MELISSA! (or, Missy, or Mel, or whatever… ha)

In 2011, Gregg and I had the idea to bring on an intern, mainly so we didn’t have to carry our stuff anymore, but also because we are passionate about empowering the next generation of photographers. We know that we didn’t “do it” right. We came out guns blazing four years ago and said “HEY! WE’RE PHOTOGRAPHERS, HIRE US!” and our images showed our amateurism. So nearly four years later we feel like we have a unique story to tell, of what not to do, what pitfalls to avoid, and at least a small idea of what it takes to be relatively successful in this business.

So in 2011 we put out there that we wanted to hire an intern… we had seven applicants, set up three interviews, and hired one, and to be honest we knew who we were hiring from her initial email… Aubrey, who was absolutely fantastic.

This year, in 2012, we had nearly 30 applicants, set up seven interviews, and the race was wide open. We split the interviews up over two days, and after the last interview ended we were banging our head against the wall. A serious case could have been made for all seven people, but ultimately we went with a gut feeling and one we are incredibly pleased with. Missy impressed us from the start with her application, which included such answers as “I’m a DC gal,” “part alien, part chick” in response to asking if she was a dude or chick, “Halo 2″ in response to her favorite video game, and… I’m not saying this is why she was hired, but it certainly didn’t hurt that she was the ONLY person to respond Tom Welling to the best actor to have played Superman =).

Missy is ALSO from Adrian, like Aubrey, so we’re pretty sure something good is in the water up there. She’s already got a pretty good understanding of photography and art (she’s an art major in college), is our kind of people, and has been shooting on her own for a couple years.

Gregg and I are extremely excited she is on our team for 2012. We’re looking forward to some serious hilarity and face-melting images. We want to say thank you one last time to EVERYONE who applied for this internship, you all made it very, very difficult!

So please, if you would, give Missy a warm LGP welcome. You’ll be seeing plenty of her around here for the next year =)