Tag: Dog photography

Master Craftsman

 

I have no idea where time goes these days! I had meant to write this post last week.

So in October 2019 I started work towards my next photographic qualification Master Craftsman/Fellowship. I had decided I wanted to create a panel to celebrate older dogs. The criteria was set at 13 yrs or above. I did make one exception for an elderly Great Dane at 12 yrs old that is a fantastic achievement for such a large breed.

Lots of you kindly volunteered your dogs as models for the project and we had fun doing the shoots and I met lots of lovey dogs and people and was overwhelmed with the love they had for their four legged friends.

All photographic organisations have their own qualification system.  Licencieate, Associate & Fellow or Qualified, Craftsman & Master Craftsman.

The Guild of photographers are as follows.

‘Qualified’ status is 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.

‘Craftsman’ status is aligned to the exacting standards of a true ‘Craftsman’. Therefore to attain this level 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 exceptional creative and artistic ‘eye’.

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.

Creating a panel is not for the faint hearted! A lot of work goes into it and even I had underestimated this having done my Craftsman Level last year..

You have to supply a panel of 20 images mounted in 20″x16″ mounts a piece of Wall Art and an album and a statement of intent. These are then presented in person and judged by 5 members of the Guilds qualified judging panel.

I am really pleased to say that I was awarded my Master Craftsman on the 21st May 2019.

I would firstly like to thank all the dogs and thier owners. Sadly three of the dogs that participated and had their images in the panel have left us on this world but they will be forever in their owners and my hearts. I would like to thank my friends and family that have supported me, and those that have taught me over the years. You all know who you are.

 

 

 

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Associate Qualification

In what ever walk of life you follow, you can never stop learning and improving. I strive to continually improve my photography. I attend regular mentoring, workshops, seminars, online training and trade events.

As a Mum of a young family and three agility dogs, time is not always on my side and I have been meaning to submit a panel for my Associate Qualification for some time now.

Although I think the images I produce are more important to my clients than whether I have a qualification or not, it is alway nice to have formal recognition for the images I produce although nothing will beat watching my clients smile as they see their images for the first time and stuggle to choose which ones they want.

Associateship – what does it mean? (from SWPP website)

At this standard, we are viewing images that not only display a high degree of technical ability, but also portray imagination and creativity in execution and presentation. These are important factors that often go hand in hand with higher prices as this qualification is held by the top 10% of practitioners, who coincidentally are often impressive image makers and astute businessmen.

My passion is Canine Photography so this is what I based my panel on and tried to show a wide range of work. It is based on my studio work rather than location as this area is more challenging technically as a photographer and a mix of studio and location did not look right.

I am glad to say my submission was sucessful and I am now Mel Taylor ASWPP

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