And so begins my first forays into adulthood and the realm of responsibility! Today, at The Magazine, I begin the training/orientation period of my internship. As a photo intern, I will be expected to send and receive artwork, handle model releases and invoices, do photo research, and learn the inner workings of a fashion (or in our case, style) magazine. I was nearly 30 minutes early.
I was awake at 4:30am, 6:00am, and at 7:15am I finally decided to stop pretending to sleep. I got ready in the usual way (breakfast, shower, dressed, make up), packed my purse, and I was off! Parking was surprisingly easy to find, and I boarded the LIRR with a big smile on my face. Which I then noticed was bothering every other miserable person on the 8:48am train to Manhattan. Upon arriving at Penn Station, the hustle and bustle knocked me back into "New York mode" faster than I had anticipated, but I was grateful for it. I missed this city, more than I can really say, but remembering I was in the city (and not rural Pennsylvania) was good for me on several levels.
Tourists thronged through the city streets with the attitude of cattle (not much smarter than cattle, either) , and I fought my way to The Building full of determination. I arrived at 9:30am. I didn't have access to the building until 10:00am. So, I changed my shoes, and waited. At 9:50am, I went inside (good to be a little early on the first day).
The layout of The Magazine's floor is a circular maze. It's very easy to take the wrong turn, and end up on the exact opposite side of the office than you had been originally intending. So, after getting stuck in the office's lobby, I called for backup. My boss, S, came to fetch me, and she introduced me to some of the people I'd be working for this semester. And, I met one of my fellow interns, B. This was my introduction to the Art Department.
The Art Department is a gigantic open circle of desks with a U shaped line of waist high cabinets in the middle. Some desks are outside the open cubicle (the Art Director, the Advertising Editor, the Photo Editor. Basically, all the people in charge are outside the open circle.), but most are up against the walls, with no cubicle walls between. It's one big collaborative open area, and the energy is fantastic. What held my interest most, however, were the matted pages on the cabinets in the middle of the room. The October Issue was almost finished, and the pages were sitting out like something out of a dream. This was my mecca, this is what I'd been working for, and seeing that pivotal stage of production just lying out on top of a cabinet like it was an every day occurrence (which it is) was mind boggling. B had already been for with The Magazine for about a week, and so she showed me around, we got the mail, and then we got to work.
Our main task of the day was to finish the sending everyone on the Contributor's List their issues and tears. Everyone who contributed to the magazine (writers, photographers, models, hair stylists, designers, everyone) received either a full issue (or more in some cases), or "tears" (the pages torn out of the magazine) of the stories they were directly involved with. B and I also received copies of the September Issue, which was pretty cool. We spent the morning happily Googling models and agencies all over the world, and shipping magazines out to increasingly strangely named people (my favorite was MieuMieu, a model from Arkansas).
And then I received my first personal project: Construct The Book. Now, if you've seen "The Devil Wears Prada" then you know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, allow me to explain. The Book is a working copy of everything that goes into the magazine. Ads, editorial pieces, articles, photo shoots, everything, for our Editor-in-Chief's approval. And I got to put it all together! I very nearly lost it when I saw the "Big Photo Story", and who was in it. (Can you guys tell I signed a confidentiality agreement? Le sigh.) Anyway, the organization of how a magazine gets put together is very important, and I felt I definitely took something away from this experience of creating the mock-up for the editors.
After finally finishing the book, B and I finished loading the last of the magazines into the mail cart, and then it was time to head home. My treck from the mid 40s to Penn wasn't long, and I was soon back home, ready to sleep, and ready to do it all over again.
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