The week of January 20 marked our precursor to the official start of the internship. While our internship placements were nearly finalized, many of the logistical details were still being worked out. Formal training was scheduled for Sunday, but as a preview of the kind of work we’d be doing, we were invited to join the MLK March to shadow Rodrigo, our lead photographer and videographer.

This opportunity gave us a firsthand look at the expectations for both professional conduct and content collection—particularly for producing “recap”-style videos. I got to observe how Rodrigo approached capturing key moments and how he interacted with subjects while staying in the background.

One highlight for me was getting the chance to use a gimbal for the first time. I hadn’t expected it to be so heavy, but it was a great introduction to the tools we’d be working with throughout the internship. Overall, the experience gave me valuable insight into the behind-the-scenes process and helped set the tone for what was to come.