The idea that you just stop learning after you finish school has always been something that really bugged me. I was a major nerd when it came to school, I was one of those weird people who actually really liked revising so the thought of that all stopping when I left formal education just never sat right with me.
So coming into my apprenticeship I was determined that that wasn’t something that was going to stop and suffice to say, it never has.
Being an apprentice at the Artz Centre doesn’t mean you’re just getting lunch in or shadowing other members of the team. You are quite literally thrown in headfirst – and in the best way. Every member of our team is given huge responsibilities and new challenges that mean we are constantly having to learn and adapt.
Just this week I’ve been doing the headshots for our upcoming shows, something I have never done before. I’m not a photographer in the slightest, the most sophisticated thing I’ve done with a camera is using the heart eye Snapchat filter but I wanted to learn and get better at it, and thanks to a lot of help and the perfect opportunity that has come in the form of our summer shows, I’ve been able to add headshot photographer to my list of skills (sort of 😆).
Now don’t get me wrong I’m no professional and I definitely didn’t just pick up the camera and do it perfect the first time. As with most of what I do it started off with a complete mess-up! The lighting kept going in and out, there were a lot of blurry photos, I kept forgetting to put the SD card in, and not to mention the fact that the first round of shots I got were framed completely wrong and are all having to be re-taken.
But this is all just part of learning process.
You are going to mess up, you’re going to not do things right the first time but that is how you get better. If you didn’t mess up you would never learn anything, you would never improve and that just isn’t a life I want to live.
I do feel really lucky that I get to try all these new things and make these mistakes and improve in the kind of environment that actually encourages you to do so, its got to be one of my favourite things about my apprenticeship and I hope its something that I can continue even after it’s all done.
So on that note I will love you and leave you and speak to you on my next post. In the mean time I would highly recommend trying something new and just see what happens!
Charlotte xx