| Bonnie Biess, Senior, University of Maryland Baltimore College, Baltimore, MD, Fall 2006 | ||
| "When I first came to work with John, I, like many of my colleagues, were completely in fear of graduating and surviving in the real world. This fear mostly came from being frustrated with the fact that, like many others, my University does not provide students with a course on “Business and Photography.” Now, I have done a complete 180 and am more confident about graduating and my future in this business than ever before. We can learn F-stops, shutter speeds, composition, color theory, etc. etc. all we want, but unless you are some rich kid floatin’ on daddy’s dime, the reality of it is this: YOU WILL HAVE BILLS TO PAY. John isn’t promoting this profession as a get rich quick scheme. He simply wants people to take better pictures and not undervalue themselves. We all want to spend our lives doing what we love, right? If you love photography, John will provide you with the knowledge you need in order to survive happily off of doing what you love. If you want to pursue photography professionally and successfully there is no better person to guide you on how to do so, plain and simple. I mean, come on, he did write THE book on it!" |
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| Most enjoyed | Least enjoyed: | |
| "Going on shoots with John to watch him do what he does best and more importantly, getting to pick his brain in the jeep between shoots. One of the most important things to know about John is to never be intimidated by him. You can ask John anything about everything and he will always give you an honest and incredibly detailed answer. After all, you are here to “know what you don’t know.” Oh, and, I could also consider meeting President Bush and former President Clinton as being pretty awesome, too! " | "Hauling equipment with my wimpy skimpy jello arms. I know I had to and it is a major part of being a photographer, but it definitely wasn’t the best part of my experience!" | |
| What I learned: "The list is endless and even after my internship I am STILL learning from John. But to narrow it down to an overall, I learned how to run a freelance photography business successfully. More specifically, I learned how to properly interact with clients, what to say and what not to say, how to know what I am worth, how to write estimates, the art of multi-tasking with juggling post-production, archiving, and shipping in order to beat that end-of-day deadline, how to successfully complete a shoot with the most difficult of subjects in the smallest windows of time, how to drive like James Bond 007, and the list goes on and on. My major and very simple recommendation is this and I could not be more serious: before you start or even approach John and his team for an internship, read his book Best Business Practices for Photographers. By doing this, you will be more than prepared with questions for John and will have already formed a solid foundation for your internship to build on. You will be ahead of the game. In order to get the absolute most out of your time with John, constantly ask him as many questions as you possibly can. Make a list of questions as you go through the book. Also, and this is something you should do with your life in general, make a list of things you don’t know and therefore, need to learn. This will by far help you get the most out of your experience at John Harrington Photography and in turn lead you down the path to a successful career." |
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 Bonnie with President Bush. | ||
 Bonnie in front of the White House. | ||
Bonnie with President Bill Clinton. | ||
Bonnie preparing lighting equipment on assignment. | ||
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