Q: Here is my background: I have an asssociate's in photography and a B.F.A. in photojournalism. Graduated in 2004 and had two six-month internships at dailies with circ's of about 40 thousand. I have been looking for a job since August and with luck I have had lots of interest in my work and have been on interviews but none have given me the job yet. I now have two new leads one being a job with a twice weekly paper as the sole photographer and another is a summer internship with a larger 100,000-circ daily paper. I feel as though I would learn a lot and benefit more from the internship as I feel there are more things I need to work out in my portfolio but I could do all of that on my own within the weekly paper also.
My goal is documentary photography/magazine freelance/and or publishing my own publication/but would like to work within the newspaper business first by getting contacts and producing good work. I am interested in a lucrative career and don't want to pigeon hole myself this early on. So my question is: knowing my ultimate goal with photojournalism, the direction the newspaper business is going in, and the two opportunities that may happen for me -which one would be best, and what would be the next step up?
Lost with Opportunities
A: The internship should provide you with greater learning opportunities.
You should worry about being a one-person photo staff at a twice-weekly. At this stage in your career, and knowing the kind of career you aspire to, you need to input and guidance that a large newspaper's staff would give you.
This internship should be your last. The next step should be a full-time, permanent job at a magazine or, much more likely, a daily newspaper with a good director of photography and a talented staff.
