Best of the Triangle

Indy Best Of The Triangle | 2009 - Images by Independent Weekly

This summer, I decided to stay in Chapel Hill because I earned the opportunity to be the Independent Weekly's photo intern. My friend Jesus did me a great favor by allowing me to stay in her apartment for free since she would not be using it anyways and she knew I would not be able to afford a place on my own while doing an unpaid internship. I consider myself very blessed for having both opportunities.

My first and only assignment so far was enormous. Each year Indy has a Best of the Triangle competition in which readers can vote on their favorite establishments throughout Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. The very first day of working for them, I was given 29 of the winners to document in three weeks. While, compared to a daily newspaper, that isn't much, but I had to wait until I was paid for my work for being the Multimedia Editor for the DTH so I could afford all the traveling.

In the process, I met some great and irritating people. At one place I was turned around at the door because they did not have the owner's permission. When I finally reached the owner, he laughed at how ridiculous they behaved. Other places gave me free food and drinks and treated me very well. Some bars had ridiculously beautiful staff members (I think it's done on purpose) which made me drool a bit, but, luckily, I could keep my cool to perform my job.

My editors both praised me all my work, along with the higher ups. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, as well. My fave shoot out of all them had to be at Blue Flame, the tattoo parlor in Raleigh. One, I had never seen a tattoo placed on anyone before, and the process fascinated me. I found myself watching the art in progress as much I was documenting it. Two, the fact he chose a Blink 182 symbol after all these years of the band not having a hit made me a smile. Even Derek, one of my bosses, asked, "Now?!?" after I told him the design.

Since this finished, I've only had one assignment, which isn't a bad thing. I'm saving money by not having to drive only all over the place, but, at the same time, I could be working a paying job to help feed myself better. A diet of green beans, Cup of Noodles and Dr. Pepper does not provide much energy whatsoever (I'm working on it!). I will see what happens. The down time might become too much, needing me to fill it with a part time job, which will be so fun to find in this economy.

Oh, the other assignment was of course the Best of the Triangle Party, a celebration to honor the winners and give away samples of their free food to the people that voted for them. They will go on the website, and I will post the link on here.