Day 1 (Wednesday):

Today marks the start of my internship at Baker Street Advertising! First, some background: I had been looking for a summer internship/job in the advertising or video industry, and over winter break I dropped off my résumé, a cover letter, and any other necessary information at a few different firms. I heard back from Baker Street while I was in Philadelphia (more on that later), and couldn’t wait to get started. After doing some research I realized that although I didn’t know it, I had actually seen plenty of Baker Street Advertising’s work around San Francisco. From Honda ads to Giants posters, it was pretty neat to know that I would soon be able to see what went into the creation process of these products. I was working for the Philadelphia Flyers as an Operations Intern at the time, and although I was looking forward to coming back to the Bay Area and its weather (who knew it could snow in April), knowing I would gain another valuable, interesting experience made me all the more excited.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that I have immediately been put to work, which is great. In my mind, the busier the better, and after meeting almost everyone I was given my first project. I headed to the Giants stadium right off the bat (ha!), to take photos of Baker Street’s banners that have been erected for the 2013 season.  The banners are lined up along the trolley lines, and when positioned correctly, one can take a photo that includes as many as six or seven banners in the frame. It was a chance to enjoy some California sunshine for the first time in a few months, as well as get some strange looks from trolley operators as I stood in between the tracks.

Day 2:

Second day at the office, and the great weather continues! I’ve been trying to figure out the dress code for my time here at Baker Street, and the sunshine will make it pretty difficult to avoid t-shirts. In the morning, B2 (Brian Bacino) told me about an upcoming ad with a couple of Giants players, and asked me to brainstorm some ideas. However, before I could get my creative juices flowing, I met with Jeff Teator, the Design Studio Manager, to pick his brain about what he does here at Baker Street. Jeff started off by mentioning that Baker Street is a lot smaller than most advertising firms, meaning multiple jobs can and have to be covered by one person. As Design Studio Manager, Jeff makes sure files are ready to go before departing the office, as well as designs and produces a lot of raw material that comes through him. As a bit of a self-confessed control freak, Jeff loves making sure everything is fit for the next step in the process, and takes pride in his ability to touch up and finish Baker Street’s work before sending it on.

Later in the day, Harrison and I continued our shoot of the Giants banners outside the stadium. Today the focus was on video footage, rather than photos, which I finished yesterday. We drove up and down the embarcadero, trying to find the perfect “drive-by” shot that would capture the most banners in the smoothest way possible. I was driving, so I didn’t actually see the footage that Harrison collected, but after about 45 minutes, or six “laps,” we got what we needed and steered back toward Lombard Street.

Giants Banners

After lunch, I got an email from B2, asking me if I could take the lead on updating Baker Street’s Instagram page, while posting photos to Twitter. Being a teen in this modern era of technology, I assumed I would easily be able to upload the necessary photos, and have time to spare at the end of the day. Boy was I wrong. It turns out Instagram only allows you to upload photos via a mobile device, and my iPhone 3G (retro, baby!) doesn’t have the necessary operating system to run the app. I had been using an iPhone 4S for about a year, but two days before I left for Philadelphia, someone took off with it. Thus commenced an hour-long hunt for an App that would let me run Instagram from my laptop. No luck so far, but I’ll definitely keep looking. I guess the moral of the story is to always keep a close eye on your bag at Kimball field…

Day 3:

Personal bike to work day! I always look for ways to be as active as possible and cut down on my carbon footprint (how San Francisco of me), so after settling in at Baker Street, I decided to start biking to work. I chose to take a slightly roundabout route that would lead me away from traffic and toward the more pleasant Presidio setting. I was surprised to see how many other bike-to-workers there were, and enjoyed the company throughout the ride.

At the office, I continued brainstorming ideas for the upcoming Giants ad, and working on the blog. B2 had asked me to incorporate an opinion-based segment about current trends, interesting subject matter from the web, or anything the “kids” are up to these days, which proved to be an interesting challenge. It was entertaining to find a potential subject to write about, and with so many opportunities and only a three-day week, it was tough to choose one that stood out from the rest. This will definitely be a fun assignment to undertake, and it was exciting to write the inaugural “From the Desk of Intern Kirk”.

 Quote of the week:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein