Actually, that is a total lie. The photo shoot would have been a really cool experience but then I found out who was taking the photos. Quintana
has a deal with this woman that if she takes photos for us, he will tailor all
of her clothing. Who is this
mysterious photographer you may ask? Oh, just Pattie Boyd. Yes, the Twiggy like model from the
1960s that was married to BOTH George Harrison AND Eric Clapton. I met her on Friday. I shook her hand
on Friday and she complimented me on my laptop case and key cover. It happened and it was awesome.
Although
not every week is exciting as the last, this job does have its benefits. The networking in itself is a huge
payoff. Yes, it is also tedious
and stressful but that’s just a welcome sign to the real world. Not every aspect of every job is going
to be perfect. Life is hard and
tedious and sometimes, work is too.
My coworkers are great and I’ve even hung out with them outside of work,
so I’d say that things are going pretty well for me at Quintana.
Sorry,
I’m not posting any photos from the event because I feel they now belong to
Quintana. If you go on the
Facebook next week, I will most likely post a bunch of them. Plus, I don’t need any reason to bring
my work to this blog because they would probably read it and realize what a
terrible writer I am and that I have a lot of idiot like thoughts. I can’t have any of that now can I?
Cheers,
Janelle
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