From Kiyah
There are SO many great things I could say about Sabrina and the time I had with her as my intern! I knew just from her application and interview that she was the right fit and she proved that throughout our time together by being extremely helpful, personable, fun-loving, and creative. So creative that it’ll be very hard to find someone else to document wedding days on my Instagram stories as well as she did!! Overall, I’m so thankful to have had her on my team for a few months this spring! Here is her own recap of our time together.
From Sabrina
People are always saying that doors will open for you, and I think my spring internship with Kiyah was by far the best example of a door swinging right open, giving me the most amazing opportunity. And boy am I glad I took opportunity – and grateful to Kiyah for taking a chance on me!
Back in early February, we were connected through a mutual friend, Michelle Osterhoudt (Michelle Scott Photography), who reached out to me because she thought I would be a great fit for Kiyah’s internship position. I applied that same day and interviewed with Kiyah a couple of days later. Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled when I heard back that I had gotten the position! However, being a student at Georgia Tech, I was initially a little hesitant about taking on an internship while taking a full load of classes. But Kiyah, a Tech grad herself, was so flexible and understanding about scheduling, which I so appreciated as it helped me balance everything I had going on throughout the spring semester.
Although I have a strong background and interest in photography myself, I knew close to nothing about the back-end, business side of things. This experience was eye-opening to me, and showed me how photographers truly work around the clock.
My office days were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, where I either met Kiyah at Switchyards Downtown Club or at her house. Although those days were long because my office time was sandwiched in between classes, I always looked forward to those times. The time I spent with Kiyah felt like a welcome break from school rather than “work.” I helped with tasks including writing cards, mailing packages, contacting vendors, culling and editing photos, organizing wedding galleries online, creating wedding timelines, prepping gear, and more!
I also had the privilege of accompanying Kiyah to five weddings over the past few months: three in Georgia, one in Florida, and one in Virginia. These days were such a treat for me – to be invited into these wonderful couples’ worlds on one of the most important days in their lives. I felt lucky to be able to assist and simultaneously learn alongside an incredible photographer.
Kiyah is not just any photographer though. She goes above and beyond in caring for her clients and ensuring they have the best experience possible. This can be seen through so many little ways, like the gifts we sent them, the Polaroids we captured on the wedding day and mailed to the couples, the slideshow we made and played during the reception, and the wedding day emergency kit we put together and brought to every wedding. In addition, Kiyah is the most organized and level-headed person I know; whenever an unexpected situation arose she never panicked and instead handled it with utmost grace.
I graduate in December 2020, and I know the next 1.5 years will be pretty pivotal for me because for the first time in my life I won’t be able to look a year ahead and know what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be living and that’s kind of scary. I’ve learned a lot about myself through the past three years of college but I’m for sure still figuring out how I should align my many scattered interests and skills with my goals. This internship gave me so much hope and gratitude for the near future because Kiyah was a real-life inspiration of someone pursuing her dreams and passions and doing a heck of an amazing job at it! Don’t get me wrong — I also learned how much work goes into owning your own business but in the end it is easy to see that she loves her job and that’s what makes it so worth it.
