This week I learned that I had passed my NZIPP Q award.
What is an NZIPP Q award I hear you cry?
The NZIPP or New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography is the qualifying body for professional photographers in New Zealand. The Q programme is simply the process of becoming a qualified member. Think master builders and the like. There are 3 areas to qualify in; Commercial, Portrait or Wedding. Of course the genre for me is portrait.
To take a quote directly from the NZIPP website “The NZIPP Accreditation programme exists to establish a standard of quality in the businesses of the institutes’ members. It identifies NZIPP Accredited Professional Photographers to the public as photographers who have attained a credible quality standard.”
Let me tell you, submitting the portfolio of 12 images for Q is not for the faint hearted! Asking advice from other members, going back and forth with different image options. Then attending a critique night where a panel of some of the best photographers in the industry provide feedback, all the while you’re sitting there listening to their totally honest, occasionally brutally so, opinions is a nerve wracking experience. And that’s before you even send the final selection in for review and eagerly await the result!
As difficult as it is to hear criticism of images that you’re proud of, it is not done with malicious intent, only to make you a better photographer. And it does. I strive to achieve perfect images in camera and learning from the wealth of experience of qualified NZIPP photographers goes a long way to helping me reach that goal on every single one of my sessions. The great thing about the NZIPP it is continually promotes growth and education for its members.
So after choosing my final 12 and sending them in, the images were picked apart, virtually pixel by pixel, by the panel of industry leading judges who look for everything that makes a good image. From composition, exposure, and all that technical stuff, to creativity, style, expression and emotion. The list goes on.
Why should this matter to you?
This qualification and the process of continuing to hold it (my work will be continually assessed) gives you the reassurance that I’m not just a guy with a camera. Rather, a serious professional in my field, whose work is considered to be of a high professional standard by the regulating body in New Zealand. It gives you peace of mind that I am the man for the job!
The fact that I am the first specialist pet photographer in New Zealand to qualify is the icing on the cake!
So that’s quite enough of me bragging, I don’t do it very often! The images you see below are the 12 that I submitted. I’d love to know what you think of them in the comments below or head over to my Facebook or Instagram pages and join the discussion there, be honest, I’ve got much thicker skin after this process!
If you’d like to know more about a FURtography session, please get in touch.
To find out more about the NZIPP head over to their website.
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