Black Hills State University student Joe Geyer landed a prestigious photography internship at Hearst Publishing in New York City. Geyer will learn to shoot fashion from some of the best photographers in the business.
Joe Geyer enrolled at BHSU with the goal of learning all he could about photography – fashion photography in particular. This year Geyer is a senior and is taking the photography skills he’s learned here in South Dakota to the Big Apple.
Geyer competed with hundreds of candidates from universities across the country for the photo assistant internship with the Hearst Publishing company.
He says his Midwestern hard work ethic helped him get the job.
“I will be interning with them doing things like assisting their photographers during photo shoots, archiving previous film into the computer systems, and I will be setting up lights, taking down lights, and working with them as they’re shooting so that I can get first-hand experience with working professionals in the fashion industry,” says Geyer.
Geyer found out he got the internship just two weeks ago and is already in New York to begin working this week.
“I haven’t even had time to process that I got the interview – I haven’t even started to freak out about it yet. The address is 57th Street and 8th Street, it’s the Hearst Building and it’s two blocks from Central Park and two blocks from Carnegie Hall so it’s right smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan which is what I’m really excited about because I want to experience all of New York,” says Geyer.
BHSU Photo professor Steve Babbitt says internships are an integral part of the learning process because they give students hands-on experience.
He says Geyer is wildly creative, technically skilled, hard-working, and determined.
“Up until just a couple of days ago he didn’t even have a place to live. He had no idea. But he knew that this was a life-changing opportunity and it just didn’t seem as though anything was going to stand in his way. And so that’s a big deal. And it’s a great message to send other students, especially from South Dakota, that you can go anywhere, do anything, if you just decide to do it. Not be afraid, not be worried, and Joe will find a way to do that,” says Babbitt.
Geyer’s internship in New York City lasts until mid-December. He says he will be Skyping in to other BHSU photo classes this semester to share his experiences.
