Stress With Capital S

I've restrained myself from talking about these things for too long. But enough is enough. There is a limit to my patience. If I were your colleague, I would have hit back at you. Unfortunately I am only an intern, and so I cannot confront you. I would have jeopardised my internship had I done so. Therefore, the only way to vent my frustration is to blog about it.

Initially, I didn't know what your colleagues meant when they said you were hard to work with. But now I see, and I know. Also, a previous intern said something about you being weird, and I think he hit the nail on the spot. Have no doubts about it. You ARE weird.

I feel very stressed out whenever you ask me to take pictures. You should know that all shots has their upsides and downsides. Wide shots capture more things, but smaller. Close ups make subjects appear big, but shows no inkling of whatever else is going on. But you don't seem to understand that. You want the best of both worlds. You want the shots to look natural. You want everything. But you see, as much as I would also love to take such good photos for you, it is not always possible, especially when everything is moving so quickly. All I can do is to take random shots. If I am lucky, I get good shots. If not, then too bad.

If you need good photos, then please hire a professional photographer to do the job for you. If you don't have the funds, then too bad. Quit whining about the photos.

Maybe I don't have a good eye for photography. But please be fair. I don't hold a Diploma in Photography. Neither have I attended any photography courses before. I am a Mass Communication student, for goodness sake. I am not trained in photography.

Ah, but then you said that you expected Mass Communication interns to be good in photography, and that your previous intern, a non-mass communication student managed to take some really great shots for you. If a non-mass communication student can take good shots, what excuse has a mass communication intern got not to take good shots?

Okay, fair enough. Maybe she's a good photographer and I'm not. But surely you musn't judge people solely by their ability to take good photos?

I'm sure there are things that she can deliver better than I can, and there are also things that I can deliver better than she can. Everyone has got their own talents - I hope you can appreciate that. I also hope that you can appreciate the fact that I've tried my very best to take photos for you on every occasion, whenever I was tasked to do so. I take pride in doing a good job, and I cannot be more pleased if I am able to take pictures that match your high standards. In this aspect, I don't think I have let myself down because I had always given my best shot when it came to phototaking. But like I said, it isn't easy because everything happens so quickly. One moment something happens, and the next moment something else takes place.

And I don't even want to go into your double-standards. The very faults you have been picking on some of the photos I'd taken - head slightly cut off, body of another person sticking out of nowhere, pictures that do not capture everything etc. have been part of pictures used in past posters, newsletter articles and so on. Some of those pictures were just as bad as those I had taken, if not worse. Yet you used them. If you could use them, then why not mine?

I also pointed out the fact that some of the photos you had given me to include in my designing of posters were just as bad, but you said you expected me to know how to distinguish the good photos from the bad ones, and not include the bad ones in posters I was designing for you. What bullshit. If you didn't want me to use those photos, why save them in the thumbdrive for me? You saved them in the thumbdrive because you thought they were good enough to be used. I caught you red-handed, and you'd nothing else to say but wanted to save your pride anyway, right?

By the way, if your previous intern was really good in phototaking, then why don't you hire her to take pictures for you whenever you need to? Or are you unable to due to the lack of funds?

But hey wait, I've got an idea. If you really don't have the funds, why don't you suck up to some photographers? I thought you were very adept at sucking up to journalists, columnists and contributors for free publicity in newspapers and magazines? Why don't you employ the sucking up tactics on professional photographers as well? You can get some really good photos that way, you know!

You also mentioned you were irritated whenever I informed you I was going out for lunch, or whenever I informed you that I was going downstairs to do something. Like why do I always tell you these things?! But you see, the reason I inform you is purely out of courtesy. So that you know of my whereabouts. So you would know where to go if you needed to find me. But since you do not appreciate my good intentions, I guess I can save my breath and live without them.

And as for you, I guess you can just go to hell.