VII Mentor & Intern Program

Unpaid internships are usual in the industry for ages, it all depends of what you get out of them. I have made mine in a wire 10 years ago, and I know that I’m still profiting from it today. I think it’s a personal decision, and I get sad when I see people in lightstalkers attacking each other over such subject. That sort of attitude is what pushes editors and other people that could give us work out of this community. Blind attacks on anyone that doesn’t share an individual point of view. It’s obvious that for some photographers an internship (even unpaid) in VII or with a VII photographer would be great, and for others would be bullshit.
with this said, and knowing that I will be accused of making a blowjob to the VII guys (forget it Chris, you don’t have a chance), I think the reel loss will be to the lightstalker community. best to all, M
P.S. I don’t do unpaid internships in VIA-Visuals

Chris,

Thanks for posting this. Adam’s cover issues are the only one’s I’ve kept this year (OK, except for the 12/14 issue). I didn’t know the story behind his work, so it’s refreshing to hear. I’ll probably never be able to do a VII workshop or intern for any of you guys, but at the end of the day, I’m not holding you or the industry responsible for me not making the cover of Time or not winning a grant. I’m encouraged and motivated by the photographers who have and haven’t “made it”. I’m less interested in hearing people bitch and moan and more interested in seeing the work they produce. Again, thanks for posting this and I’d still like to try to get my copy of My America I got for Christmas last year for you to sign.

Cheers,

Roger

Adam’s covers rock….saw the 1st one, not the 2nd….ditto his work shown on lens…

in the end, the ONLY thing that matters (be it as a photographer or person) is how you conduct yourself and how you treat others…with respect and care…

fortunately (i am an optimist) the gross vitriolic attacks and language that showed up on jaime’s blog are NOT the reality, but an abberation, or rather, a moment of madness fostered by the ‘power’ of the anonymous web…….otherwise i’d have ditched my bodies/lens long ago….

tolstoy said, ‘why do so many complain about the world and try to change it but rarely change themselves’….

we must change ourselves long before we can lambast others….

thanks for sharing adam’s story…

cheers
bob

It’s important to remember that unpaid internships are perfectly acceptable under Federal Law so long as no financial gain is made off of your labor.

If financial gain is made off your labor and you are not being paid anything, then you are being exploited, no matter how the market is, according to the US Federal Government. Labor laws and the legal system both change under Democratic control of the US government, so what was normal under 8 years of Bush will not necessarily be normal under the Obama administration.

I once did an unpaid internship, and I learned a lot from it, but no financial gain was really made off my labor.

Under Federal regulations, an internship is defined differently than a job. Work in which the employer’s motive is purely for noncommercial educational or training purposes can legally constitute as an unpaid internship. Skilled labor that produces financial gain for the employer cannot legally be unpaid under US Federal law. Bush was lax on this but now we have a black president.

School work or school assignments are prime examples of educational work. The assignments require you to do work and to learn, but the teacher does not make any financial gain off of the fruits of your labor. In this manner educational work with its intrinsic value does not equate to skilled labor with its market value.

If you really want to be able to get a media job these days you’d be much smarter to intern somewhere that you will learn something about web design and video production skills. Skills centering around still print photography are becoming increasingly archaic and antiquated compared to more modern skills required for the mass medium. Newspapers have gone the way of cassette tapes.

If you’re going to take it up the ass financially for an unpaid internship, don’t waste your time on places that can’t provide you with competitive skills relevant to today’s market.

And Chris, I’m sure you treat your unpaid interns better than most. Clearly unpaid internships are not all created equal, and some are more beneficial than others, but I know way too many young people that have given it their all only to be burned or raped at the hands of their unpaid internslaveship masters. I won’t name any names here but I’m sure we’ve all heard stories.

Did Adam intern for Nachtwey or just VII?

p money: i assume you are having a bit of a laugh with your “black president” comment, and i really dont want to get into a thing here, but i dont understand what all the fuss is about.

if you dont think it is fair to not be paid, then dont do the internship. if you believe “payment” can come in a variety of forms, then do the internship.

reading this recurring thread theme is tiring…

I did my comments about the specific James Natchwey internship in this post
http://www.lightstalkers.org/posts/what-happened-to-james-nachtwey-internship-post
I give my congratulations to Mr Ferguson but in the center of the discussion i am against of non paid internship when the employer needs specific knowledge from the interns. You can found my opinion detailed in the post i mentioned before. With all my respect, saludos. And merry chrismas for all.