Skip to main content

My Work Experience by Zak Millard

My name is Zak Millard and I am 15 years old. For my two weeks work experience I chose to incorporate a passion of mine, photography.

Christina is a very competent photographer and a easy person to get on with, she is also patient which was good for me because I often forgot something or had to ask twice about an instruction.


My two weeks with Christina have been very helpful. Though I am a aspiring photographer there is much I have learnt, including:
  • Different lights and there uses.
  • Different light set ups.
  • Key photoshop skills.
  • Exposure compensation.
  • AV/TV settings.
  • Composition.
  • How to keep children's interest!
One of the most useful things Christina has taught me is that of photo editing. Photography isn't all about taking the pictures though obviously this is important. The little tweaks made here and there make a lot of difference and in all honesty before Christina showed me these tweaks I would never have made them myself, so thank you Christina for opening up to me the massive world of Photoshop, photo editing and organisation.

Another interesting experience for me was school photos. On the Tuesday and Wednesday of my first week, we went to Richmond Primary School to do their photos. What an experience it turned out to be. Being picked up at 7.15am to go and set up the background and lights with Andy was the easiest part. After the first few classes Andy left, leaving me in charge of organising the siblings and the classes. It was very daunting and confusing at first but surprisingly I enjoyed it. Working as a photographers assistant felt good and seeing the really nice photos after made all the loud noise and stress worth it!

I also was given the amazing opportunity of co-ordinating my own shoot using all the studio equipment and Christina's Canon EOS 5D, which i have fallen in love with. My family came in and I co-ordinated the shoot while Christina assisted me when I got stuck for ideas or needed light adjustments. Thank you again for the amazing opportunity and for trusting me with your awesome camera, lens and lights!
I have thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks and I hope Christina, although falling behind on work, has enjoyed having me.
These past two weeks have strengthened my resolve to be as good a photographer, hopefully as Christina and also like Christina, make it my occupation.
I will take all the things I have learnt at Christina's and work on them and work on the things Christina has pointed out I need to work on like my organisation!
So thank you again for 1. Having me 2.Teaching me so much and 3. The cheese toasties!
Zak Millard - William Bradford Community College 6th October - 17th October 2008

Comments

Zak, it has been a great couple of weeks working with you. Your enthusiasm was very infectious and it was such a pleasure to be able to share company with someone who's passion for photography is as big as mine.

You've picked up the editing side of things very well. Keep practicing so that you don't forget what you've learned.

You did well on your first shoot. Your family have some lovely photos to take away from this experience. Keep taking photos. Read magazines, troll through websites and take more photos. Practice makes perfect.

Good luck with your career and I am sure we will see each other again.

Sincerely,
Christina

Popular posts from this blog

Portraits Even a Teenager Boy Loves

Finally I've had the opportunity to photograph a young man in my studio again. And funnily enough this was the second time that week which is absolutely superb. In both cases these young men were just as enthusiastic to be involved as I was, which is something I don't often get when I'm working with very young children, my usual subjects. With young children I find my energy in their cuteness. But with young adults I get energy from their excitement over how the portraits are working out. I get such a buzz from the experience and that can keep me going for hours, often editing the photos straight after the shoot for hours more. Shoots for teenagers is something I've been wanting to focus on for some time. Its not something that I often get asked for though unfortunately. It tends to be parents of very young children who want to capture moments that are slipping through their fingers at lightening speed. Maybe its teenage moodiness that means these moments don...

London in Spring, Whats Not to Love?

Well I know there is still a lot not to love but I'm choosing to see the great things about London at the moment. I am having a ball this year visiting London as often as I can. Which is unusual for me since I usually prefer the comfort of my own home, in rural old Leicestershire. Staying home and avoiding people has always been the easy option. But this year, possibly due to the wonderful weather we keep having, has me longing for venturing out. Again, just like my last trip, I headed out with my good friend Panikos Hajistilly . Living in North London he finds it easy to meet up for our shoots. This time though I had more of an idea of the sights I wanted to use as the backdrops for my portraits. With it being spring I was in search of colour, preferably flowers. Admittedly. I didn't quite get what I was looking for. The white fronted terraced houses with pink magnolia trees we did not find unfortunately. But I did make it to Peggy Porchen's which was a must see on m...

Family Photos with Flair - Vanity Fair Style Family Portraits

This style of portrait continues to be the eye catching success I had always hoped it would be. Once again I created a beautiful family portrait that I am really proud of and I know this family loves too. Over the years I have developed this style through influences such as Vanity Fair and the many photographers I follow, though I hope that there is something in here that is entirely my own. Having my work easily identified as my own was a goal of mine from the start. Getting to the point where people will want not just a portrait but a Christina Lauder portrait is where I've always wanted to be and I'm hoping I'm on way. These portraits were created for the family of two professional photographers who wanted some portraits of their own. Family portraits isn't really something one can do of oneself, at least not easily. So they needed the services of another and I was honoured to be chosen for the job. They chose me not just for my style but also for my ab...

Its a Dog's Life

When life gets tough I always look at dogs or my cats and think how lucky they are. I know not all are treated well but those lucky enough to be in a good home, like the ones who come into my studio, have a really great life. They look so happy and its a wonderful thing to see.  I honestly love photographing dogs. They are a joy to work with and its almost impossible to produce a bad portrait of a dog which does of course make my life a little easier. I am someone who really needs to love the work I create. I can't help but love the portraits I've created of all the dogs I've photographed over the years. And this shoot was certainly no exception. I found it a real pleasure using a lighter background this time too. I do often gravitate towards darker looks but seeing as this dog had a light coloured coat I thought I'd produce lighter images. This gave me the chance to use a canvas I painted a couple of years ago but never really used and I absolutely love it...

Never Work With Children or Animals

Or so the saying goes. But I have to say that working with dogs has been so lovely. They have been almost entirely a dream to work with. I say almost entirely because we have had a few moments where a dog has needed to settle. And one moment where the dog had settled but one of my cats decided to have a look through the glass door which, as you can imagine, rather quickly unsettled the dog. Still, that didn't stop us from creating incredible work. In fact it was during that shoot with the cat instance when I created two of my favourite pieces, shown below. (It was while sitting on the couch here when he noticed the cat peering through the curtain) I don't know if I've just been lucky or all dogs are just easy to work with. I photographed a french bull dog puppy and I thought that would be tough as he hadn't had time to be properly trained yet. But he did everything we wanted in no time at all. And this included the props we used here (below), which to me...