student profile Bec Taylor
Hi Bec Taylor! Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your business?
I’m a full time recipe creator and food photographer, located on the Gold Coast QLD. I’ve lived on the Goldie for 12 years now and have 2 gorgeous girls named Sydney & Farren, and a boxer pooch named Pepper. I am originally from New Zealand and totally believed that I was destined to be a corporate super mum before I picked up the camera!
What makes your style unique and enables you to stand out from other food creatives?
I’m one of the very few natural light food photographers left! And I wouldn’t change it for the world. I absolutely love the glow of natural light and how it can make food stand out. My style has always been beautiful food, yet lived in with a little mess. It has always resembled my household as a mother and business woman. A little beautiful and kept but always a little lived in and messy haha.
I would say my style now is the same but a little more refined and purposeful - with the help of Kirsten’s mentoring classes and Food Styling Course!
Why did you decide to start working with KJ as a mentor and join the food.styling.academy?
My business is 3 years old. I’ve seen so much growth in my work since the day I took this leap of faith. I’ve always been one to take feedback constructively and learn from my mistakes. This attitude has really helped me scale my business to where it is today - however after I had my second baby 2 years ago I really felt a shift in my priorities and who I was, not only as a mother and a woman, but also in business and with my creativity. I decided that it was time to really think about what Bec wants. I knew that I needed to say no to certain opportunities so that bigger doors could open for me. I knew where I needed to spend my time. But I had no idea how to level up skill wise.
I knew that my work was good. But it wasn’t the best. And I didn’t want to stay stagnant for another few years when I had already experienced so much natural growth. I needed an honest opinion on my work, but someone who knows the industry, understands me as a person and my other responsibilities I have going on daily (motherhood), and someone who knew the Australian market. I knew that I needed all of this and as soon as I saw Kirsten’s mentoring sessions open up I jumped at the chance to book in with her.
Every mentoring session that I’ve had with Kirsten has been fun, straight to the point, a little bit of fast therapy (haha) and I’ve left feeling so understood, organised and empowered to go into my next shoot.
Kirsten has also really helped me understand my own personal creative mind and discover the prop and editing styles which I have always wanted to evoke. She has taken my overwhelm and transferred it into actual industry based priorities and simple tasks so that I am able to realistically work towards my goals. For me, being realistic is key as I already have responsibilities at home and school hours to work within.
What are 3 areas you’ve seen the biggest improvements in since starting your food.styling.academy journey?
1. No need to style the scene with salt and pepper! Haha. I now purposely style my scenes & always remember that sometimes less is more. It’s about the food first, then the scene will compliment my beautiful food.
2. I now tether almost every shoot and have so much more control over how my scene looks and feels. I didn’t even own a tethering cable before I met Kirsten!
3. Knowing my worth and that my creative work is special. I am confident enough to say no to opportunities which do not align with my current goals. I am clear minded enough now to understand and be ok with the fact that not every client is my client and that doors will continue to open for you if you continue to be a good person and put in the hard work. I wish this feeling of absolute confidence and empowerment to every other creative out there as I know that it can be a very competitive industry at times.
Finally, what are your business and creative goals for the future?
Right now, I am really trying to focus on my shaping of natural light. I really want to own this as a natural light photographer before moving into other business and creative goals. I’m smart enough now to know that I need to really focus on one goal at a time. I cannot always do everything at once! Even though my corporate years showed me that I can manage this quite well at times!
I also want to keep experimenting with dark, moody and textured photography. I am obsessed with blacks and pops of colour. A vignette does wonders to a photo!
Bec, thanks so much for taking the time to chat! I also love seeing the examples of your work below, congratulations on nailing your “up-skilling”!
