The Benefits of an Internship in Photography

Hey! I’m Kate, a commercial photographer specializing in food and product. Before starting ACC’s photography program, I had barely touched a camera. (I even had to ask the guy at the camera store how to hold it properly!) The plan was to grow my skills as a hobby photographer, but thanks to Brad Bartholomew and ACC’s other incredible instructors, I took the leap to pursue this as a career. 

The classes and instructor-led workshops were phenomenal building blocks for growing my photo knowledge and skillset, but what really took the program to the next level was interning for a local photographer / photo retoucher that Brad connected me with. I was able to put what I had learned in the school’s studio to practice in real world scenarios. 

Throughout the internship, I worked as part of the crew on commercial apparel shoots, learned advanced photoshop techniques, and received critique and guidance on my school assignments and graduation portfolio. Since the first part of my internship occurred during the photographer’s slow season, he even let me use his studio and walked me through some harder to execute images I wanted to create for my portfolio! After wrapping up the internship, I’ve continued working for the photographer as a production assistant and photo retoucher, which has been an awesome transition between finishing school and growing my business’s clientele.

For anyone debating over which required electives to take, I highly recommend the internship to be able to see how established photographers run their businesses, to get a deeper look into the field of photography one wants to pursue, and for the opportunity to make connections within the photo industry.

Check Out Kate's Photography