LPA Work Experience / Falmouth University / Kristen Hughes

Hello! My name is Kristen Hughes, I’m a second year student studying BA (Hons) Photography at Falmouth University, Cornwall. This week I joined the LPA team for work experience, in hope to gain a little insight into the way the industry works and to catch a sneak peek at all the behind the scenes action.

Over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I was lucky enough to have been able to attend a 3 day shoot with one of LPA’s photographers Andy Smith. This shoot was mainly lifestyle-based shots taken at various locations all over London. I found it so interesting to see how the dynamics of a small location shoot works and the amount of organisation needed to make the whole job run smoothly.

In addition to this being able to chat to Andy Smith and his assistant Alex Ingram about how they started out in the business was super insightful. I realised that everyone starts somewhere and if you’re passionate enough you can’t really fail.

Over Thursday and Friday I learnt more about the production side of the industry and what it takes to organise a shoot. I also got the chance to meet another one of LPA’s photographers Will Hartley, who came into the office to have a chat and catch up. He’d just got back from Miami, after shooting one of his personal projects so getting to see what he had been working on and talk about his process was very exciting.

As my time at LPA has come to an end, I wanted to thank Lisa for the opportunity for me to sit in on the week and the girls Anna, Clio and Cassie who showed me the ropes! I’ve had the best week and have a much clearer idea of where to start and what to expect when I graduate.