Although a well-established partnership now exists between the college and magazine, the relationship was initially created by chance!

Director of Mill Magazine, Paul Dickson, explained: “One of your students started following our Instagram account and I followed him back. On his account, he had studied fashion photography as part of his course. We already had a fashion feature in the magazine but it was just stock images pulled from brands such as Primark, Next etc. After I saw his photos, I started to think that we could be in a position to create our own fashion photoshoots. So I got in touch with Scott Cadenhead and Robert Tabor late in 2018, we hit it off straight away and our first fashion collaboration appeared in the January/February 2019 magazine.”

Over the past few years, students have covered a wide range of photography shoots for local businesses. Paul described how the partnership works to mutually-benefit students and the magazine. . “For example, if we are running a restaurant review in the magazine, we will ask WCS photography dept if they would like to send out their students to capture images. In turn, the students get their work published in the magazine. The students are sent a rough brief and they work independently or as a group. I am usually there to help but I like to give the students free rein to capture the photos as they see fit. Recently I helped organise local comedian Liam Farrelly to come in for a photoshoot which he loved and we got brilliant images from.”

The photos then appear in the current magazine edition, alongside lunch and dinner reviews, providing students with invaluable work experience to take forward as they enter into the industry.

 Paul commented on the strong partnership which benefits a whole range of individuals:

“It’s an absolute joy working with WCS students and course leaders/tutors. It has been a win/win situation for everyone . . 

Students get work experience and their images published in a magazine - which might be the first time their work is published. The tutors are able to provide real world experience for their students. I get fantastic images for my magazine and showcase them on our social media. The business or person where the photos are taken get free images to use as content for online or print. Everybody benefits from our partnership and we all get so much out of it.”

We look forward to continuing the longstanding partnership as we kick off the new academic year!