Choosing your photographer

Hello! I've been very negligent in keeping my blog up to date and I've promised myself that I will do better.

One thing that has given me great cause for concern of late is the number of photographers calling themselves professionals when in fact they are part-timers making pin money on a weekend by offering their their services to photograph weddings. You can usually identify them by their telephone number, a mobile only, and/or the lack of a business address. Now I have no objection to anyone making money out of their hobby but to call themselves professionals is beyond the pale!

I know of one such part timer who has the audacity to advertise himself as "an award winning photographer". As a member of The Master Photographers Association (MPA) I know for a fact that he is not a member of my professional body and nowhere on his website does he state to which photographic organisation he belongs. So, you have to ask yourself, what awards has he won, for what and by whom were the awards awarded??

I know he has won awards for website design because those were mentioned on his previous website (he now calls himself by another name. I wonder why??) But, given that he doesn't mention membership of any professional organisation, can he be believed?

I recently came across another website where I noticed some pictures that were rather familiar. In February I attended the Focus on Imaging exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham. This is a regular pilgrimage for me every year. On the Hasselblad stand they had a setup studio with a backdrop of silver birch trees, studio lighting and models. As usual there were lots of wannabees there(you can always tell them by the cameras festooned round their necks!!), with their mid-range digitals taking photographs of the model. Now there's nothing wrong with this if they are using the photos they take as part of the learning experience but imagine my surprise at seeing shots taken of this setup being shown and offered for sale on this person's website!!

I contacted the "photographer" concerned to ask him if he thought it was (a) ethical and (b) professional to be offering for sale pictures that he had not set up and could not reproduce (without spending a load of dosh!!) The photos soon disappeared from his website!

As a professional my first concern is my client(s) and it annoys me when less-than-professional people offer services to the public and receive money under false pretences. I have seen some appalling results of wedding photography carried out by this kind of photographer. It seems that they buy a digital camera and think they can then call themselves a professional wedding photographer and take hundreds of pictures in the hope of getting a few decent shots. Machine-gun photography!! Wedding photography is something one has to get right first time. You cannot go back and do it again!

As a member of the MPA I have to be a full-time professional photographer and my work has to be judged by a panel of my peers as being of a required standard. I also have to have Professional Indemnity and Public Liablity insurance. These requirements are non-negotiable in order to be a MPA member. I wonder how many "weekend warriors" have ANY insurance? Not many, I would guess!

So, to sum up all this, I would recommend anyone looking to hire the services of a professional photographer to bear all the above in mind when assessing who you want to shoot your wedding, take your portrait, etc, etc.