Intern, Photographer

Lansing Board of Water & Light•Lansing, MI

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The Lansing Board of Water & Light (BWL) has an opening for a Photographer Intern, as part of our Public Relations & Marketing team, located in Lansing, MI. This internship provides an opportunity to build a professional portfolio while developing practical experience in both contemporary photography and the preservation and management of historical visual collections. The intern will photograph BWL events and activities, including Adopt-A-River, the Hometown Power 5K, Employee Picnic, State of the BWL, and other events assigned. Responsibilities will also include creating professional headshots for members of the leadership team and designated employees, as well as producing staged and on-location photography to help maintain and expand BWL's corporate stock photography library. During periods when photography assignments are not scheduled, the intern will assist with the digitization and organization of BWL's historical photographic collection. This work will include scanning historic photographs, uploading digital files to the organization's collections database, researching available information about photographs, and adding accurate descriptive metadata and tags. These efforts will help preserve BWL's visual history and make photographs more accessible for internal communications, marketing, community outreach, and potential museum exhibitions. The intern will gain practical experience in photography, archival digitization, digital asset management, historical research, metadata creation, and visual storytelling while developing an understanding of how photography supports organizational communications and community engagement.

Requirements

Must be currently enrolled in an accredited educational institution with a focus of Fine Arts, Public Relations, or other related majors with a junior or senior status during the summer of 2027.
Must be enrolled in fall classes 2027.
Minimum GPA of 3.0.

Responsibilities

Photograph BWL events, programs, employees, facilities, and community activities as assigned.
Capture professional headshots and other employees and leadership photography in accordance with established organizational standards.
Produce staged and on-location photographs for BWL's corporate stock photography library.
Follow established photography, file-management, and digital-asset procedures to ensure images are properly captured, organized, stored, and accessible.
Digitize historic photographs by scanning and creating high-quality digital files in accordance with established archival procedures.
Upload digitized photographs to BWL's collections database and apply appropriate metadata, keywords, tags, and descriptive information.
Conduct research, when possible, to identify people, locations, dates, events, and other relevant information associated with historical photographs.
Organize and document photographic materials so BWL staff can effectively use the collection for marketing, communications, community outreach, historical research, and museum exhibitions.
Assist with the development of an accessible historical photograph collection that may support future community-outreach initiatives and provide members of the Greater Lansing community with opportunities to identify family members, friends, former coworkers, and other individuals represented in BWL's historical photographs.
Maintain appropriate file-naming conventions, organizational structures, and documentation for photographic and archival materials.
Protect confidential, sensitive, and historically significant materials in accordance with BWL policies and established procedures.
Follow the BWL Safety Manual and use required personal protective equipment (PPE) when performing fieldwork or other duties requiring protective equipment.
Attend required training, safety-awareness programs, and skills-development sessions, including those required by BWL or applicable governmental agencies such as MIOSHA.
Comply with all BWL policies, procedures, work rules, and professional standards.
Maintain predictable and reliable attendance.
Perform other related duties as assigned by the supervisor.