Guest speaker for the University for the Creative Arts: my experience

The other week I had the pleasure to be a guest speaker and to talk about my career and experience as a Fashion Photographer in front of 86 students from the UCA.

I was asked to talk during an hour about Fashion and Product photography from a business point of view, giving them an insight of what is really like to work in the Fashion Industry.

I wanted to tell them everything: what are the roles in a company, the different teams involved in the process, how a photoshoot works...

I had all that information within me because it was basically my experience.

But I am not going to lie, I was nervous before the presentation. I was practising it out loud in my studio, basically talking to myself and I kept getting blank mind.

Ah the nerves were getting the best of me!

I had a presentation I prepared with Canva - again, that magical program that I use constantly- with all the points but obviusly there was much more to add.

I wanted to share anecdotes, make it dynamic... the presentation was around 3.30pm, what is considered nap time in Spain, so I needed to keep their attention and for them not to fall sleep.

So I packed my presentation with useful information, with lots of anecdotes and examples, with pictures of my work and with a case study example at the end.

And... thank god my presentation was online. When I joined the call, they were still finishing the previous one, so it gave me an idea of what was happening and I immediatly felt at ease.

Then it was my turn, and all I could see was my screen, all the information I wanted to share. They basically told me: "we all muted ourselves so you won't hear a think, so go for it!"

So I did: I offloaded as much knowledge as I could share in an hour and give them as much valuable information as I could.

I had some questions at the end and I got great feedback, from the organiser and also from some of the students who reached out to me afterwards.

This little job has helped me to get better at presentations, at explain things more clearly and made me realised how far I've come and I have learned on my journey. And the next step will be an in-person presentation!

I would be happy to mentor and be a tutor for photographers who are just starting. I think I could share really valuable information and advice for them.

So if you are just starting your career or you know someone who could benefit from a mentoring session, please do get in touch.

Thanks for reading,

Your Photographer,

Laura