I am Certified!

October 22, 2010

I just realized that I never made a post here about this! I posted it on Facebook, but not on my blog…

I am now a Certified Professional Photographer with the Professional Photographers of America. In the United States, you do not have to be certified to be a professional photographer, so most photographers are not certified. In fact, at the begining of the year, there were only approximately 1000 certified Photographers in the United States. I started studying for the test last May (besides my last 8 years of photography experience!) I will have to admit, it was a lot harder than I anticipated. You see, since I am self taught, I know what I do. I know how to get the results that I want. When I started studying in May, I started studying a lot of things that I did not use in my business, but things I had to know to become certified. I had to study things like the internal parts of a camera, the film process and emulsion layers, the scientific way the light creates an image, view cameras (the old fashioned cameras that you put your head under a cloth), filters (filters are not used as much now with photoshop)… etc…. you get the idea.

There are two parts to the exam. There is a written test, and an image submission. I submitted my portfolio last August. 5 Judges review your portfolio, and they all have to agree to pass it. In September I received the letter that my images passed the review. Then, the first week of October, I took the written exam. It was hard, and I was nervous. 2 weeks later, I received a letter in the mail, congratulating me on passing my written portion of the exam! So, now I am Kari Douma, C.P.P.

I looked on the Certified Professional Website, and I am only one of 6 photographers in the Grand Rapids area that is listed as a Certified Professional Photographer. I want to say thank you to my clients for trusting your cherished memories with me!