The Guild of Photographers 2016 Awards
Fine Art Children’s portraiture
I am a member of the Guild of Professional Photographers, and in 2015 I had a very successful year with them. I not only qualified and then went on to achieve Craftsman status, but I also finished in the Top 10 of their photographer of the Year Competition in the open section, received life long admittance to the photographers’ bar and had 3 images in the top 10 for the Image of the year in 2 categories – Creativity and Floral & Insects. 2015 was a hugely busy year, with a lot of stress, but many marked successes along the way, so in comparison 2016 felt very quiet indeed.
In 2016, I entered a few images in the monthly competition, but not consistently enough (I thought) to be eligible for any major awards. I did achieve awards for the months I entered, but I had several months where I didn’t enter at all. Overall it was a relaxed year and I felt my confidence grow with further training and working on my technique with the help of my mentors. I attended some fabulous training courses and found a love for fine art portraiture. When we got to the end of 2016, I looked back over my year, and although I had no concrete achievements to mark the year, I looked at the body of work I had produced and was quite pleased when looking at the portfolio I had collated for the year. I had an email to say that I was within reach of a top 10 place in the people section of the Photographer of the year, but I didn’t think it was very likely, as although I have consistently received silver awards, I hadn’t entered every month, so someone with steady bronzes would score higher that I could when the monthly points were totalled. Photographers with an image in the top 10 in the various sections for Image of the Year also received emails, but this year, it was not to be, and I didn’t receive one of these emails.






I now have a beautiful copy of the image that was printed and presented to me on the night, and my beautiful glass trophy to remind me of the best night ever in my career so far!
Thanks to my beautiful model, Amy, and everyone who encouraged and believed in me, before I was ready to believe in myself.
