Hi, my name is Connor, I’m 17. I’ve been lucky enough to have been given a week placement with the Amplitude Media family to help build a foundation for my future career path. I’m currently doing A Levels at Weston Favell Academy studying Art, Photography and Product Design. I have a huge passion for the creative industry and have always inspired to work in the unique field.

Most definitely my favourite subject is Photography, I love how it allows me to capture a moment of my life and my interests, to share with others. My field is street photography. I adore the fast paced nature and sense of unknown that hides beneath it. To add to this I generally shoot on film, colour and black and white, developing all photos myself to add that emotional connection to each photo. I do shoot on DLSR in some situations, but I favour film due to having full control of how the image will be finished.

Well, that’s a little about me, now let me tell you how Amplitude Media has helped me out.

First day

On my first day, the sense of unknown and fear took over. I had so many questions in my head about working in a studio and office environment, as this was all new to me. What do I wear? What do I say? What do I bring? And even… is there a toilet? Random questions I didn’t think I would ever think about crossed my mind, but as soon as I entered the studio I was warmly welcomed by the whole team, especially Ralph the dog. I instantly felt comfortable with the bubbly and unique atmosphere.

My ambitions and results

My ambitions were to learn a range of new things. I wanted to experiment with the studio lighting and set up my shoot, as I’ve never had access to this. Learning more about Adobe Creative Cloud was one of my goals due to me making a magazine for my course work final piece. I was open to learning any skill I came across. And I accomplished all these targets.

I used the product table to help me shoot my product pictures with the range of lights supporting this. Chris helped me set up the lighting system and then let me roam free. This was a brilliant experience. I really enjoyed moving lighting and experimenting with my technique as a whole. It gave me a brilliant understanding of the commercial and studio side of photography. I felt comfortable in the space and knew if I had any questions or needed any help, the team in the office would instantly help me with whatever the query was.

I also learnt and gained a lot of inspiration from Chris with creating my magazine as a whole. He helped me set a foundation for my pages and taught me guidelines and techniques, this helped massively. He also showed me I could bend and play with the boundaries to create an appearance I am happy with, and the office supported this as a whole; I learn how to portray my own style and personality in the magazine. The photos I took the previous day looked so good in the magazine it filled me with confidence, as I realised I was capable of actually creating images I was happy with. All I needed was a little guidance from the Amplitude team and they gave me this.

Studio space

The studio space is most definitely the most unique, natural and mostly bonkers office I have ever been to. It was nothing like the stereo typical office I had in mind from Hollywood movies. It was bright and bursting with character. Every day I discovered a new Star Wars character somewhere in the office. I was given my own desk in the heart of the space which allowed me to feel involved with the team, and knew Will was within reach of me if I ever needed any help.

As a whole I found the company to be well established with a clear direction and brilliant communication with each other and clients. By just listening to Jo and Ciara talk on the phone you can instantly tell they are full of respect for the clients on the other end.

Overall I truly enjoyed my days at Amplitude Media, and it has inspired me to try and get a job in the creative world that I have a true passion and love for. Seeing everyone working in this environment made me realise I will fit in well in this industry and hope I will make it*.

So I would like to say a very big thank you to the Amplitude Media Team in helping me massively.

*Editor’s note: We’re sure you will!

If you want to see more of Connor’s work, check him out on Instagram: @whitx_pg