The Easter bank holiday got off to a particularly positive start for me as I thought I’d pop into my local sorting office before hitting the road down South for a weekend of both work and family celebrations. I seem to have a constant stream of deliveries and am well known (sadly!) in both my local post and sorting office. On this occasion though I really couldn’t think what I had recently ordered or could be waiting for…. I received the envelope with the SWPP (Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers) logo on it with apprehension but had to open it before the long drive south. It felt like receiving exam results which I suppose it’s similar to in a way but it’s been quite a while since the last of those came my way…! I scan read the letter looking for either the word ‘successful’ or ‘unfortunately’ and thankfully I was quickly met with the first. I was absolutely delighted to have made the grade and got my Licentiate Qualification, the first of the SWPP qualifications I have put myself forward for. My brain is already whirling with ideas for my next panel to  achieve my Associateship which is the next step in the ladder and I plan to start shooting some more personal Equine projects with this qualification in mind next month so watch this space!

Working towards these qualifications doesn’t change anything over night for me and my photography but it feels like an important step for me personally as well as supporting the industry. To gain the different levels of qualification you have to submit a panel of work which demonstrates your abilities as a photographer and these panels then get judged by an international panel of photographers. I was thrilled to have received an overall mark of 96% for the panel of images I submitted and had some really lovely comments from the judges as well as some constructive advice on how to improve things going forward. For me working towards my Licentiateship and now going on to work towards my Associateship makes sure I keep raising the bar for my photography and striving to improve as a professional photographer.

I am very grateful to all of my wonderful clients whose images I was able to use for this panel and of course for booking me and making these shoots happen in the first place! I feel incredible lucky to love what I do so much and be able to work with such wonderful people and animals all the time. This year has already got off to a great start and I’m very much looking forward to some very exciting shoots over the next few months! If you would like to book a shoot please get in touch or see my galleries for more examples of my work and if you’re not already on my social media please do join me there!

Until next time!

Ciara x

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Click below to watch the slideshow of the images that were in my Licentiateship Panel.