football re-framed: A Day in the Life of A WSU Football Creative Photo InternBy Emma Decasa
Photographer's Statement
For this project, I wanted to reveal what goes on behind the scenes of a photo intern for WSU Football. This role and part of my life is an opportunity I am grateful for because it gives me hands-on experience and the chance to develop my photography skills in the field. However, I also know that this is a rare experience. This is the unknown side of football branding development. With this essay, I want to reveal insights into the work that goes on in a day as a photo intern.
In creating this photo essay, I had to step back from my role as a creative photo intern. My subject and fellow intern Brandon Willman has a different process than me, so it was a mental adjustment to look at how a typical busy photography day looks for another intern. I was greatly interested in finding angles representing the different elements comprising a photo intern’s day. While not every day looks the same, there are many moving parts that one intern contributes to for the social media and visual content that WSU Football requires, and most students and people outside of the football staff do not get to see that.
This process took time to follow Willman’s unique steps for photo work and understand how he organizes his day to best get his deliverables in on time while still managing his academic and personal life. Even further, it required careful consideration in the post-production process to hone in on which photos highlighted both the experiential work that a creative intern conducts and the learning that one gains as a true intern. To capture it all, I utilized my Canon EOS R6 Mark II with various lenses to follow Willman's day. I tried to integrate different compositional techniques—including the rule of thirds and unique shadows. Overall, this process allowed me to wholly understand the level of work a photography intern must balance and the opportunity that this experience is.
A Day in the Life of A WSU Football Creative Photo Intern: April 9, 2024
WSU Football Creative Photo Intern Brandon Willman’s busiest photo day begins at 7:30 a.m. in the Cougar Football Complex for a weekly creative team meeting. Along with social media, videography, graphic design, and other photo interns, all creative staff is present to brainstorm content and branding for every part of the year-long football season. Despite the early wake-up, Willman is ready to offer ideas and a witty quip to perk up the room.
After the creative meeting concludes, the photo, video, and social interns immediately head upstairs to the creative office to get ready to document the day’s practice. Once there, Willman puts his 24-70 mm f/2.8 lens on his Canon EOS R7 mirrorless camera for the start of practice.
As all the interns prepare for practice, the Rogers Practice Field awaits in the early morning for the arrival of football players, coaching staff, and support staff.
Willman poses in the window of the creative office that overlooks the practice field.
Around 8:10 a.m., Willman and the other interns head down to the field to begin their creative work. As soon as the creative directors instruct the interns on the day’s content goals, Willman is off to work. He often kneels to photograph different drills to get unique angles to highlight players’ size and skill.
As Willman photographs different drills, he often checks his camera’s playback to see how his photos turn out. Photographing with manual settings is a professional practice so Willman carefully checks that his white balance, ISO, and shutter speed are set appropriately for the different natural lighting on the field and the action.
Willman has a natural eye for photography and looks for emotional moments in sports to capture their humane elements. He tries to follow the football, but with that comes the need to follow key players, including the player seen cheering here.
Due to his class schedule, Willman can only photograph practice until 8:45 a.m. when he needs to head to his first class. However, he returns to the office around noon to begin the process of sorting and editing. For every practice, the photo interns must deliver their top photos of the day to the director of recruiting design who creates a carousel to post on WSU Football’s social media. This is timely, so Willman has learned to work quickly to edit his favorite photos from the morning.
At 1:30 p.m., Willman has uploaded his top photos from the day and must head to the meeting room nearby for a weekly Photo Workshop. Every week, the photo interns meet with the director of recruiting design and lead photographer to get feedback on their work, learn new skills, and brainstorm photo-based content ideas for the upcoming season.
Until 2:30 p.m., Willman finishes editing his photos, uploading them to the program’s content hub, and tagging the players for personal use. With his photo intern duties complete for a busy Tuesday, Willman says goodbye to his fellow interns and heads out of the creative office.
BRANDON'S WORK
As Willman looks back at his work from this practice, these are a few of his favorite photos that he took.