Introduction
The Thomas Sheppard Internship was set up in 2021 following the sudden and unexpected passing of the talented photographer Tom Sheppard.
To those who knew Tom, he was an inspiration. His love of life and creativeness is sorely missed by us all. Outside of photography Tom was someone who always had time for everyone from all walks of life and in all circumstances.
For a number of years prior to his passing Tom was renting space at The Sterlingham Company’s factory and had created his own studio space kitted out with equipment he had bought, or in some cases made.
Sonia, Tom’s mum and Louise, Tom’s partner would like to honor Tom’s memory by giving other photographers the opportunity of space and time to develop their portfolio, post-education, to help them take their first steps towards employment or towards self-employment. The Sterlingham support this program through the continued use of the warehouse space in which Tom set up his studio.
Though Tom may no longer be here to inspire us in person, we very much hope that for those who take part in this opportunity, Tom continues to be a source of inspiration.
#pay_it_forward
About Tom
About Tom
Thomas Matthew Sheppard (‘Shep’) was a photographer, designer and Visual artist from Dudley in the West Midlands, in 2021 he passed away suddenly age 35.
Tom was a passionate, energetic, motivated and hugely enthusiastic creative person, who was never happier than behind the lens of a camera or contemplating his newest project!
With a Foundation course in Art and Design and a course in photography Tom went on to study a BA degree in Typographic design at University of the Arts, London.
He loved to combine photography with typography, playing with the balance of imagery, colour and typographic form.
Taking influence from so many sources- with a huge love of the design of the 1980’s, The Memphis Group, bold colours and avant gardé pattern design, this carnival of colour was balanced with his adoration of the clean lines and simple vectors of graphic designers such as his hero Aaron Draplin.
After University Tom spent 8 years in the UK watch Industry, gaining a wealth of experience in multiple areas. As a photographer of watches he excelled. Watches were objects he continually gained expertise in photographing and became skilled in the photography of reflective surfaces. He was involved in the development of watch brands distributed worldwide, and his photography and product designs appeared internationally including in the windows of Nordstrom in NewYork and Manor in Switzerland and advertising concepts he worked on were printed in many publications including Vogue and GQ.
Tom truly was a multi-faceted designer and created the Tom Sheppard Design Co. in 2017. Under this umbrella he combined his experience in graphic and typographic design, branding, product development, concept design and creative studio photography. He was always keen to try to combine the worlds of thoughtful design and product imagery to create exciting concepts.
As well as being creative Tom had a keenly analytical mind and studied photographic technical processes in microscopic detail to produce images to the highest possible standard he could – he was still never satisfied with his skill level and felt that honing his craft was a continual learning process.
Shortly before Tom passed away he had felt all his hard work was paying off and the studio space, equipment and knowledge he had spent such time, thought and care creating and nurturing were now leading to the exciting career path he had always dreamed of.
Tom would love to know that in some small way maybe he can help others on the journey to realising their own dreams and ambitions.
#pay_it_forward
Thomas Matthew Sheppard (‘Shep’) was a photographer, designer and Visual artist from Dudley in the West Midlands, in 2021 he passed away suddenly age 35.
Tom was a passionate, energetic, motivated and hugely enthusiastic creative person, who was never happier than behind the lens of a camera or contemplating his newest project!
With a Foundation course in Art and Design and a course in photography Tom went on to study a BA degree in Typographic design at University of the Arts, London.
He loved to combine photography with typography, playing with the balance of imagery, colour and typographic form.
Taking influence from so many sources- with a huge love of the design of the 1980’s, The Memphis Group, bold colours and avant gardé pattern design, this carnival of colour was balanced with his adoration of the clean lines and simple vectors of graphic designers such as his hero Aaron Draplin.
After University Tom spent 8 years in the UK watch Industry, gaining a wealth of experience in multiple areas. As a photographer of watches he excelled. Watches were objects he continually gained expertise in photographing and became skilled in the photography of reflective surfaces. He was involved in the development of watch brands distributed worldwide, and his photography and product designs appeared internationally including in the windows of Nordstrom in NewYork and Manor in Switzerland and advertising concepts he worked on were printed in many publications including Vogue and GQ.
Tom truly was a multi-faceted designer and created the Tom Sheppard Design Co. in 2017. Under this umbrella he combined his experience in graphic and typographic design, branding, product development, concept design and creative studio photography. He was always keen to try to combine the worlds of thoughtful design and product imagery to create exciting concepts.
As well as being creative Tom had a keenly analytical mind and studied photographic technical processes in microscopic detail to produce images to the highest possible standard he could – he was still never satisfied with his skill level and felt that honing his craft was a continual learning process.
Shortly before Tom passed away he had felt all his hard work was paying off and the studio space, equipment and knowledge he had spent such time, thought and care creating and nurturing were now leading to the exciting career path he had always dreamed of.
Tom would love to know that in some small way maybe he can help others on the journey to realising their own dreams and ambitions.
#pay_it_forward
Where
The studio space is at The Sterlingham Company’s factory in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Located a short walk from Stourbridge Town train station and local bus routes.
As the studio is in a busy open factory environment it is unusual. It isn’t the normal ‘white space’, peaceful environment that you may dream of and that means it might not be for everyone. What it does offer is its own challenges with lighting but also offers a ‘real world’ environment both in the photography sense but also in the work relationship sense.
What
This internship opportunity differs from many others in the sense that you will have (almost!) complete freedom to use the space to do whatever photography you would like to enabling you to take the skills that you have learnt in an education setting and develop your portfolio further. There are no restrictions placed on you with regards taking paid work from other companies and producing the photography here – in fact the opposite, as that is what the aim of this opportunity is.
Additionally you will have access each month to some fantastic Mentoring (see below).
The only thing that is requested in exchange for the opportunity is three professional quality photos for the Sterlingham. One will be of a Sterlingham product; another will be of a Sterlingham employee in the manufacturing environment. The last will be of your choosing but must be a commercially viable piece. For all three of these photos the Sterlingham will pay an agreed fee upon submission of an acceptable standard of photo that can be used by the company in their marketing materials.
Apart from payments for these photos and any payments from commercial projects that you have managed to secure this internship is unpaid.
When
Each internship will run for a period of 12 weeks and we will be looking to take 2-3 applicants each calendar year. The studio space is accessible within the factory working hours of 7am-4.30pm Monday to Friday and occasionally on a Saturday morning if the factory is open.
What You Need
We are hoping for a high number of applicants to this program and as above are only seeking to offer the opportunity to 2-3 people per year. On this basis we ask that you turn up every day, are self-motivated and really make the most of this opportunity.
Whilst we provide the space and auxiliary equipment (see list below) you will need your own camera, lenses, memory cards and computer.
The mentors
We are humbled by the generosity of the following people who have kindly offered their time to give to the successful candidate over the 12 week program to offer support and guidance.
If you are interested in adding your name to this list please contact us.
Luke Tonge
Visiting lecturer at Birmingham City Univesrity and co-director of Birmingham Design, the organisation responsible for the Birmingham Design Festival & Gather Birmingham.
Jonathan Cherry
Photographer and videographer as well founder of Mull It Over a series of web based interviews with innovative contemporary photographers from around the world.
Thom Bartley
An events, commercial and portrait photographer who has worked with many prestigious clients including Google, BBC, Disney, Lloyds Bank and Netflix.
What we provide
The studio area is 5m x 6m and kitted out with:
- Infinity backdrop
- Overhead camera boom
- Cyclorama rolls
- Diffusers
- Godox studio Flashes & stands
- Colour correcting monitor
Additionally, over the course of the 12 weeks along with the mentoring provided by those named above, we commit to providing support from:
- Louise – Tom’s Partner and graphic designer. Having worked and lived with Tom for many years Louise will try and engage with you on methods that Tom used and offer insights into what makes the end result work and what doesn’t.
- Andrew Healey (Managing Director) and Kate Hogan (Marketing Manager) of The Sterlingham will try and help you develop a commercial sense of the work that you do from the ‘customers’ perspective.
- Jim Macaulay – Managing Director, Get Set Production (http://www.getsetproduction.co.uk/) who was both a personal friend and colleague of Tom’s. Jim will be on hand to help with the practical components of some types of photography, for example building and finishing a platform or frame for a product photo.
What we hope you will gain...
Through taking on this opportunity our hope is that you have developed skills which bolster your educational learnings to enable you to commercialize your talents (either through employment or self-employment).
The studio setting will offer ample opportunity for product photography. Tom had built a huge ‘library’ or textures and materials to enable you to build some really cool settings (see photos). Additionally, being surrounded by factory work will enable you to develop your ‘on-site’ photography skills of people, machinery and processes.