Flintern Spotlight: Bridget Packer
By Lydia Picotte, Creative Writing Intern – Flint Group
Living in North Dakota is not something Bridget Packer ever had planned. The Ohio native’s move to Fargo this May was a complete leap of faith, prompted by her accepting a role as a Flint photo and video intern. But Packer has taken the transition in stride and her easygoing demeanor has allowed her to slide seamlessly into her new role.
Prior to moving, Packer had lived her entire life in Ohio. In the spring, she graduated from Ohio University with a degree in commercial photography. From there, her job hunt led her to Flint.
“Someone reached out to me and asked, ‘Would you be willing to relocate?’ I had just graduated so my schedule was very flexible; I was open to anything,” she says. “I had the ability and availability to move here, so I just took the opportunity.”
Her eagerness to do anything is part of what makes Flint so appealing to her. It’s a place where no one stays in one box and there’s a little bit of everything. She says every new thing she’s experienced has had its own lesson, from being on a commercial set for the first time to learning about the prep work that goes into a shoot. She recalls running to workwear stores the week before one shoot to get work gloves for models to wear the next week. The work is unlike anything she’s ever done before.
“Where I went to school was very photography -focused, and I liked that, but I had always wished that they would have included some sort of videography,” she says.
Flint has provided that space.
“I’ve gotten exactly the experiences that I was hoping. We get to work on a set, work with directors and see what behind the scenes is like,” Packer says. “I feel like the expectations that I had for this job were met within the first few weeks and now I’m continuing to have them exceeded. I just want to learn things I wasn’t exposed to in the past and continue to grow.”
Packer’s flexibility plays into her strengths – she says some of her favorite work happens when she’s not planning it.
“I like to be spontaneous with shooting,” she says. “If I come up with something super quickly that’s not the way that I was originally thinking about it, I go with it. I also always try to go with what the model is thinking about and what they’re comfortable with. But if I’m able to include different fun props or play into what’s around me, I feel like that really helps even if it’s not necessarily what I had in mind. It’s like a creative vision that just appears.”
She recalls a particular shoot in college where an unplanned shift turned into a perfect success.
“I had planned on taking photos of this girl for an assignment and at the very last minute, she had something else come up,” says Packer. “So less than an hour before the shoot I was calling people to see if anybody would be available to do this. Less than five minutes before the time I had the studio booked, somebody called me and said, ‘We can come!’ It was three of them in matching outfits and so I was able to use that for my project.”
The story is a broader reflection of Packer’s mindset: Things will work out how they’re meant to. By following the wind where it may blow, she plans to keep exploring what her new skills, industry and home have to offer her.
“I just like to learn about different things,” she says. “I like to see new things, travel to new places, and I like to be on set. Because of that, I feel like what I’m doing right now is what I’ve always wanted to do.”
