The Importance of Giving Back & Growing Our Photographic Community

Being an excellent photographer requires more than taking beautiful photos.  As you grow in your photography career you will realize that using your camera during that big shoot becomes less of a focus until one day the operation of your camera, lenses and lighting is nearly automatic and takes minimal if any active thought.  During this transition, focus shifts from the camera to the complete attention to the client and their products.  This moment marks the transition from photographer to professional.  When this happens we become an integral part of our client's experience.  

Watching and helping you grow to become the most powerful artist you were designed to be is the reason that we’ve establishes an Apprentice Program at our creative studio. The apprentice program is specifically designed for photographers who are progressing at their craft, who have good technical camera knowledge, and who want to further their photography career. A sense of passion about offering the finest art to clients is something we care about deeply.

Apprenticeships bring together individuals, who are motivated and working hard to develop themselves, and employers, investing in their own success but supporting a wider program of social, environmental and economic value.

An Apprenticeship is a job with an accompanying skills development program. It allows the apprentice to gain technical knowledge and real practical experience, along with functional and personal skills, required for their immediate and long-term career path. These are acquired through a mix of learning in the workplace and the opportunity to practice and embed new skills in a real work context. This broader mix differentiates the Apprenticeship experience from training delivered to meet narrowly focused job needs.

The photo imaging workforce can be broadly divided into the following categories:

• Image producers at retail
• Picture libraries and agencies
• Manufacturers

Across the photography industry as a whole, 91% of companies employ five people or fewer. The photo sector increasingly requires a workforce with a wide ranging skill set, combining technical proficiency with creativity, visual awareness and business acumen. Practitioners need to be motivated and self-sufficient, committed and enthusiastic. Career success typically requires a strong passion for the subject and a high level of entrepreneurial ability. Competition is vigorous, especially for photographers, and the financial rewards vary greatly depending on the skills and specialties of the individual photographer. That said, the work is usually interesting and seldom routine.

Across the sector as a whole, the most significant specialist skills gaps continue to be around the use of digital technology, knowledge of digital workflow and management of digital assets. The rapid pace of technological change means that businesses and individuals must develop strong market awareness and demonstrate flexibility to adapt rapidly to new business opportunities. In addition, widespread internet access and the opportunity for image sharing across a number of platforms, makes an understanding of intellectual property rights and how to protect them increasingly important. Our Apprenticeship has been designed to tackle these skills gaps.
The framework is targeted at photography and non-photography roles. 

The role will focus on:

• Commercial photography
• Event photography
• Studio photography specializing in advertising, food or catalog/web

The aim of this Apprenticeship is to attract new entrants into the photo business, through a structured and employer-led framework. The main objectives of this Apprenticeship are:

• to provide a non-traditional route into the industry;
• to provide an entry route for under-represented groups;
• to allow our company to supplement our organizations with new expertise, techniques and technologies;
• to provide the photography sector with a stream of motivated recruits equipped with the technical, creative and business skills required for the future;
• to offer sufficient flexibility within the framework to ensure that it can be used to support entry into a wide variety of roles within the industry.

The Obscura Companies will carry out ongoing monitoring and evaluation to assess the extent to which this Apprenticeship meets the above objectives. When required, we will update the content of this framework to respond to the fast-moving changes within the creative industry.

Career success typically requires a strong passion for the subject, so candidates should show a high level of interest and enthusiasm for the subject and the photography sector in general. This could be demonstrated by providing a portfolio of personal photographic work or through evidence of work experience. For many jobs roles good color vision is essential, although this is not a prerequisite for entry to the framework. 

Qualifications and other prior achievements, which may provide a useful basis for entry include:

• a portfolio from personal and/or work experience, non-accredited courses, volunteering; OR
• previously worked or are working in the sector; OR
• Awards, Certificates or Diplomas in the field from an accredited school

The apprentice program is very limited and an application is required to be submitted in its entirety in order to be considered. If you’d like to learn more, click here to submit an initial contact form.