Busy busy day

In highschool, my principle, Mr. Anderson had given me the nickname of 'Lost in Boston' after a project I had done for his class. I won't get into the details on THAT but let's just say that that would have been a very accurate name for me again today.

I got into the office today and Samantha had a huge photo assignment for me for the day. I was going to be shooting for our Panorama Guide to.. portion where we do a full page spread of a certain activity in Boston. For example, in our last issue it was Panorama Guide to Outdoor Shopping, featuring 10 different locations. This issue we were focusing on Hidden Gem Restaurants within the city and surrounding areas. This meant that I had to 1. Find the contact information for each restaurant 2. Actually get in touch with their PR rep to set up a shoot for THAT DAY and 3. Get to all of these places within a day even though I had virtually no idea where they were located (the whole thing was to focus on little, off the beaten track restaurants) nevermind where they were in relation to one another. Samantha said that I could also finish them up the next day, being Wednesday, but my family and I had already all taken that day off from work to spend as a family, so Wednesday was out in my book. I was able to contact the initial 7 and set up shoots for that day fairly easily, but the remaining 3 were proving themselves tricky. By the end of the planning phase I had a plan to shoot 7 on Tuesday (still a LOT of work) and the remaining 3 on Thursday morning before I had to have the photos submitted by noon on Thursday to go to print.

I tried to plan so that the restaurants I was going to were at least in an order so that I could go to ones close to each other in a cluster, but of course that was not able to happen, so I spent a good part of the day running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
After getting lost going to good old shoot number 2, and having no idea where my prefered and reliable source of transportation would bring me near these places, I quickly learned it was my day to start taking Boston Taxis.

Fun Fact (or more annoying actually): During the 1930's in the Great Depression there was a cap limit put on the amount of taxis cabs that were allowed to be in Boston. For some unknown reason, this law is yet to be changed. Making it EXTREMELY difficult to obtain a taxi in this darn city..

After everything go rolling I actually had a LOT of fun for this assignment. As stressful as it was a times to find the locations I was going to, and keep on my very tight schedule I feel like I really started learning my way around the city today. Most of the restaurants could not have been more fun, interesting, or nice. I went everywhere from Sports Bars, to high-end Mexican restaurants, to Gay Bars, to Roast Beef Shops, and Fine Dining establishments to hole-in-the wall Burger joints. Being 'Hidden Gems' many of these places didn't have more than 10 tables, with about the same amount of bar stools.
I quickly learned that this was another way to go for Dining in Boston. Food trucks and Hole-in-the-Wall places.

This is a snapshot of the images taken by me and used for Hidden Gems of Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Gold Party

June 9th, 2012
(I'm paraphrasing from the hand-written re-cap of the night, while adding stuff in along the way, so sorry if the tense keeps changing throughout)
Tonight was the summer 'Gold' Party at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. I was first asked by my editor, Samantha, to meet before hand at her friends apartment in Kenmore Square and then we would go to the event together along with her friends. Needless to say, I was nervous about the entire thing. In a lot of ways I was even nervous about meeting up with Samantha and her friends because I didn't know if I would fit in being at least 8-10 years younger than all of them, who are also in the higher class of Boston at the moment. When I got there I saw a couple of familiar faces from events I have been going to in the area, and some of the people were closer to my age than I had thought, so that was a relief from the get-go. Samantha, and her friends were all really down to earth from the beginning so I realized I didn't have as much to be worried about as I had thought. I still couldn't really believe I was involved with all of this throughout the night though, it seemed so surreal at times (once we got to the MFA especially). At the apartment, I didn't really feel as though I was out of my element, except for quick comments here and there (the shopping at Saks, and trouffle-infused cheese for cheese and crackers) so that was refreshing. We then took Uber cab service (the regional manager and recent Umass alumn was with us) which I would recommend to anyone in a city that has them!
Getting there, my name wasn't originally on the list, but once the people at the door learned that I was with a magazine I was profusely apologized to and let it (which was slightly entertaining, but cool). The event itself was amazing. Held in the main lobby of the museum, you had to go through several exhibits to get to the party. They had performing art installations along the way performed by School of the Museum of Fine arts. One was a guy in a tux holding a huge piece of red wax, standing infront of a hot light, while the wax melted all over him (better looking than it sounds). At the party itself there were 2 open bars, a dance floor with a dj, and so so many people. It was a black tie event so all the men were in suits or tux's and the girls were in ball gowns or elaborate cocktail dresses. I was just happy to see that what I was wearing did fit in enough with everyone there (did I mention it cost $500 dollars to get in unless you were working like I was?) I stuck with Samantha, and sometimes just her friends, while mingle-ing and working. I was shooting for Bostonian of the Day so asking questions and photographing people.
By the end of the night I had spoken with a lot of influential people within the city including presidents and founders of varying companies, as well as magazine editors, and became well acquainted with both the PR rep for the MFA itself as well as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. So far this was definitely the best night I've had in Boston, and one of the most important for networking overall.

This week was a short one for me because I had to fly down to Florida for 2 days to move from one apartment to another. I contacted the Cambridge restaurant Upstairs on the Square throughout the week to set up a photo shoot there for Friday evening. I've started to call to set up my own shoots which puts me in touch with a lot of the PR representatives for places around the city which is nice for making connections. Anyways, I was able to sneak through the side door of the resutarant 15 minutes early for my shoot before the skies opened up for one of our summer 30-minute long monsoons. Once I got there I had 2 assignments. I was asking questions, and photographing for Bar Tab where we feature the bar area of a restaurant and one of there bartenders making one of their popular drinks. The questions to the bartender include "What is your favorite hangover cause (what's  your favorite drink)?', "What is your favorite hangover cure?" and "What is the best bar advice you have ever given?". After shooting this, I had 3 dishes made for my photograph by the chef for close-up images showcasing their summer specials that they are trying to promote. The theme here was crab. The dishes were constructed beautifully, and even though I strictly don't like seafood, they were tempting to try. Everyone was really friendly and helpful on my visit there and they offered to let me sit down for a drink with them until the rain passed.
(Photos to Come)
I also attended my second event with Samantha and Kienna on Newbury Street. Fred Perry's was holding a store opening cocktail party at the event where I went to shoot Bostonians of the Day

Week Two

For week two I explored the city while shooting a segment on food trucks within the city, that editorial intern Kienna was writing about. It amazed me how much you are respected just by traveling around while being part of a magazine. Our first stop was near Chinatown at a truck called Kickass Cupcakes. It was a fun place that had every kind of cupcake  you could imagine (and many that you wouldn't until seeing them for yourself). I did a lot of close up shots of the different cupcakes (Including the 'Green Monster', Lemon Merangue, Cookie Dough, with a chunk of dough in the center, and many more). I then did some shots of the truck itself. Before leaving, the woman who worked there told us we weren't leaving without first taking a box of 6 home each. Needless to say, my family loved me that night. We then ventured over to the State House where we photographed a BBQ truck. The family has been in business making everything from scratch for the last 30 years.
This was the first real work of mine that was published in the magazine and it was soo much fun to shoot! (Photos to come once I post them).

Later in the week I ventured around with interior designer, Jennifer, to several furniture and home-furnishing stores in the area. I would take one shot of a piece she wanted featured, one of the store itself, followed by one of her 'shopping'. I found this assignment difficult because of some of the pieces she chose to feature as well as working with her for the 'natural' shopping images. The pieces were tricky because it was a lot of tables and chairs, in cluttered shops that were hard to focus on, especially without having a wide-angle lens. Overall, I think I was fairly Successful though.

What I've learned so far..

1. Always have gas in your car, you never know when you'll be called into a last minute event,  not time for stopping for gas.
2. Commuting from Andover may as well be commuting from the moon to most Bostonians.
3. People don't always expect 'Ringling quality' from the get go
4. Be assertive. The nice, laid back girl act won't get you places in a big city
5. Boston food trucks...,amazing.
6. Network. It will ultimately make or break you.

Week One

One of the nice things about going into that one event early was that it made me get over the initial nerves of really starting out because I had to be there so quickly. I found that it really helped out for going into the office for the first time that next Monday because there was at least a familiar face there for me when I got there, so not quite so many introductions that day. As for the office itself, it's near Boston Harbor, but right near a section of the city called Downtown Crossing which is where a lot of our skyscrapers are located holding the heart of our Financial District. Personally, I was excited that my office in conveniently located upstairs for a Dunkin Donuts.
My first week was pretty low keep just getting to meet everyone and see how the office worked. I only work Tuesdays and Thursdays so on Thursday I went around a did a little more shooting for Bostonians of the Day with Ben, our editorial intern. I learned that the questions we ask for this segment are:
What is your favorite thing about living in Boston?
What is your favorite part of the city, and why?
What advice would you give a first time visitor to do in the city?
and What is one of your favorite restaurants or shopping areas in the city?

First things first

So I was scheduled to start Monday May 21st but the Thursday before that I got a call around 4:45 from Paul, the assistant editor at Panorama, asking if I could make it into Boston at 6:15 that night because their photographer couldn't make it that night. I live about 25 minutes drive outside of the city itself (that is to get to the subway) So it typically takes me an hour to get to any particular destination within the city. That being said, getting ready to go, and actually getting there would take me typically an hour and a half. Not helping the situation was the fact that all of my photo stuff was still packed (and not charged) from moving back home for the summer. Long story short I got to the event at 6:20 (don't ask how fast I drove). My job that first night was to photograph people at a store opening on Newbury Street for our Bostonian of the Day segment. We try to focus on 1. Well dressed Bostonians 2. Business/socialites of Boston 3. People who have been involved with the magazine before. This is for one of our social media pieces found on our facebook page. It was a good night, but one of the first things I learned about my internship was:
Always be ready for a last minute call into the city (and more importantly)
Always have enough gas in my car to GET to Boston

Intro

So I've been at my internship up here in Boston for a little over 3 weeks now so I should probably start the blog to say what I've been up to, accomplished, all that jazz. Firstly, I am interning with Panorama Magazine up here in Boston as the photo intern. Panorama is a small magazine that is published every other week dedicated to informing visitors and tourists of the area of the goings on in the area. It isn't a magazine that Bostonians know so much about, but it is distributed at welcome and info centers as well as most of the hotels around Boston. So far, I couldn't be happier at the internship and I've been learning a lot, both about photography and the city itself which I grew up right outside of. I haven't been keeping a blog yet, but I've been writing down a lot of stuff in my notebook, so I'm going to start off by putting posts as if it were day to day til I'm up to date.