The Perfect Photography Qualification Panel

So after a while of being a photographer, you decide you want to go for a higher qualification, but where do you start?

Kevin Pengelly will talk you through the steps you need to take to gain that qualification you desire (for example Guild of Photographers Qualification). With most qualifications photographers also struggle knowing where to start the best advice I can give is seek mentoring within the association you wish to submit with, the BIPP, MPA, SWPP, RPS and the Guild are all a little different with there qualification rules, your mentor will guide you through everything you need to do to gain that qualification.

Kevin is speaking at this year’s Residency of the North event in July 2019. Qualifications 101 And How They Can Boost Your Business Mentoring Masterclass – Panels, Iom And Print Comps

For this blog, I will be concentrating on the Guild as I am one of the Panel members /judge and mentor. Lets set out the qualification structure with the BIPP, MPA and SWPP the qualifications are Licentiate, Associate and Fellow, now with the Guild it is Qualified, Craftsman and Master Craftsman.

Let’s concentrate on the Guild qualification structure firstly with Qualified.

Qualified Photographer

Guild ‘Qualified’ status is therefore aligned to standards of competence that reflect a level where the customer should be ‘pleased with the results’ when employing the services of a skilled tradesman (the photographer). In other words, ‘Qualified’ indicates professional ‘competence’ to a level where the Guild is willing to recognise the photographer as an ambassador of the association, so those who achieve that level should be proud of doing so.

You need to submit a total of 21 images taken by you in the past 24 months and relevant to the area in which you seek qualification.
If you are in business, the images should be what you have taken for customers or potential customers.

The images are presented digitally (with the longest length of 1200 pixels), all images must be jpeg. And numbered 1 to 21 these can be sent via Dropbox or WeTransfer. Together with a short purposeful written brief may assist our evaluation of your submission. If you are in business, a copy of your PL and PI Insurance Certificate is also required.

Our judging process involves 5 judges reviewing your submission and can be made at any time of the year.

As you can see for your first qualification, it is in Digital format, and all the judges are looking for is are you are a competent photographer that understands light, composition, posing, use of aperture to shutter speed etc.

Craftsman

Craftsman, this is now where it gets a little different, and from my experience as a mentor, the biggest problem photographers have is they do not print! And the difference it makes when images are well printed!

So many images can look so different on a computer screen to when they are beautifully printed.

Photographers I have mentored over the years have learnt so much about printing and how important it is when going for qualification, it really does make a huge difference when you see images that have been well printed and also well presented. Guild ‘Craftsman’ status is, as one would imagine, aligned to the exacting standards of a true ‘Craftsman’.

Therefore to attain this level, we add an increasing level of professional critique to evaluate our members work. In other words, we get increasingly ‘fussy’ and look in minutiae at all the elements of photographic understanding. Those that achieve this accolade have demonstrated the finest technical skills and an exceptionally creative and artistic ‘eye’.

This will be 20 printed images, window mounted onto 16”x12” boards this is a really important element your presentation.

• The minimum print size is to be no smaller than 80 square inches.
• Images must also be supplied on a USB drive
• Images must have been taken within 3 years

If you are in business, you also need to submit an actual finished product that a customer would get from you. Plus a copy of your PL and PI Insurance Certificate is also required.

A Craftsman’s submission should be a body of work that is cohesive, it should not be a random body of 20 images put together, your panel needs to gel together in cropping, colour, subject matter, storytelling and symmetry.

Your mentor will guide you through your image selection and one thing that is strongly recommended is getting test prints printed. As not all images will be good on certain papers, this is why you go to the experts like Digitalab. Who will print these samples so you can make your own mind up to how your images look printed on different paper.

As a mentor, this really is the most important part of going for your craftsman. Your prints and presentation are so important, with the help of Digitalab they can help you with this process. So often I hear “oh I never print my images” it really is a learning process.

Master Craftsman

Finally, in the same way as when a ‘Craftsman’ was granted the highest accolade of ‘Master Craftsman’ having created something truly exceptional (their ‘masterpiece’), a ‘Craftsman’ within the Guild of Photographers can only achieve the acknowledgement of being a ‘Master Craftsman’ by producing their own Photographic masterpiece.

• This will be 20 printed images; window mounted onto 20″ x16″ boards.
• The minimum print size is to be no smaller than 80 square inches.
• Images must also be supplied on a USB drive
• Images must have been taken within 5 years
• If you are in business, you also need to submit 2 actual finished products that a customer would get from you
• If you are in business, a copy of your PL and PI Insurance Certificate is also required

It should tell a story show a distinct style and of course be of the highest quality once again like the Craftsman submission the printing of your panel needs to be of the highest quality.

As you will have read it is not as simple as many think printing plays a very important part in the qualification you can see so much more detail in a print there is no hiding any errors when your images are placed under the lights in the judging room.

This really is all about the POWER OF PRINT.

Many photographic labs can help you with your printing requirements; of course, Digitalab are experts in their photography printing field and come very highly recommended.