We always love to hear from our ex students and seeing where they are now and what they are up to since graduating from TRC. Abbie Walton studied Photography and Graphics with us from 2019-2021, and is now working full time in Photography. Abbie kindly volunteered to write a blog post up of how she found her job, what it entails, and her plans for the future. Thanks Abbie!
When I was studying at TRC I decided to take A level Graphic Communication, Photography and Criminology. This was a variety of subjects, but I wasn’t sure whether to go for a career in law or what I enjoyed most. Choosing to do Photography and Graphics was probably the best decision I made as it made me realise you should do what you love in life.
After college, I found it was a struggle at first because I knew I was interested in photography but had no idea where to start. I was on the verge of going to university, had all my applications complete and many offers. All my friends were going to university, so it seemed like the right answer. Although, I soon realised a lot of degrees in photography were very similar to my A level course. So, I decided to sign up to total jobs and look at work in photography. This was almost unsuccessful as I applied for loads of jobs and got no response, but I came across this one job to work as a full-time school photographer. This was for the company HTempest. I’d never heard of them, so I did a little research and decided to apply. Believe me, this was the last place I expected to end up. I now work full time for the company and have just successfully made £53K revenue from my photographs alone. It is a huge company and brilliant to work for; I am one of 500 photographers. I mainly work in nurseries, but they also work with universities and a range of schools. I also got a company car with the job which was unexpected. All my equipment is supplied by the company, and we have a variety of backdrops to work with, which is fun.
A level Graphic Communication and Photography has helped me to gain the skills for this job. I had much knowledge of how to use a camera and different techniques from the course. Using the photography studios at college helped me a lot hence my job is based around studio work. I also use photoshop in my everyday life editing my own photos and creating random projects. It is such a useful skill to have and my favourite skill that I learnt at Thomas Rotherham College.
I’m really enjoying working there now. Although, in the future I was thinking about setting up my own wedding photography company or going into a digital marketing apprenticeship. I’m not completely sure which I would like to do but for now I’m sticking with this job.
