My Time While In The City Of Boston

I moved to Boston, MA. the day after I finished my last final exam of college to then go on and start an internship with a photography company called Gameface Media (GF). I was itching to get out of school and move onto something new. This wasn't because I developed a displeasure for the college I was attending or anything. I guess I have a hard time staying in one place for too long is all. There are always new experiences waiting for me and they aren't going to come to me, I need to get out there do it. Even if I don't always know what it is that I'm actually doing. I hope that while you read this you see how many doors can open for you when you take a chance and venture out.

My first few weeks went by rather slow and I hadn't quite figured out what to do with myself yet. I like to compare these first couple weeks to how a new relationship would start off. You don't know them, they don't know you, and at the end of the day your just hoping you'll find some common ground. So being an athlete, I chose to start exploring this uncommon ground by running and biking. As a quick side note, the only way you will ever be able to fully discover Boston is if you run or bike aimlessly around the city. There are so many interesting things to see that you just wouldn't find on the beaten path. Saturday mornings were a great time for me to get on my bike and literally go in any direction that the wind blew me in. As my relationship with Boston grew so did my work load.

Let me be more clear about my position with GF and the goals that I aspired to accomplish with their guidance. My goals were to learn the in's and out's of GF's business, advertising, media, and photography. During the week days I work in the office (GF Headquarters) at 109 Kingston St, Boston, MA. My advisor was the Director of Photography, so as you could imagine, he doesn't touch on the sales/business side of the company as much. It didn't take too long before I started expressing my interests in the sales/business department. I find myself fortunate that I got the best of both worlds with GF. During the week day I was learning about sales and business and on the weekends when I was assigned to photograph an event. I was given great guidelines and constructive criticism as my work in the photography department continued. My photography strengths and weaknesses were pointed out to me early on. I made challenges for myself throughout the summer so I could try working on my weaknesses and continue to get better at my strong points. This was very helpful to my own progress. I made out with some great work from doing so.

Now, I know at this point in reading this blog those who know me well are impatiently asking themselves, "But Matt! What about the Boston Red Sox!" Well, the truth is that I needed a second job because (note to self) Boston isn't a cheep place to live. So what better place to work than the great Fenway Park. I fond a photography job at Fenway Park that I unfortunately didn't realize till latter on wasn't exactly the "photography" that I was imagining or hoping for. The job task was simple. Walk around the park and ask random fans if they would like their picture taken. If they say no, thats fine just ask the next group of people in the row of seats next to them. If they wanted their picture taken then you would take it and latter on in the game you would return to their seats in hopes of selling them their printed picture. Im going to be completely honest with you guys here. I hated this job. It didn't make me feel good to be a photographer but, it was easy money and I got to see my favorite sports team play everyday. What I found by doing this job however, is who you can get to know. I made connections that I would never of imagined making. I spotted out sports reporters, sports photographers and videographers. I worked a little bit of magic and what do you know, I got the chance to shadow and work along side some of these people. NESN and the Red Sox became my second internship for the summer powered by my own creative assignments and abilities.

The summer carried on and I found enjoyment in all that I could. I learned a lot that will surely show in my future work and I'm also happy to note that my work with GF is not finished. I will get more opportunities to work for them in the future. Most importantly I want to thank my friends and family for their support and company.