Pro Photography WA

A new Professional Photography association is well underway for WA professional photographers and videographers, designed to suit the diverse and present-day nature of the industry. Pro Photography WA is designed to be flexible, light on administrative and running costs and focused on the needs of professionals. As one of the key organisers Mark Brierley explains,

“Our main purpose is to bring together likeminded people with a shared passion for photography and videography at a professional level”.

“We plan to create a community which offers the opportunity for continuous development of knowledge and skills and provide a network to support members in pursuit of high standards and professional goals.”

The formalities and legalities are well underway with the association now incorporated and beginning to be financial, and initial committee members are now established.

The spark that set-off the creation of this new association has been from a groundswell of local professional photographers who sensed that that there is a void in the industry and there is an opportunity for a new and vibrant professional association to be created to cater for the wide and diverse genre of photographers that currently work in a challenging industry.

Membership Categories and Fees – including a special offer

Open now for application and begins 1^st July 2022. If you apply now your annual membership fee will extend for 18 months for the price of 12. So your next renewal payment will be in 2024. You can download the membership application here:

Ordinary Member $200 pa plus $50 joining fee – TOTAL $250

Student Member $50 pa plus $50 joining fee – TOTAL $100

Retired Member $50 pa plus $50 joining fee – TOTAL $100

Requirements for application for each category

Ordinary Member

• A portfolio of 20 images of a professional quality. Images are to be high quality jpgs (set export quality to 100%) sized 20cm long edge and 200dpi. Please upload to a date transfer site (e.g. Dropbox) and send the link with your application email.
• Proof of 50 points from the following list. NOTE: Insurance, ABN, website, social media pages, etc. must all be related to the photographic/videographic business of the applicant:
• Public Liability insurance – 20 pts
• Active ABN – 20 pts
• Formal Qualification at Diploma level (AQF 5) or higher – 20 pts
• If currently employed in a photographic/videographic business, an employment letter from your employer – 20 pts § Previous AIPP Accredited Member – 20 pts
• Current member of an overseas professional photography/videography association (e.g. NZIPP, BIPP, etc.) – 15 pts
• Owner/operator of a photographic/videographic service or supplier business – 20 pts
• Previous recognised awards (max three) – 15 pts each
• Website – 10 pts
• Active social media pages – 10 pts
• Working With Children Check – 10 pts
• Police clearance – 10 pts
• Client Reference (max three) – 10 pts each
• Peer Reference (max three) – 10 pts
• Exhibited a collection of images at a Gallery, within last 10 years (max three) – 10 pts

Student Member

• Proof of current enrolment in an Australian course which upon successful completion would result in the award of a qualification in photography/videography at Diploma (AQF 5) level or higher.

Retiree Member

• Proof of full retirement from the workplace, and earning an income from the business or photography/videography or a related business for the ten years immediately preceding retirement.

Accreditation

Official accreditation has taken some time to research and we are very conscious of doing this next step correctly and legally. So our plan is to offer this in 2023. More details will be released as we finalise the details but our thoughts so far are as follows:

Accredited Professional Member $200 for 2 years accreditation.

Note; This is in addition to your normal membership subs of $200 per year, therefore a total payment of $600 for two years of being an Accredited Member)

Reapplication for Accredited Membership must occur every 2 years for accreditation to remain relevant.

Requirements for application:

• A portfolio of 20 images of a professional quality. These images will have a higher assessment standard than the ordinary member.
• Proof of 100 points from a similar list to the ordinary membership – to be advised.

[Note: this is our draft plan for Accredited Membership for now]

So what will you be receiving for joining Pro Photography WA?

• Discounts and support from our sponsors
• Discounted ticket prices to events
• Members only events
• Mentoring opportunities
• Monthly newsletter
• Our FB community
• And most importantly, access to the largest network in WA for photography and videography

Our future events

We have so many ideas that our heads are over flowing, but we would love to hear from you. If there is something in particular you have in mind, please share it with the committee and we will do our best to make it happen. We would see our favourite events return such as the Decathlon and the State Awards, but they will be new and improved to cater to our WA community.

Our next catch up will be Friday 24^th June at 6pm at the Brisbane Hotel so come along and have questions answered and enjoy some time socialising and being a part of the community. The committee members will be there.

Other future events for 2022 are in the planning stages and include a breakfast meeting and of course a Christmas Party.

Questions:

If you have any questions you can get in touch with us via our website or facebook page and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

So where to now?

The emergence of this new association is a great opportunity to develop a photography community for the benefit of all professional photographers in WA. It’s an association that has low overhead and minimal running costs so that all the funds raised through membership and sponsors is used for the sole benefit of Members.

This is exciting and I hope relevant to you, to support you in your continual development of your talents, skills, experience, knowledge – to be the best professional photographer in your field.

Published July 15th, 2022.