We have just returned from Focus - our annual trade show, which we try to get to each year to check out new products and meet with old friends. This year we had an extra special reason for attending as after months of hard work Sally was ready to submit her panel in the hope of being awarded her Licentiate qualification by the Master Photographers Association.
The following is the press release we have just received:
Local photographer scoops national qualification
Rochford based photographer, Sally Claydon of Studio Rochford has been welcomed into the ranks of the Master Photographers Association (MPA) after being awarded a prestigious Licentiate qualification.
The MPA, the leading organisation within the photographic industry, prides itself on the quality of its members. Membership of the Association is only open to full time professional photographers, with strict entry requirements.
Eric Jenkins, chairman of the qualifying committee said: “It is a great honour for a photographer to be awarded a qualification and have their work recognised. A Licentiate award indicates that the photographer is a qualified member of the Association. It also demonstrates their competency in their chosen field of photography which reassures members of the public that they are using the services of a qualified photographer.”
Receiving a Licentiate qualification is the first in a series of three qualifications awarded to photographers by the MPA. All candidates must attain the Association’s Licentiate qualification before being admitted to full membership. This level of achievement shows their thorough understanding of camera techniques, lighting and composition and, of course, the ability to deliver quality photography.
Sally’s full panel can be seen at www.studiorochford.co.uk. She can be contacted at Studio Rochford on 01702 542842 or via e-mail at studio@studiorochford.co.uk
The New Year always starts with the rounds of wedding fairs and 2009 was no different with us exhibiting throughout January at Lords Golf & Country Club, The Lawn and Debenhams in Southend. The feedback this year has been great and as well as our 2009 season quickly filling up we have some very organised brides for 2010 booking too.
We are making some really exciting changes to our business and following on from our success in the British Professional Photography Awards last year, we are concentrating much of our efforts this year on providing the best possible service to our wedding clients. To do this it is our intention to continue to invest our time in training and furthering our professional qualifications with the Master Photographers Association. Sally and I both have fabulous mentors who are at the top of their game in the UK and working with them will enable us to take our photography to the next level - and we can’t wait!!
We have just reviewed all of our packages and introduced a new exciting range, using only the best products from Queensberry and GraphiStudio and we are thrilled with the reactions from the couples we spoke to at the wedding fairs.
We have also changed the way in which we will proof out to our clients with a state of the art viewing room being recently finished. No comfort will be spared - and we are going to have to watch our waistlines as our couples tuck in to their choice of meal and a glass of wine while making their album choices, we’ll have to make sure we don’t join in too often!!
No post is complete without a photograph - so here is one of the latest images we’ve been displaying at the fairs.
One of our lovely weddings from the summer has made it in to the Real Weddings feature in the current (November/December) issue of An Essex Wedding - also at www.anessexwedding.com
Sarah & Rob were married at Porters in Southend, followed by a wonderfully relaxed reception in the beachside restaurant Ocean Beach - all beautifully managed by their wedding planner Zoe Lingard www.zoelingard.co.uk
I’ve realised that updating a blog is a bit like keeping a diary - something that I’ve never been good at. I start with great intentions then get caught up in real life and suddenly it’s months since the last entry. So - my early New Year’s resolution is to try to keep this as updated as possible with whatever we are doing at the time, be that weddings or chatting about the best face cream for pre-40 wrinkles. Let’s see if I managed to break it before 2009 even sets in!!
My wedding last weekend was on the windiest day of the summer so far and Sam and Adam chose St Margaret’s in Downham for their service - a church which sits atop of one of the very few hills in Essex. Years ago I saw a photographer use clothes pegs to weight a veil - might be an idea to have a couple in the bag…….
My favourite shot of the day - just for novelty value is of the Vicar actually doing my job, rather than trying to stop me!
Entering a print competition is always nerve wracking, I’ve just entered my second one and pleased to say didn’t come away empty handed. The question is whether I’m brave enough to enter the British Professional Photography Awards in a few weeks time - we’ll see.
My award came form a print of Emma & Mark’s wedding shot at Leez Priory at the end of May. Thanks to them for making it such a lovely job!
Our sincere apologies to those of you who have experienced a problem accessing our website since Wednesday. The server, on which our site is hosted suffered a catastrophic failure of it’s on board RAID controller, which handles the array of disks used to store our website. Our hosts have been working continuously since then to restore service and have advised us this morning that our site is fully functional once again. There are a number of events that will need to be uploaded once more and we will endeavour to do this today. Our thanks for your patience during this time.
At the end of 2007 I was lucky enough to win an award at the British Professional Photography Awards - the category of You and Your Wedding, Bride’s choice. The May-June issue of the magazine has just gone on sale and includes a free supplement specifically about wedding photography, in which the studio is featured - our first national editorial! I will be doing a live webchat at www.youandyourweddding.co.uk from4pm on Tuesday 20th May, please come and join in!!
I spent last night with Gemma & Rob choosing images for their album. It’s always lovely to watch a couple’s reaction when seeing their photographs for the first time and I was really pleased that a sequence from the church service that I had loved were also amongst their favourites. For all of the vicars, priests and registrars out there who don’t allow photography during the ceremony - please reconsider!
Jo
Gemma realising that Rob had initially given her the wrong hand
Chris telling the congregation what Rob had just said….
