Part of the club : Now an AIPP Emerging member!

Today I officially become part of the club.  I’m now an emerging member of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography.  Don’t know who they are?  Check them out at www.aipp.com.au.

It’s a pretty sweet deal.

It costs a few bucks to become a member, but for that you get a few subscriptions to some photography magazines and some other stuff.  But what I find most useful is it allowed me access to their online document resources which includes thing like model release forms, commercial contracts, wedding contracts, and a whole bunch of other documents I’ll probably never use.  Full membership details here.

What I’m most looking forward to though, is next weeks Technology Day.  Basically it’s an all-day workshop on the fusion of HD video and photography, something that I’m dabbling with unseriously now. It will be a great opportunity for me to meet some fellow photographers of all levels of experience and mingle and learn how things are done.

One of the guys giving a talk about it is grandmaster photographer, David Oliver.  Now, this is quite a piece of irony for me. I actually met David a long time ago, back before ‘the switch’ where photographers where still shooting film and digital was bad and evil and would NEVER replace film.

At the time, I was shooting with my trusty Nikon D100 (a camera I only sold 3 months ago) and I had it with me at an event we were both attending.  David noticed and, as was appropriate for professional photographers back then, scoffed at my digital abomination.  By the end of the event I had convinced him to have a play with the D100 and when handing it back his response was, “it’s ok, I suppose”.  The look on his face was one of amazement, however, and I like to think that his 5 minute play with my camera is what sparked his transition to digital.

Now, 5 years later he is giving a talk on the fusion of HD video into photography, which is something that the majority of ‘purist’ photographers are now calling an abomination to the industry.  Ah, the irony. 

After the T-Day workshop there will be xmas drinks and a chance to mingle with some of the best photographers in the country.  With any luck, I will make a few contacts and learn a thing or two about the industry.

Wish me luck!