Friday, December 16, 2016

November 22nd - December 1st

Over Thanksgiving break we did not need to go into the office but Bri gave Emily and I some work to do. She gave us both the list of non-profits we work with and asked us to go through them (Emily had A-K and I had L-Z) and update their contact information. It is a pretty long list, we're still working on it actually but Bri told us to take our time, there isn't a true deadline for this assignment.

The first week of December we then scheduled the next photo shoot for the March issue featuring home decor. Emily and I worked on calling the local shops we wanted to feature in the shoot and set up pick up dates and drop off times. That photo shoot is scheduled for December 16th and I am super excited for it, home design/decor is one of my favorite things to play with in my free time, I already have a couple ideas for the shoot!

While I am still staying at the magazine through the winter and spring semester, my "final" day there for the fall semester was December 1st. I will continue blogging about everything I do for the magazine over the next couple of months.

Sadly, Bri Burkhart, my supervisor at the magazine is leaving at the end of December to pursue another career so Emily and I got her a few little gifts and a thank you card to thank her for everything she has done for us.

I'm excited to see who takes her place at the magazine and what I can learn from them!

November 15th & 17th

On Tuesday, November 15th, I had to go to a new restaurant in Hershey called Hershey Biergarten to take some photos for the scouting blurb I was writing on them. Scouting blurbs are small paragraphs describing the subject we are featuring. There is a scouting section of the magazine and in each issue we feature a couple local shops, restaurants, people etc. I made sure to grab a bunch of different shots of Hershey Biergarten such as photos of the whole restaurant and smaller details. The restaurant features 12 different local brews on tap and offered take out options as well with multiple fridges that hold packs of brand named and local beers. The owner even gave me a tour of the place which is also connected to an Escape Room (owned by the same person).





Along with the scouting blurb for Hershey Biergarten, I was also working on one for Ananda Integration, a modern day spa in Lancaster city. They had some of their own photos so they just sent those to me instead of having me come out to take more photos.

Writing the scouting blurbs was definitely something new for me, I'm not a big writer so that made me very nervous knowing what I wrote was then going to be in the magazine but I am excited to see what people say and am open to writing more in the future!


On Thursday I had another shoot for one of Emily's scouting blurbs. She was writing about Valencia Ballroom in York and their renovation/reopening. Valencia was still being worked on when I went to take the photos but that fit with their blurb so I thought it was totally appropriate. I was even given a tour of the whole space which was absolutely breathtaking in my opinion, even unfinished. There were so many of the original features still intact, a ton of 1920s art deco touches.



Later that day Emily and I went to the Young Professionals event at the Agricultural Event in York and set up Style Scene to take some photos for the magazine. The cocktail hour to this even was outside and it was so cold but incredibly beautiful. We did not get a ton of photos mainly because everyone wanted to go indoors (I didn't blame them). After we took the Style Scene photos, Emily and I walked around the museum, grabbed a little something to eat and headed home to warm ourselves back up.







November 10th: Photo shoots Galore

On Thursday, November 10th, I had three different photo shoots to go to. The first one I shot myself and that was for a new, updated advertisement for Habitat for Humanity. I met the coordinator and two Habitat for Humanity staff at a local home right outside of the city. It was the perfect day to shoot, nice and sunny, the only challenge was making sure we did not get any bare trees in the background. I tried a couple of different angles to give them plenty of options to choose from for their new ad.






We were going for a sort of in-action shot for the advertisement. We did not want anything too posed but wanted to make sure the workers looked like they were having a good time gathering all the donations.


The next two shoots I had that day were for the men's jeans feature and cover of the February issue of the magazine. I met Keely, Bri and Emily at Premise Studio where we work with Don Witmer. They had already started on the jeans feature by the time I got there but I was able to jump right in and help out. I worked on setting the jeans up in their different groups for the photos. I even made a suggestion for the cover page of the feature that Keely and Don really liked which made me feel so good!



Next was the shoot for the February cover, this was a fun one. The cover for the February shoot features three different flavors of wings which Keely picked up from a local restaurant. We tried a couple of different layouts for the wings which also included a few cups of sauces and celery sticks. This shoot was so messy but a lot of fun, we even got to eat the wings after we were done!


Once we finished up with the photo shoots, I helped drop off the jeans we borrowed from local shops then headed home to work on the Habitat for Humanity photos. Busy day but an extremely successful one!




Friday, November 18, 2016

November 1st-5th

Sadly, Tuesday November 1st I was unable to go to the office due to a bad case of Pink eye (gross) but I worked on scheduling Pinterest posts and checking emails, staying up to date on upcoming picks ups/drop offs and photoshoots, making sure to pencil everything into my planner.

Thursday, November 3rd was our big event of the season, Celebrate Women in Style. It was held at the Cork Factory Hotel in Lancaster. I went right over to the Cork Factory Hotel after class and helped Bri put together 200 Swag bags for the guests. After that I helped set up the registration table, put together the Doughnut wall and finally it was time to get changed and start the event!

(all of the photos below are unedited)








The first hour of Celebrate Women in Style was a cocktail hour; guests could grab a drink at the bar, get themselves some food, do some shopping at the different stands set up by local boutiques we were featuring, and of course get their photos taken in from of the style scene background! Around 7:00 we sent everyone in the the ballroom where they enjoyed a fashion show featuring more local boutiques. I helped Bri and Jillian organize all the models and keep the flow of the show going. I also took some roaming photos during this time and afterwards. Once the fashion show was over, there was more time to do a bit of shopping at each stand but most people headed out. I stayed to help clean up and then the whole staff got together for a drink and celebrated our super successful event!

Friday, November 4th, was the CASA Gala at Bent Creak County Club. Emily, Sue, and I were there for Style Scene. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) is an association that helps neglected or abused children by giving them an advocate who is always there to help them out. Everyone who helps out is a volunteer and they are willing to commute, interview, and help out their child is any way they can. It was an honor getting to spend time with these people. Emily and I were only there for the first hour taking Style Scene photos but we got to meet a lot of amazing people.






Finally, Saturday, November 5th was the American Cancer Society gala. There was an auction set up as a fundraiser and Emily and I were there to do Style Scene. In case I haven't gone over this before, Style Scene is actually a section in our magazine. We have a Susquehanna Style backdrop we bring to different events and have all of the guest take their photos in front of that. We then feature about 15 of these pictures in the magazine and all of them are uploaded onto our website were everyone has access to them and are actually able to download them as well!






Thursday, November 3, 2016

October 25th, 27th, and 29th: Inside the office and....Masquerade Ball!

On Tuesday, I was in the office working on scheduling times for the blogs from the October issue to be published to Pintrest. As before I used Viraltag for this. After I finished that I showed Bri my final design ideas for the logos I mentioned earlier and she really liked them. Bri is going to show them to Rick and see which ones he likes and if he thinks they should be tweaked at all. That is all I had to do on Tuesday so it was another easy day at the office.

Thursday while in the office I worked on scheduling Pinterest times for articles in the November issue and preparing SWAG bags for the  Celebrate Women in Style event, Thursday, November 3rd. I also got assigned two scouting blurbs for the February issue so I will get started on those asap.

Saturday, October 29th and the night of the Masquerade Ball was finally here!! The ball was being hosted at Martin's Library in York, PA and it was absolutely gorgeous. Emily and I were there for Style Scene. At the beginning there were not a lot of people so it was easy to keep the flow going from the check-in table to Style Scene and into the room where the main event was being held but after about a half an hour hoards of people started showing up. Technically Emily and I only needed to get about 20 photos or spend an hour there, which ever came first, but we were doing Style Scene for a little over an hour and a half and I took over 70 photos. After awhile we had to start telling people we were no longer taking photos for the magazine but I offered to take photos with peoples' cell phones. Emily stood by the entrance and told guests what we were doing while they came in and I stayed by the backdrop and took photos with peoples' phones.

It was such a fun night seeing everyone's masks and outfits, some people even wore costumes. By far my favorite event!







Wednesday, October 26, 2016

October 21st & 22nd Events

One positive outcome of Millersville University going on strike was that I was able to attend the Fashion and Luncheon event at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey the morning of Friday, October 21st. I attended the event with Bri and Emily. We set up the Susquehanna Style backdrop and took photos of all the guests that were there. The photos we take at these events are featured in our magazine and on our website. Not all of them are printed but they are all uploaded to the magazines website. We were set up to take photos during the cocktail hour before the actual lunch and fashion show. Sadly, us Style girls were not given a table so if we wanted to stay for the show, we would have had to stand. While that was a bit of a bummer, we were given a packed lunch which was very kind of them.

Even if we were given a table to sit at during the show, I would not have been able to stay long, I was scheduled to work that evening but I was lucky to be able to attend the event so I am thankful for that!

Saturday evening I was able to attend another event for the magazine! Bri and I set up our Susquehanna Style backdrop at the YWCA of Carlisle: BBQ, Boots, & Brew. This event featured local breweries and had a banquet line set up along with desserts and kettle corn. At first Bri and I were told to set up outside but it was way too windy (and cold) for that to happen. Luckily, there was a warehouse were all the brewers were that we had room to set up in.

Not too many people attended the event but we were still able to get a good amount of photos!

October 20th: At the Office

Today in the office we had a our monthly staff meeting to go over items such as the budget and future issues of the magazine, different features and photoshoots we need to schedule. I was able to attend the meeting from start to finish which was nice. Afterwards we had one of our photographers come over and take a photograph of everyone for our holiday postcard that we send out to all of our sponsors and the different companies we work with. We took a nice traditional styled photo and then we had some fun. the editor in chief, Keely, brought some pumpkins and a golden wishbone to use as possible props so we all lined up with Rick and Keely in the center to "break" the wishbone with three or four of the other staff members on each side "helping" them. After that we brainstormed some copy ideas for the postcard. It was a pretty easy day and I had a lot of fun hanging out with the whole staff.