This post is dedicated to the photo staff of The Sacramento Bee. In March I received an e-mail from Tim Reese, asking if I was still interested in a multimedia internship at The Sacramento Bee. I'll be completely honest with all of you, the first thought that immediately entered my head: I applied to The Sacramento Bee? It didn't take much to remember, but I had in fact applied on a whim, for a Scripps multimedia grant to be used toward an internship at The Bee. At the time I think I'd received "thank you, but no thank you," letters from about 20 other papers and The Bee, I knew, was a major player, so I must have dismissed my chances immediately. I guess didn't expect it to come of anything, just a chance to get my work seen so maybe one day 10 years later I would be remembered. In the middle of covering Ohio University's Mens Basketball on their unprecedented run through the MAC Tournament and with a job interview in Kentucky a few days later, I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to take another internship, I thought that personally I had learned all I needed to as a photographer and I was ready for a shot at a real job. Plus, the grant was only $3,000 which came out to $300 a week in California - aka, only enough to keep me alive on Ramen noodles (and not the good kind down in that little place on 28th or wherever). It took a lot of thought and debate and finally I came back to Tim and figured it was best to just be honest and see where it got me. After relaying my financial dilemma, but committing to come out no matter what, Mark and Tim went leaps and bounds beyond where they needed to go to get met out there. They secured me gear, extra funding, and a mode of transportation. This brought to mind a major revelation: "Oh my God, they think I'm someone else... they must have looked at the wrong portfolio if they want me this bad..." While I still think that may have been the case, I know Mark and Tim would never admit it, and I'll go ahead and say they're happy with the mistake if they did make it. Taking this internship was the second best decision I ever made. I reserve the permanent right to never have any idea what the best overall decision I've ever made is, so number two is saying something. I learned something probably every day starting with my first assignment (which I lied, was not at Zocalo, that was the first one I enjoyed), a construction shoot. What did I learn? Never ask Mark to edit your take. What else did I learn? That not every photo needs to be about the person in it, some are about the concept. What else else did I learn? That The Bee had no problem throwing me into the fire right away as the photo ran with an A1 story, though on the back of the A section. Throughout my summer I've learned different things from all of you, whether you knew you were teaching me or not, and each of you helped me grow into a stronger photojournalist. Paul - Thank you for editing all my takes through 75% of the internship. I know you were pretty much stuck doing it since it was your desk rotation, but I carried your advice through every assignment afterward and you probably influenced my shooting the most. José - Thank you for being the tough critic I needed from time to time. Every now and then I just need someone to tell me what I did wrong straight up and ask the obvious question, "why didn't you do it this way?" Maybe it's because you're the first shooter I got a chance to communicate with or because we're both sports shooters, but I looked up to you the whole summer. Bentoni - Thank you for showing me all those years I spent as a kid taking things apart and never successfully putting them back together again could still pay off when I'm an adult. Your new inventions and attention to detail always gave me something to look forward to in the paper and newsroom. Thanks for braving the windiest day I'll ever remember down in Courtland with me and for stitching those shots together. Hopefully I'll get that story done someday. Lezlie - While you're a great photographer and your images were always a pleasure to learn from, you probably helped me the most this summer just by being an awesome person. Every time I needed help with an edit and you were around I knew I could come to you. You were always cheery and always brightened my day up a bit just by being you. Michael - No problem was ever too big or too small for you to offer me advice on and I really appreciate it. You helped me put things into perspective so many times and I owe you a lot for that. Thanks for being there when I needed help, hopefully one day I'll get back and I can get that studio tutorial. Bryan - Sitting next to you for half the summer was... an experience... I wish you hadn't been in Cambodia making awesome photos for a good chunk of it because I feel like we missed out on something great. Between you, me and Jose we could have written every "that's what she said," joke for the next 50 years of Steve Carell's career. Seriously though, I hope one day I can go into any assignment and pull a photo out of my backside like you do, you're a complete inspiration. Manny - Like Randall, your knack for new inventions blows my mind. The things you've done with the iPhone 4 are amazing and I hope one day to land at a paper and completely rip you off and claim I thought the ideas up all by myself. Seriously though, I wish we had gotten more time to work together one on one, there's a ton of stuff I never got to pick your brain on. Like José, you always had a great idea for how a shot could be made better and I tried to take it to heart as much as I could going forward. Carl - I wish I had a chance to see you more, but I don't blame you. Usually you were out making awesome photos at some unheard of early morning hour on some mountain top or just being a general badass with a camera. I still remember the day I figured out whose old car I had - I found an Oakley box under the driver's seat. Your blog always gave me inspiration, as does your work in the paper. I wish I'd had a chance to say goodbye in person, but hopefully we'll see each other again soon. Andy - Considering this was a multimedia internship I wish we'd worked together more, but who knows why it wasn't until my last couple weeks that we started to catch matching shifts. I hope the few times I "Judy'd" you don't stick with you too long. I'll never forget our debate on how those cranes at 28th and Capitol were operated and my subsequent finding out first hand a week later. Autumn - You are a complete daredevil and I hope one day I'm as brave as you are, or at least ignorant to the catastrophic risk to life doing certain things comes with. I don't know that I'll ever jump out of a plane, but I know seeing you brave each treacherous shooting opportunity inspired me to get up that crane. Hector - We never really got much of a chance to work together, except when I "Judy'd" you too, coincidentally on another Prop. 8 assignment... Regardless you're probably the guy I should have worked with way more since I had shooting Arnold as one of my top priorities and never saw him once. Hopefully soon we have a chance to fix that, though I doubt he'll be around the spotlight much for a while. Randy - We hardly got much time in the newsroom together. I guess that's mostly because you were out biking halfway across the country my first three weeks, then we were on morning and night shifts so we never overlapped. You are, though, probably the shooter I see the most of myself in. Between how much I can tell you strive to get everything in each photo just right to your general openness, I always enjoyed working with you and I hope we get to again. And finally, to my editors: Tim - Thank you for being my advocate when I was trying to get everything squared away to come out here. You did so much for me to make this possible and I owe you more than I could ever repay. I really hope we get a chance to work together again. Thanks also for the thumb drive, I promise to do everything not to lose it and/or crush it. Lisa - Thank you for always being cheery when the world was crashing down. I don't know many people who could handle the stress you do, period, let alone keep a smile on their face and not lash out at everyone around them. You're going to be dearly missed by more than just this photographer. Mark - Thank you for being a tough editor when I needed one, for getting me gear when I needed it, and for making sure I rarely (if ever) went without something. Thank you for the gift you slipped into my bag while I was at softball and for any and all the help you gave me this summer. You pushed for my story ideas, you backed me up when I needed it and you were always there when I needed an advocate. It was an honor to say I was a part of this photo staff for 10 weeks and you know I can't wait for a chance to say I am again. I wish I had an opportunity for a proper goodbye, but I hope this will do. Thank you again for everything. This internship has renewed my faith in the career I chose four years ago when I left home for Ohio University. One day I hope my path in life brings me back to the West Coast and that I can continue to tell the stories hiding out in Sacramento. You all will never know what you've truly done for me not only as a photojournalist, but as a person. I've grown so much this past summer and I owe you all. Sincerely, Kyle Grantham "The intern who came with a girlfriend, and left with a dog," aka, "The photographer on the cheerleading and plane crash beat."