Inspiring the Next Generation
A true highlight of this summer has been running a specialist mentoring day with The Creative Education Trust for their Year 10 students.
The idea behind the day was to give these students a ‘real life’ experience of what it is like to work as a professional photographer if asked to cover an event. They were also given the responsibility to deliver images that the Trust would then print in their cross-trust magazine.
My role was to guide them through the process, offering support and encouragement along the way.
Before the event, an inter-school debate competition, I delivered an online briefing. This got them to consider practical steps that they would need to take to prepare for the event. We also discussed what type of shots and the variety they would need to deliver to meet their client’s expectations, and how they might best approach the day.
On the day I truly was blown away by their focus, attitude and talent. They all got fully stuck in, asked questions and were very receptive to any suggestions or feedback I might have.
They were then asked to submit up to 15 of their best images from the day, which I helped the Trust to review and select for the printed article. I also gave each individual feedback on how they approached the day and on the images they produced.
It is not often you get feedback yourself, but it meant so much to hear this from Jess, one of the students taking part.
“Hi, I was one of the Year 10 Photography students that was taking pictures of the competition in London, and I just really felt the need to tell you that I had an unbelievable amount of fun that day and I learned so much from you, my GCSE coursework has massively improved since that day because of what you taught me so I really just have to say thank you so much!! It was so awesome meeting you and being taught by you and you’re such an inspiration to me :) that day was definitely a highlight of the year.”
A true highlight of the year and I can’t wait to help keep supporting the next generation of photographers coming through!
