A Photography student from Stratford-upon-Avon College is pursuing her dream career months before completing her College course.
Charlie Taylor, 17 from Harvington, initially applied for the role of Visual Content Creator at personalised vitamin company Nourished as part of her college course in which tutors encourage students to actively look and apply for jobs. She remarks: “I went for the role as I thought it would be good to get the interview experience, I didn’t think I would get offered the job!”
Interested in lifestyle and product photography from a young age, Charlie was drawn to Stratford-upon-Avon College after attending a few open days and being impressed with the facilities. She comments: “In the first projects we did at College, I explored product photography more by utilising the many facilities within the Photography department and I knew for sure this is what I wanted to do.”
The determined photographer used social media as a self-development and networking tool. “I went on Instagram and made a list of all the accounts of ethical brands I valued and sent over 200 brands the same message asking them to send me their products so I could photograph them for my course project, and some brands did!”
Charlie recalls spending an entire day in her garden using the sun and an A4 piece of paper to capture raw footage and then editing it on photoshop, further adding: “The brand was so impressed with my work that they sent me a box full of more products.”
What started as a College project developed into freelance work which she still dedicates time to once a week alongside her new role at Nourished.
From Loxy Cosmetics to Nyx, Charlie approached around 200 brands offering to photograph their products
Explaining how her role with Nourished came about, Charlie says: “They wanted full time, so I was honest in the interview and said I couldn’t yet do full-time because of College. And yet I got invited to a second interview!”
After receiving a loose brief to create visual content for the company as part of the interview, Charlie buckled down. With only 3 days in which to prepare, she sought out her tutors Nick Priest and Kim Malins who lent her equipment which she used to set up a studio in her bedroom as well as an Adobe account. “I spent 3 days in my home studio capturing content and teaching myself Adobe from scratch by clicking on random buttons and eventually creating a 15-second long video ad using a chopstick which I was told by the company was ‘on brand’.”
Charlie gained a lot of studio practice at College which allowed her to build her own home studio
The same night after presenting her visual content, Charlie received a call offering her the role and a subsequent call with the CEO, Melissa Snover, who told the ambitious student that she will fit in well with the company.
Charlie has hit the ground running, creating visual content with her new team, some of which has already been featured on the company’s website.
With certainty, Charlie rules out University for her future: “I am taking each day as it comes, I wanted to get stuck in straight away with a job in the industry and I’ve got that job now. Student debt? No. Building a good reputation with experience? Yes, please.”
