Wedding Photographer John Baikie Gains Another Qualification

26th April 2006

Thurso-based photographer John Baikie of Caithness Photographic has just been awarded an important qualification by the Society Of Wedding and Portrait Photographers. John, who has just set up a new wedding based business called Captiv8, has been awarded a Licentiate by the society, which is one of the fastest growing photographers association in the world. The award was given under very unusual circumstances, in that he did not submit any prints!

John was delighted to hear the news this week, as it was completely unexpected. "I had been thinking about doing this for a few years now but for various reasons, never got round to it." He explains, "The SWPP have a programme in place where you can now submit a few images on CD and have them assesses to see if you are on track for qualifications, and if not they offer guidance, training programmes etc." John sent off a disc to Martin Grahame-Dunn FSWPP, FMPA, FRSA, QEP, Hon.FMPA, who runs the programme, and waited to hear what his next step would be. He was then shocked to receive a letter from Mr Grahame-Dunn which informed him that his submitted wedding work was of "superb quality, and both exciting and innovative" and he was "capable of much higher distinction". He then went on to say that John was to be awarded the Licentiate in the wedding category without any need to supply any work. He has requested that John sets his sights on the next level, Associateship, as soon as he possibly can. Juliet Jones on behalf of the SWPP said that John "has achieved an important milestone in his photography career and should be very proud to have reached this important level of achievement"

"This was a real surprise" said John "normally a photographer must submit a panel of 15 mounted prints to be assessed by qualified judges before they can receive this qualification" he went on "I have never heard of it being awarded in this manner before and I am very proud of this". "To have such a highly qualified photographer as Martin, who is one of the most qualified guys in the country, speak about your work in such a way is a great feeling" "I have always tried to create my own unique style of photography at weddings, and it's great to be recognised for doing something different as that is one thing which is often discussed by photographers. The opinion seems to be that too many photographers nowadays just copy what others are doing and don't try to be creative. So to be described as 'Innovative' meant a lot"

John now plans to keep moving forward with his work with a view to achieving the Associateship, but knows it is going to be hard work. "The Associateship is a very difficult qualification to achieve and is described as "Excellence" in photography. However it makes me even more enthusiastic about my work and I will look forward to trying to create an even higher standard of photography"

John has just won the SWPP Photographer of the month for March in the monochrome section with one of his wedding images, following on from a similar success in the Children section in February. Only three awards have gone to Scottish photographers during these two months and he has won two of them. The winners of the monthly categories go forward to the Photographer of the year awards in London in January with the overall winner receiving a Digital SLR camera and an all expenses paid trip to Las Vegas.

More information on John's photography can be found on his websites
Caithness Photographic
captiv8