Well, where do I start?! Ever since I achieved my Licentiateship in Newborn Photography with the Master Photographers Association (MPA) in 2018 I knew I wanted to push myself further and achieve my Associateship. It was also something that I knew would take a lot of hard work and dedication. I always want to make sure that I give every family who visits the studio the best possible memories of their precious family journey and pushing myself towards higher qualifications is the perfect way to do just that.

What does an Associate qualification entail?

So an Associate qualification is where a photographer needs to have developed their own, unique style. Their initial Licentiate qualification demonstrates that they have a basic understanding of photography lighting and posing. An Associateship takes it way beyond that. In the words of Paul Cooper, who heads up the Qualifications team for the MPA, 'the judges will now be looking for more attention to detail and a more cohesive set of images.'

Very importantly with ALL newborn qualifications with the MPA, the photographer MUST show a complete understanding of all the safety aspects of newborn photography. This, to me, this is something that is just as, if not more important that the photography techniques. It is also something I am hugely passionate about. I have already achieved a Silver standard Newborn Certification with the MPA, which examines in minute detail every aspect of newborn photography safety and makes sure you continue to assess this on a regular basis. This has to be updated annually and so is always at the forefront of every session in my studio.

So where did I start my Associateship journey?

My journey to achieving my Associateship started with a theme....well I say that but the original theme morphed from it's inception!!!

I first started to look seriously at submitting for my Associate just before lockdown came into force. Hence my initial theme was a rainbow, for obvious reasons! I then started looking at which portraits I already had and where I needed to capture additional portraits. The main problem with a rainbow was that my style is very natural, with any colours being subtle and so a rainbow was never really going to work. I therefore 'adapted' the rainbow theme and went more with coordinated colours that match my style of newborn portraiture. After all, the whole point of an Associateship is that the photographer is developing their own style!

What happened next?

As anyone who has visited the studio knows, I always have a Zoom consultation before every newborn session to run through the session and, in particular, discuss colour schemes.

A very important part of an Associate qualification, or in fact any qualification, with the MPA is that all portraits MUST be from commissioned work. This means every portrait is from a client's gallery. This, to me is very important. I want to make sure that every family who visits the studio is receiving the same high standard of portraits that truly represent their most precious moments. If the qualifications panels were made up of work produced specifically for a qualification panel then this wouldn't be the case.

So I had an image of my Associate panel in my head and I knew which colour schemes would work within that panel. It was then just a case of waiting for my clients to choose those colours. They were all popular colours and so I knew it would be possible.

Picking my final panel.

With the first step complete, I then had to put together a panel of 20 portraits that would sit beautifully together and be truly representative of my photography style. This is where the MPA mentoring programme comes in. Every photographer who wants to submit a panel for qualification is allocated a mentor. They are normally Fellows of the MPA and have a wealth of experience in both photography and the qualification process. I was lucky enough to be allocated Ray Lowe, FMPA, who is also the Chairman of the MPA.

Once I had what I thought was a final-ish panel, I sent them through to Ray. He then went through them with a fine-toothed comb and gave me some amazing feedback. He was very encouraging but also pointed out the flaws in my panel and the portraits that he felt didn't 'sit well' in the collection. He was, of course, completely right!! So it was back to the drawing board with a few of the portraits, which was fine as I wanted to get my panel spot on.

The final hurdle!

So after a couple more submissions to Ray, I finally nailed my panel of 20 portraits. The next job was my Creative Profile!

Easy I thought naively!!! The Creative Profile gives the judges a true sense of you as a photographer as well as your business. It helps them to understand how your style has developed and how you have developed your business around it. It also goes into minute detail about each of your 20 portraits. It includes detailed lighting setups, camera settings and also the creative thought process behind each portrait. You can't leave anything out!

Although the Creative Profile was hard work, I absolutely loved putting it together. It was great to be able to document every detail about each of the portraits. I even included feedback from  wonderful families after their gallery presentations. After all, at the end of the day I want the families to love their portraits as much as me!! The sense of achievement I felt when I finished the Creative Profile and put it together with my panel was incredible and something I will always be proud of!

The judging!

Submissions have changed slightly since lockdown. For my Licentiate I had to travel to Hatfield to present my panel live. It was very scary but great to receive your result there and then. However, as with many things, since lockdown the judging process has moved online. While a sample of your panel is printed off by the judges to ensure print quality, the full panel is judged digitally. The panel of judges include five internationally renown photographers and they mark the panel out of 400 - the pass mark is 340. 

So once I had submitted my panel, all that was left to do was sit back and wait!! Waiting to hear the results was a nerve-wracking time and seemed to go soooo slowly! So when I eventually received the call from Paul Cooper at 3.15pm on that Friday, my heart was in my mouth! He said 'Sarah there is something I need you to do this weekend...........celebrate, you've passed!" I'm not sure Paul will be able to hear clearly ever again as I screamed down the phone at him!!! Also, anyone who saw me on the school run straight after I had received the call might now understand why I was grinning madly the whole time!!!

What the judges said

A week or so after you receive your result, you receive the feedback from the judges and the scores, which is great and really helpful going forward too. After all, there is always room to make my portraits even better and ensure my clients receive the very best. You also receive an appraisal of the panel, based on the judges comments and comments from Ray Lowe, who was also my mentor, which is great. My final score was 370/400, which I am really pleased with. One of the judges said 'A well constructed Newborn Associateship Panel making good use of colour and available props. This panel shows good patience and empathy with the subjects and the ability to work according to client requests. It was a pleasure to judge this panel which was accompanied by a very concise creative profile.' The panel also gave some great feedback and pointed out areas where I can continue to improve. This is something I am always keen to do to give my clients the very best, which is why I regularly enter competitions and also continue training and qualifying.

Here is my panel

I am so proud of my panel and love being able to finally show it off. I have put a short video together so why not put your feet up for a couple of minutes, turn up the volume and have a watch. I have also included my full panel below as well as the final layout. I hope you enjoy looking through them as much as I enjoyed putting them together.

Special thanks!

I have to take a few minutes to give some very special thank yous! Firstly, I obviously have to thank the amazing families who have visited the studio and trusted me to capture their most precious memories. Without you all I wouldn't have been able to achieve my Associateship.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to Ray Lowe for his amazing mentorship and for helping me finalise my panel. Then there are special thank yous to my fellow photographers Rachel Sloan and Elli Cassidy, who have both been hugely supportive during my journey and have believed in me even when I was faltering!!!

Lastly, but by no means least, I would like to thank my husband and three boys, who have put up with me spending valuable family time putting my panel together and writing my Creative Profile. They also put up with me being on tenter hooks waiting for my result!!!