No Boss!

Today I had no boss. But no worries, I was a good girl and came in and did work anyways. I spent the first little bit, updating spread sheets and doing things they taught me. Then I began working on brochures for advertising the educational side of the organization. I had all the information, I just had to design a layout and add images. It was difficult to fit all the information in, but I worked it out and am actually pretty pleased! I made two, but it is an on going project so I plan on providing a couple more option for them to choose from later. It was a good day!

Wow! It's been awhile!

Sorry it's been awhile! Well lets see, what have I been up to lately? I think the highlight of the past week or so was getting to shadow a tour. The Light Factory is free to the public, but people often call about tours. They pay a small fee and get a guided tour of the galleries and demonstration of the darkroom. I was given the task of making a scavenger hunt for younger kids who participate to keep them engaged. Though the group who's tour I shadowed were teachers from Fort Mill, SC. They were given leave to experience the educational tour of the galleries. I followed along, listening to the explanations of the different pieces. It was fascinating hearing the artist's point of view and reasons behind their creations. Then came the darkroom! The only experience I have with the darkroom is watching movies of old photography techniques. The process is really quite interesting; how the chemicals invert the color and the effect of light to an image. I really learned a lot! Tours are really great for the organizations PR. It is hard for people to truely understand The Light Factory's mission until they have seen the work first hand. It also increases promotion through word of mouth, which is one of the most effective forms of PR to the organization.

I was given a list today of on-going projects to work on. Some of the big ones involve creating a brochure, pledge cards, and certificates. I started working on the pledge cards and was able to whip out a couple designs. It's pretty easy for me, so I think i will work on various designs for them to choose. I like to work through lunch, since I'm only there for a short amount of time, so hopefully I will get time to experiment with the different programs they have on the computers. I've already learned publisher and gotten a lot better in photoshop, but I would love to learn indesign and just see what else is out there.

I also was able to sit in on part of a camp today! This was my first time with The Light Factory's camps, so my boss wanted me to observe for a bit just to get the hang of it. It's really neat! It was small, only four kids, and they were grades 3-5. Granted I will be working primarily with older kids, but it was still fun! They each had very unique personalities and a huge passion for the arts and photography. It is amazing seeing such passion in kids so young! They were learning photoshop today and they were SO excited about it! They even took notes! It was so cute! If I had just gotten out of school, I would not have been too happy about going to a class, but they were great! I'm kind of interested to see how the ones I will help with go!

Day 4

Today was relatively uneventful. I learned the ticketing program the Light Factory uses for their camps and classes. The tasks were very easy, just time consuming. The perfect task for an intern! I extended the deadline for all their classes (and let me say, they have a lot more than I expected) and then worked on spreadsheets of enrollment. It got me excited for the camps to begin because I can tell already I will learn SO much from them! I finished up early, and was able to get out early. I asked for more work, but they didn't have anything! I had to pay for parking today, because I missed the ticket lady...bum! But I have made good friends with both security guards now! We are tight! Its nice to have such a lovely welcome when I come in in the mornings! But thats about it for today. Nothing too exciting!

Day 3- Downs and Ups!

Today was only my second day actually going to the office. I parked in my spot and got to Spirit Square with plenty of time. I walk in and go up the stairs, like they showed me, and the door is locked! They had prepared me for that, so I go back downstairs for plan b, the elevator. I press the button and wait. Nothing. I press it over and over. Still nothing. Finally I go up to my good friend the security guard and ask him what is up with the elevator. He explains it is being serviced, but says he has a master key that will get me to where I need to go. I follow him and we see the elevator man leaving, so we proceed to take the elevator. I could've handled it from there, but the man insisted to walk me to the office. It was a nice gesture and we chatted, but luckily he let me be to walk into the office. I didn't want to seem incompetent and unable to find the office myself.

I get in and ask for the computer to finish the certificate. I work while they have a staff meeting, and create a document. After looking at it, my boss is not pleased. She tells me it is not my fault but she should've had me do it in another program. She sets me up at a computer and gives me a brief explanation of how to use publisher. I thought it was going to be this tough program but it was way easier than anything I had used! A thousand times easier than photoshop! I whipped up 6 different certificate layouts. By then, it was time for me to leave, but my boss was reviewing the layouts and seemed pretty impressed. He pointed some out in which he especially like and said I could leave.

After a bummer of a morning, I left feeling really good about myself and happy that I was finally able to prove to the other employees why they had hired me! Whew!