When Does an Internship Become a Slave Ship?
Internships don’t usually come with position titles, so the ad on Craig’s List for an Intern – Gallery Photographer and PhotoShop Editor, caught my eye. The internship called for a student who owned and was an adept user of a DSLR camera with on-board flash. This pricey piece of equipment would have set any student back at least $600 to $3000 in the lower price range. Additionally, the job required good digital photo editing skills and the availability to work 8 to 12 hours a week for 8 weeks or more.
The intern’s job duties entailed photographing numerous antiques (with the intern’s OWN CAMERA), editing and retouching the photos, then uploading them to websites where the antiques were to be sold. Rather than assisting, the intern would essentially be doing the exact same work as a professional photographer, retoucher, editor and digital production team whose services could easily total many thousands of dollars for this kind of job. The intern, on the other hand, was to be paid the exultant sum of zip-zilch-nada. Actually it was more like MINUS zip-zilch-nada, since the employer made no mention of paying the intern’s expenses. Assuming the intern worked three days a week for 8 weeks, the transportation tab alone could total a minimum $120.00. Tack on the cost of camera batteries, memory cards and that intern was about to PAY up to $300 bucks for the privilege of saving that antique broker a huge hunk of money.
But hold on, you say, what about the professional experience the intern would receive? Along with the portfolio boost of published photos and online exposure to potential clients? Yes, the ad also pointed out these advantages — along with words that are magic to a beginning photographer: “Full Photo Credit.” Curious, I visited the employer’s website and there — Among zillions of small, crowded photos of antiques — not a single photo credit was visible. Of course the employer hadn’t specified a “visible” photo credit, so a photo credit could certainly have been buried deep somewhere inside the text.
As to the style and quality of the photos — they appeared to be strictly low-end, catalog shots. The lighting in all the photos was identical and every antique was silhouetted against an identical white background. So not only would a photographer’s skill and style not be further developed on this job, they could easily be set back some.
Nor did any other of the usual advantages of internships — like networking and learning from experts in one’s field of interest — appear to apply here. Because the intern was going to be working pretty much alone, taking the photos and editing them (on a slow, cheap version of PhotoShop, it turned out, known to crash a lot), there would be few, if any, people to network with. And with no other photographer on the scene, let alone one with expert ability and experience, the intern would have no mentor to help sharpen photo skills.
From where I sit, it looked like this employer was taking advantage of a tight, super-competitive job and intern market. What do you think?
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Well, I wouldn’t do it under the conditions you have described, but as a young and hungry writer I was eager to acquire a variety of experiences…and my internship phase lasted through most of my 20′s. Served me well in the long run, but didn’t make me rich.
Feb.14, 2011 | 8:23 pmHi Terri, I checked a few other places searching for photography interns and they all turned out to be experienced photographers who were in the market for assistants to help them in their photography business. In exchange, the professional photographers were willing to share their expertise and give their intern one on one help and guidance. None of that seemed present in the Craig’s ad I described.
It’s not easy starting out in a creative field and everybody has to weigh the pros and cons of early steps. You lucked out, Terri, in that your long internship phase was very fruitful.
Feb.14, 2011 | 9:26 pmHi Pat, I think I mentioned before that did an unpaid internship as recently as Fall 2006, for a semester, and the experience gained there helped me launch my consulting business. I know what you mean though, you need to draw the line someplace. If I didn’t think I’d benefit, I wouldn’t work for free.
Feb.15, 2011 | 6:44 pmI remember, Susan, that you also mentioned you got your first clients through that unpaid internship. So between that and learning a whole new field, you greatly benefited.
Whereas in the case of the Craig’s List intern I highlighted, I couldn’t see where the intern would learn anything except how to light low end catalog shots (simple info that could easily get be found online or in books). And the only clients to maybe show an interest would probably not be exactly the kind you dream about in school.
Feb.15, 2011 | 7:04 pmI’m wondering where exactly was the internship located? In L.A., there’s quite a rich history of exploiting students or other young hopefuls looking to break into an industry. It’s generally the film industry but it’s been known to bleed into others as well. It sucks that this @#$% has caught on in down economy. I think any job worth doing should be compensated fairly.
Mar.21, 2011 | 7:46 pmWelcome! This internship was in the NYC area, but I believe it could have been anywhere in this economy. Things have apparently become bad enough that older, experienced jobless workers are taking unpaid internships to fill in their jobless time gaps, keep their skills sharp or in the hope they’ll be later hired for a paying position.
Mar.21, 2011 | 8:25 pm