Internship Spotlight - Tamara Gardner

	From:	Newhall, CA
	Major:	Communications
	Company:	NBC/Universal
	Location:	Burbank, CA

Tami Gardner never dreamt of meeting Sylvester Stallone, Sugar Ray, Jay Leno, and members of the Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning, but through her internship with NBC-Universal, she did. "It was an absolute blast!" she exclaimed.

Early on in her internship, Tami's supervisor Paul Drinkwater gave her a tour of all the photo studios and equipment, finally arriving in the darkroom. "He started showing me everything and noticed that I didn't get as excited over the old equipment as he though I would. At one point he was talking about the printing process, and I told him that I hadn't ever used a darkroom. From then on he introduced me as the 'new-age photography intern who'd only done digital photography and never been in a darkroom before,'" Tami said.

A typical work day for Tami often started at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m. She usually covered the set of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, editing photos for publicity. "We basically wanted to get our photos out to the media before photographers from other news agencies could, because we would of course make Jay look great. They, on the other hand, used whatever shots they got," she said.

Deadlines for these photos were extremely tight. "I would be given a disk with about 200 photos on it, run upstairs to get on the computer, edit them using Kodak software, and then Photoshop the good ones all in about 20 minutes," Tami said. She learned very quickly about Photoshop, digital photography, and how to select the best photos for NBC.

Tami recalls when singer Sugar Ray performed on the show, despite being told that photographers, especially interns, weren't supposed to ask celebrities for their autographs, she couldn't resist.

"I asked my boss, 'Chris. Can I go get Sugar's autograph?' He said, 'Yeah, go for it.' I had to run to catch up with him and when I did, I only had a receipt on me for him to sign. It was really funny. He teased me for using a crumpled-up receipt. 'A receipt?' he asked. 'There are free posters and stuff back there you know,' he said. I just laughed."

Tami said that most of the Hollywood stars she saw were a lot smaller in person than they appear on-screen. One of the few exceptions was Vin Diesel. "I remember standing in a small hallway crowded with people, and when Vin Diesel tried to squeeze through, everyone got pressed up against the wall as he passed them. He was the real thing," she said.

Every story Tami told brought a big smile to her face. The celebrities she met were usually very friendly to her. Among the other 100-some-odd celebrities she saw or met were Tom Hanks, David Schwimmer, Tobey Maguire, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Hilary Duff, Alanis Morissette, and Tom Cruise.

On her last day of the internship, Tami was asked if she could stay on with her team. Regretfully, she had to decline, but was welcomed back and hopes that she gets a job from it. Trying to sum up her experience, all Tami could say was, "I loved it. It was so much fun. It was a ball. I don't think I've ever had so much fun learning!"