Member Spotlight: Aidan Hughes

Of course, far more important than the gear at your disposal is your knowledge and expertise. For boosting his understanding of fundamental lighting principles and essential lighting techniques, Aidan considers himself indebted to Visual Education.

"The platform is the best value – the best bang for your buck,” he says. “There really isn’t anything better in terms of the amount and the quality of the content you get.”

So what in particular does Aidan enjoy? The product and still-life photography classes are his favourites. But he doesn’t limit himself to only watching those.

“I’m not particularly into portraiture, but I’ll watch all the portraiture classes because they contain those tips and tricks and hints that help me with my product work.”

One class that he finds himself returning to again and again is Angles of Incidence and Reflection. “I quite often refer to that if I’m struggling to shoot a reflective object like a bottle.”

He’s also a big fan of Karl’s live photography workshops. “It’s good to see someone like Karl working on the fly – to see how he solves all the different problems. These little nuggets of wisdom always come out that can help build you into a better, more well-rounded photographer.”

Something else Aidan really values is the Working to a Brief assignments. “You get a sense of what a client is going to want from you. That’s experience you wouldn’t get anywhere else.”

Members’ image critiques have been important to Aidan, too. When he received encouraging feedback from Karl on a cosmetics product image (above), it gave him a real boost. Of course, not every shot can receive a glowing review. But for Aidan, that’s all part of the process.

“I appreciate the fact that Karl is very honest,” he says. “It’s daunting to begin with, but it’s definitely worth it. You can’t rely on family and friends or social media for genuine feedback, so that sort of evaluation of your images is really valuable.”