Tom Gore - the brief

One of the very first things I did in the Spring of 2020 after deciding to become a professional photographer was signed up with Karl Taylor Education.

Karl Taylor is this pretty smooth cat from the UK who has been in the photo game for over 30 years.

He is an accomplished commercial photographer but also runs a large, informative and affordable education platform.

I believe there are over 2,500 subscribers globally from all skill levels.

I was at my desk for over 20 hrs weekly for many weeks learning everything the course had to offer right from the very beginning.

The first project I participated in was a wine bottle shoot.

Karl would prepare a brief from the perspective of an Advertising Creative Director specifically for the photographer.

The objective was to give us a real life working situation and challenged us to deliver as requested.

I was so focused and excited, I worked on this thing for some time collecting all the pieces I needed following the brief to each detail.

I set up in my basement and everything stayed assembled for quite a while.

I didn’t have studio strobe lighting yet so I was using theatre stage lighting fixtures, they got hot very quickly and heated the room a little more than was needed, it was July.

I eventually got the shot I was happy with and sent it in.

The most fun part of the process is submitting the image to Karl and watching the review show.

He puts all the submissions into categories, basically those who nailed it, came close or were completely off the mark.

He’s quite the show host, voicing a very honest critique with some humour.

Overall its a great learning experience and always gives me another perspective and set of eyes to things I missed or could be doing better.

The course has tons to offer, I enjoy being a member and hope to for a while.

Thank you Karl Taylor!