Work experience blog: Ella Reid

Work experience blog: Ella Reid

My name is Ella Reid, and I am a Sixth Form student at Queen Elizabeth’s School studying A-Level Graphic Communication, Photography, and English Literature. This week’s work experience gave me a valuable opportunity to apply and expand the creative skills I’ve built over the past couple of years.

23/06/25

On the first day of work experience at the New Forest National Park Authority, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I came in feeling excited and nervous at the same time.

However, as the day went on, I began to feel more relaxed and at ease with my surroundings and the people around me. The entire team that I met that day were very nice, especially Ella, who is from the education team, and Maria from the comms team, who  explained to me and those who were doing work experience at the same time as me, what we were going to be doing that day and explaining some of the significant things the New Forest National Park do to protect our heathlands and wildlife.

The first proper activity we did that day was going out into the New Forest, with Maria and a ranger named Jim, taking pictures. This was very exciting as me and Zac, the other boy doing photography work experience, explained earlier to the small group that we were excited to take photos. We did a short walk around the heathland, stopping plenty of times to take photos of animals like cows and ponies, as well as capturing some of the common plants in the heath, for example, Lousewort.

After that, we came back to the office, had some lunch and got on with our next activity. We met with Jonathan, who works in the comms team, and went through how their social media works and how it is published. We were told that they use a website called ‘Sprout’ to draft all their posts which go on many apps such as: Facebook, Instagram, Threads etc. I got to have a go at drafting a post for Heath Week, beginning on the 28th of July, which was very fun – we even got to schedule a time when it would be published onto Facebook and Instagram.

That was it for my first day, and though it was very jam-packed, I had lots of fun. I finished off my day at home by uploading and editing my images on Adobe Lightroom, picking out the best of my pictures, to my least.

24/06/2025

Tuesday was the second day of my work experience and was very interesting as we went on a Discovery Day to Breamore. First thing that morning, we went on almost an hour’s journey to Breamore, with James, Ellie, and Josh to start our discovery day. Where we went used to be an old train station which was last in use in 1964 and had long since had its train tracks removed and had become an overgrown path. We met up with some others, like Maria and Ella and were given tools to carry, like pliers and saws. We started walking about 30-40 minutes along the path until we reached our destination.

Our task was to help cut down overgrown bushes, nettles, and trees to reveal the old culverts, the only thing remaining of the old train line. We were told that they were small tunnels that let water flow under the railway. The first thing I did was put on my gloves and started chopping at all the dead shrubbery and nettles, unfortunately a few nettles did sting me – which wasn’t very nice. I had lots of fun chopping down all those bushes, as to be quite honest, it was very therapeutic. However, my favourite bit of the Discovery Day was using a saw to cut down all the big branches. I cut down three big branches in total and it was lots of fun.

When we had walked back to our starting point, we all sat down and had some lunch, which was nice and peaceful – we even got treated to doughnuts! We got back to the office at around 14:00, where me and Zac sat in a Comms meeting for about an hour. It was also very good to see the sort of things they discuss and plan for in the future within the New Forest National Park.

After the meeting had finished, we sat down with Kieran, who was also from the comms team, and walked us through how they set up and design their videos to post on Facebook and Instagram. This lasted about 10 minutes and was quite cool to see. This marked the end of my second day.

25/06/2025

The third day was a very long and tiring day, but it was as great as all the others at the same time. For the first hour, I sat in the office with Maria, working on my blog, doing some editing, and catching up with coursework. After that, me, Zac, Maria, and Hayley (from another team) first went near Tatchbury Mount, to scope out the area for more conservation work. This to me, was very interesting as we got to take photos of things that would help benefit the National Park.

Our journey came to a break about two hours later when we stopped to get some food. After that well-earned break we went to other different places, like the woodlands and a place called Spud Works, to look at energy efficient heating. This didn’t last long but it was great either way to see how we’re trying to save our environment!

The last stop on our adventure was Snooks Farm, a property near Lymington, where we came to explore the exterior insulation on the property. All this running around was very tiring for me but it was brilliant to see what the New Forest National Park does for their community, wildlife, and environment.

26/06/2025

Like on Wednesday, for the first hour of my day, I sat in the office with Maria, working on my blog, doing some editing and uploading my photos. For the next hour, me and Zac sat in another Comms meeting about AI usage which was packed with lots of information. There was too much going on to keep up! At one point in the meeting, they were talking about how people have given, say ChatGPT, their passport to renew it – I thought that that was crazy. Would you ever truly trust AI to do that without stealing your information? I thought it was great to see the pros and cons of AI in the workplace and how it could affect my future.

Later, we sat down with Ian, an ecologist at the New Forest National Park Authority. He ran us through what sort of things we might want to think about when doing wildlife photoshoots. For example, be aware of feeding the animals, disrupting their habitats, or cutting down nature near a certain plant to get a good shot. This was all very useful and interesting to hear about as wildlife/nature photography is something that I am greatly interested in!

At about 12:00, two local photographers came into the New Forest National Park to talk to me and Zac about what it’s like to have a career in photography. This was greatly useful as it presented us with the pros and cons of being a photographer in the 21st century. For example, you’ll enjoy your career for the rest of your life, but the pay might not be to the standard, depending on what part of the photography industry you work in.

The last task of the day was to meet up with David in the comms team, discussing and uploading our pictures that we took on Monday, to their media library, using meta data. Me and Zac went through our own photos and added the best ones we took to their website. This was great as we could share not only our talents in photography but also show viewers what the National Park is like. We were given some forms, as I had previously stated that I wanted the rights to my own photos and therefore own them. This meant that I had to be included in the courtesy credit and be listed as the photographer. This was great of the National Park to do this for us, and I am ever so grateful!

27/06/2025

On the final day, at 9:00, I went with Ella and James in the van, along with Zac, and three other work experience boys (doing a different work experience placement) to Calshot, a pebbled beach area in the New Forest. We walked along the beachside for a while, taking pictures of the others litter picking, enjoying the views, and taking pictures for my own coursework and amusement. Most of the pictures that I took for my own pleasure were of flowers, as that’s what my coursework is about. I thought the flowers were so pretty! They were the type of flowers that you’d find only by the sea, which to me was very interesting.

That was it for the first part of the day, as we went back to the office and had some lunch. We then sat in with Hilary, went over our blogs, feedback sheets, paperwork, and more. 

This marked the end of my work experience placement, and I had so much fun! This entire experience has been extremely interesting and helpful – everyone at the New Forest National Park was very kind and welcoming. I’m sure this experience will benefit me in the future! Thank you!

All photos on this page were taken by Ella Reid in the New Forest during her work experience placement at the NPA