The last 15 years of my working life had been spent as an electrical engineer. It is a fast moving industry and you quickly learn that you will keep learning new things. There are fancy names for it like continued professional development, but really it comes down to keeping an open mind, embracing change and learning new things. Constantly.
If you are old enough to remember back to the days of Miners Strikes, Steel plants closing and the related headlines, most of it came down to the fact there would be a lack of jobs.
The world we live in means we have to embrace change.
So when launching my photography business it was important to invest my time and building my network with other professional photographers.
I’ve been really lucky to have trained with some of the leading photographers in the industry, attended seminars and workshop, and generally immersed myself in the industry to get the best out of it.
After two years of continuous training, the next step was to achieve professional qualification and a ‘title’ with one of our industry bodies. For me, attitude towards developing education and the business of members of the Master Photographers Association resonated, and became my professional home.
Professional qualification works at three levels, Licentiate, Associate and Fellow, alongside most professional organisations.
To Qualify, a selection of your work is critiqued and assessed by a panel of judges, along side this your business practices, marketing and health and safety/insurances are also reviewed.
On 19th March 2017, Daniel Adams and Nevina Holland, classmates from the past two years training, accompanied me to the Photography Show at the Birmingham NEC where our work would be placed in front of the judges, ready for inspection.
Daniel, Nevina and I all recieved our Licentiate Qualifications that day.
Dan and I are pictured here with our Mentor and Master Photographers Association Chairman, Ray Lowe.
The Master Photographers Association (MPA) is the qualifying body for professional photographers.
A not-for-profit organisation, committed to working with the photographic trade to raise the standards in professional photography.
