I did it!  I’m a qualified photographer at last!  This last few months has been a strange time for all of us.  Many people have completed household DIY tasks that needed finishing, tended to their garden or decluttered their homes.  I did none of those things.  I spent a lot of the time on a journey of self discovery, thinking about my life, who I am and where I want to go!  I spent time falling back in love with photography for me!  Whilst I love my job I rarely photograph for myself anymore so I spent time capturing things I love,  photographing the sunrise and sunset, my children, my furry family members and generally perfecting my craft.

I learnt many things about myself and where I want to be in 10 years time, and one thing is certain I always want to be able to be a family photographer. I want to always capture your family memories and create art for your family homes, I always want to be a baby photographer, working with new parents to capture this fleeting moment in time.    During my 6 and a half years in business I have undertaken many training courses and learnt new skills regularly ensuring that I can be the best photographer I can be however until now I have never done anything to gain formal recognistion of my skill.

As part of my journey of self discovery I decided that this was something I could rectify whilst being unable to work!    As a member of The Guild of Photographers I am able to work towards 3 levels of recognition, Qualified, Craftman and Master craftman.  Each level is broken down into 4 different catagories so you can gain recognition in your chosen field, for me The guild of Newborn and Baby Photographers was the obvious choice. 

 I knew from the monthly competition that I enter and regularly win awards through and via the mentoring scheme I am apart of that I had lots of work in my portfolio that is of the required level so I just needed to dig deep and find the confidence to believe in my ability and compile a panel.   

In order to gain recognitiion as a Qualified member of the Guild of Baby and Newborn photographers I was required to submit a panel  from 7 different models, 3 images from each creating 21 images in total.    The judges assess the panel based on 12 elements: Impact, Presentation, Technical Excellence, Lighting, Technique, Creativity, Story Telling, Subject Matter, Colour Balance, Composition, Centre of Interest and Style.  So gaining qualification is no easy task.

Selecting images to use was a challange in itself.  One thing that has been important to me throughout my competition career is that the images I submit have been real client images and not images specfically created for the purpose of competition!  It was important to me that the images used within my panel were also all real client images taken during genuine sessions where capturing sufficinet images within a given time frame was one of the many factors influencing my work. 

Once I finally selected my 7 models and narrowed it down to 3 images each I had to also submit a supporting statement regarding my photography career and the choice of images selected and then the nervous wait for the verdict began!  The panel of judges meet once a month to assess any panels submitted for Qualification and I was very lucky (more a fluke) that I happened to send mine over only a couple of days prior to the assessment date!  But those 2 days were long enough.

Finally after a long couple of days waiting and then on decision day constantly refreshing my email inbox I received the news!  I had done it,  I was officially a qualified photographer!  Not only that but I recieved No advisories from the judges.  6 and a 1/2 years of hard work and determination and I finally had the recognition as a qualified photographer.   This qualification would not have been possible without all of my clients who grant me permission to share their images in the public domain, so to each and everyone one of you Thank you.  Thank you for allowing me to share you beautiful children with the world, thank you for trusting me and choosing me to be your photographer.  

I have no intention of leaving it another 6 1/2 years before submitting a panel for my Craftsman status ,  Work on this has already began! So watch this space.    

Marie

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