What is the MPA Affiliate scheme?

First of all, an Affiliate is not a Member. The Master Photographers Association is a properly constituted professional body, with Limited Company status, owned by its membership. Members have voting rights, a voluntary National Executive Council is elected to run the association. Staff right up to CEO level are salaried and no-one profits from ownership of the MPA. It is run by photographers for photographers.

Careful management and the success of the Association, founded in 1952, have allowed the MPA to purchase property and build a purpose-designed HQ in Darlington city centre while benefiting from rental of their adjacent former offices.

The MPA is restricted to bona-fide full time professional photographers, who must also pass an MPA Qualification validated by the UK’s Professional Photography Qualifications Board. They must also hold Professional Indemnity insurance and comply with a Code of Conduct. The MPA is a guardian of professional standards and provides assurance to the buying public and commercial sector.

MPA also appreciates that many members started out as amateurs or part-timers. Some received no formal photographic education, though this situation has changed and many younger members are college trained. Since amateurs and part-timers can not be admitted as members, how can they learn from established professionals?

The answer is the Affiliate programme introduced in 2006. Any aspiring professional photographer can become an MPA Affiliate, receiving the Association’s publications and admitted on equal terms to workshops, seminars, demonstrations, lectures and other activities regionally and nationally.

Subject to the approval of local MPA members, an Affiliate introduced through the Regional meetings may also be able to see professional work being discussed and judged, and receive help and advice on his or her own progress. Some MPA members may offer tuition, and some may offer work experience. An Affiliate may become a paid part-time assistant or operator, and earn an MPA Photographic Operator?s Certificate held by the employing studio.

The purpose of the Affiliate programme is to pass on professional methods, ethics, business etiquette and commercial understanding to aspiring professionals, in the hope that they will become qualified members of the MPA if photography becomes a full time occupation.

The normal period of Affiliate membership is three years, and within this time the Association would expect the Affiliate to have reached a high standard whether or not circumstances lead to a full-time career.

This website is here to provide a discussion forum for Affiliates, provide resources to help improve photography, and essential information about MPA events and regions.

To become an MPA Affiliate contact:

The Master Photographers Association
Jubilee House
1 Chancery Lane
Darlington DL1 5QP
Tel: 01325 356555