The Consiglio Regionale della Toscana Thanks Photojournalism Intern Michelle Sauvageau

Michelle's work space

By Paige Gherardi

On Friday the Consiglio Regionale della Toscana held a presentation of Michelle Sauvageau’s work to celebrate her last day as a photojournalism intern. The presentation highlighted Michelle’s photos and what she learned during her internship. Her mentors were extremely pleased with her work and what they were able to learn from her keen eye for photo composition. They hoped that she had learned something from them, too.

During her first week at the Consiglio Regionale Michelle photographed a Tuscan parliament session and was able to create a photo reportage that shows true emotion from several politicians. Her next project was to photograph Villa di Careggi,  home of the Florence Platonic Academy which was sponsored by Cosimo de’ Medici in the mid-1400s. This historic villa has been severely weathered and has not had the upkeep it deserves. Michelle’s mission was to photograph the imperfections of the villa so the Consiglio Regionale could assess what needs to be done for renovation. The bulk of her internship was spent at several different events for the Pianeta Galileo project funded by the Consiglio Regionale. Pianeta Galileo provides several hands-on workshops for children to stimulate interest in science and following a path of science in higher education.

Michelle and her mentor setting up

Michelle presenting her work

Michelle is currently in her third year of studying photography and said she learned a lot of new things during her internship in Florence. One of the biggest challenges for her was that the Consiglio Regionale works with Nikon cameras when she was used to a Canon. She found that all of the settings were different and it took a while to get used to setting up the Nikon. It was also difficult for her to find good lighting for some of projects and she had never used an external flash. Michelle’s mentor was able to help her get accustomed to the camera and using an external flash, but he said he didn’t have to help much with her photography skills. Her mentor said he learned a lot from Michelle and he hoped that she learned something from him. Michelle emphasized that her experience in Florence taught her many things that she can apply to finishing her degree in photography. She was able to make each project her own and the Consiglio Regionale is very grateful for all the hard work she put into her photo reportage. Michelle is the third photojournalism intern that Istituto Europeo has placed at the Consiglio Regionale and the directors continue to be impressed with the skill and creativity they bring to the organization.     

Michelle and her mentor