SWPP - a waste of time and money
Enough is enough. The apathy, inflexibility and down-right obstructiveness of the management has resulted in my resignation.
Over the last few weeks, I have faced a series of battles both with the “membership” and the management of the SWPP. Despite its name, the Society of Wedding and Portrait Professionals is nothing other than a profit making enterprise.
It is my opinion that the BPPA Ltd, the company that run the SWPP, has no real interest in furthering the photographic profession outside their key areas of weddings and portraits. You might well ask “why should they? Surely they are called the SWPP for a reason!” That is true enough, but approximately 12 months ago, the SWPP decided to form a series of sub-societies that are supposed to be aimed at professional photographers in a variety of disciplines, including wildlife and event photography.
At the time, I thought that this was a really positive step towards helping professional photographers in other spheres. As soon as I was able, I submitted a series of wildlife photographs to their mentoring scheme in order to get feedback on my work. My images were assessed and I was deemed to be of sufficient quality to warrant me being awarded my Licentiate qualification in Nature & Wildlife photography. Great! The only problem is that I was assessed by an incredibly talented wedding and portrait photographer.
I recently had cause to post a message on the SWPP’s forum asking if they were selling their customer’s contact details on to third parties. This was after I had received a special offer from an internet marketing company that were offering me 50% discount because of my SWPP membership. The response on the forum was surprisingly hostile, given the innocuous nature of the question. Indeed one contributor suggested that I needed to “chill or get laid!” I should point out that I asked the same question of Mr Phil Jones, CEO of BPPA Ltd, who didn’t even have the common decency to reply.
The straw that broke the camels back for me was a discussion of what constitutes “Event Photography”. A handful of professional event photographers were asking, on the forum, who it is that judges the monthly “event” competition and what guidance they are given as to what is acceptable as an “event” photograph. They also asked the management of the SWPP who it was that would be mentoring and assessing Event Photographers. Mr Jones steadfastly refuses to answer these questions.
When it was suggested by one event photographer that the judging should be done by someone with event experience, one dinosaur commented that this would be like getting a butcher to do the work of a surgeon! This was not a comment made by the management of BPPA Ltd, but it was made by Mr David Simm who is a “hotshot member” and is, apparently, a well respected member of the “society.”
Whilst trying to determine the acceptance criteria for images submitted to the monthly “events” photographic competition, Mr Jones pointed out that I hadn’t yet entered the competition, so he “couldn’t work out what angle I was coming from.” He also said, “Rather than debate without action, let your images do the ‘talkin’.”
Apparently, when they were having discussions with (un-named) judges and (un-named) mentors, they “deliberately decided not to put a narrow definition on the field and opt for a wait and see through submissions as to what current day photographers actually define as ‘event photography.’ This is not management, this is not decision making, this is an apathetic approach!
Another aspect of the SWPP is the well documented problems encountered when people have decided not to renew their “membership”. Up until recently the SWPP’s “members” (remember, they are not really “members” that’s just a name given to the customers to make them feel all warm and fuzzy) had to give at least three months notice, in writing, sent by recorded delivery, just to cancel.
They recently took one ex-customer to court after setting a debt-collector on them. I am glad to say that the SWPP lost the court case. You can find more information about that on the ecademy website. It makes for interesting reading.
When the website “Northern-Images” carried this story, they received a telephone call from Mr Jones, threatening them with legal action unless they removed the story. Again, more on this story can be found here.
The SWPP currently charge £99 per year in order to belong to their “society”. For this, you can also be member of one of the other “sub societies.” However, if you want to be listed in more than two categories, then you have to pay again. What do you get for your extra money? Nothing. Each of the sub-societies have their own web page, with next to no unique content. If you click on any of the menu items, you end up back at the main BPPA/SWPP page. The sub societies don’t even have their own forums.
When I asked Mr Jones about this on the forum three months ago, he eventually replied saying, “These things take time.” I fail to see quite why it takes over 12 months to add a forum to a website.
When I joined the SWPP, I had thought that it was a professional body that had been set up to enable photographers to share useful information. Earlier this year, I came across another group that had been established to help Event Photographers. The management of the SWPP forum decided to ban any reference to this website, despite the fact that the SWPP offers nothing with which EPS competes. I could understand it to some degree if the SWPP decided to ban links to all ‘competing’ organisations, but they don’t. It appears that they are simply targeting the EPS, which is censoring the information that can be shared. To my mind, this is unacceptable.
Since posting my letter of resignation on the SWPP’s forum, I have had a number of messages of support from other “members” who agree with what I have said. They are not, however, prepared to post their messages on the forum for fear of reprisals.
It is my opinion that the BPPA Ltd, the company that run the SWPP, has no real interest in furthering the photographic profession outside their key areas of weddings and portraits. You might well ask “why should they? Surely they are called the SWPP for a reason!” That is true enough, but approximately 12 months ago, the SWPP decided to form a series of sub-societies that are supposed to be aimed at professional photographers in a variety of disciplines, including wildlife and event photography.
At the time, I thought that this was a really positive step towards helping professional photographers in other spheres. As soon as I was able, I submitted a series of wildlife photographs to their mentoring scheme in order to get feedback on my work. My images were assessed and I was deemed to be of sufficient quality to warrant me being awarded my Licentiate qualification in Nature & Wildlife photography. Great! The only problem is that I was assessed by an incredibly talented wedding and portrait photographer.
I recently had cause to post a message on the SWPP’s forum asking if they were selling their customer’s contact details on to third parties. This was after I had received a special offer from an internet marketing company that were offering me 50% discount because of my SWPP membership. The response on the forum was surprisingly hostile, given the innocuous nature of the question. Indeed one contributor suggested that I needed to “chill or get laid!” I should point out that I asked the same question of Mr Phil Jones, CEO of BPPA Ltd, who didn’t even have the common decency to reply.
The straw that broke the camels back for me was a discussion of what constitutes “Event Photography”. A handful of professional event photographers were asking, on the forum, who it is that judges the monthly “event” competition and what guidance they are given as to what is acceptable as an “event” photograph. They also asked the management of the SWPP who it was that would be mentoring and assessing Event Photographers. Mr Jones steadfastly refuses to answer these questions.
When it was suggested by one event photographer that the judging should be done by someone with event experience, one dinosaur commented that this would be like getting a butcher to do the work of a surgeon! This was not a comment made by the management of BPPA Ltd, but it was made by Mr David Simm who is a “hotshot member” and is, apparently, a well respected member of the “society.”
Whilst trying to determine the acceptance criteria for images submitted to the monthly “events” photographic competition, Mr Jones pointed out that I hadn’t yet entered the competition, so he “couldn’t work out what angle I was coming from.” He also said, “Rather than debate without action, let your images do the ‘talkin’.”
Apparently, when they were having discussions with (un-named) judges and (un-named) mentors, they “deliberately decided not to put a narrow definition on the field and opt for a wait and see through submissions as to what current day photographers actually define as ‘event photography.’ This is not management, this is not decision making, this is an apathetic approach!
Another aspect of the SWPP is the well documented problems encountered when people have decided not to renew their “membership”. Up until recently the SWPP’s “members” (remember, they are not really “members” that’s just a name given to the customers to make them feel all warm and fuzzy) had to give at least three months notice, in writing, sent by recorded delivery, just to cancel.
They recently took one ex-customer to court after setting a debt-collector on them. I am glad to say that the SWPP lost the court case. You can find more information about that on the ecademy website. It makes for interesting reading.
When the website “Northern-Images” carried this story, they received a telephone call from Mr Jones, threatening them with legal action unless they removed the story. Again, more on this story can be found here.
The SWPP currently charge £99 per year in order to belong to their “society”. For this, you can also be member of one of the other “sub societies.” However, if you want to be listed in more than two categories, then you have to pay again. What do you get for your extra money? Nothing. Each of the sub-societies have their own web page, with next to no unique content. If you click on any of the menu items, you end up back at the main BPPA/SWPP page. The sub societies don’t even have their own forums.
When I asked Mr Jones about this on the forum three months ago, he eventually replied saying, “These things take time.” I fail to see quite why it takes over 12 months to add a forum to a website.
When I joined the SWPP, I had thought that it was a professional body that had been set up to enable photographers to share useful information. Earlier this year, I came across another group that had been established to help Event Photographers. The management of the SWPP forum decided to ban any reference to this website, despite the fact that the SWPP offers nothing with which EPS competes. I could understand it to some degree if the SWPP decided to ban links to all ‘competing’ organisations, but they don’t. It appears that they are simply targeting the EPS, which is censoring the information that can be shared. To my mind, this is unacceptable.
Since posting my letter of resignation on the SWPP’s forum, I have had a number of messages of support from other “members” who agree with what I have said. They are not, however, prepared to post their messages on the forum for fear of reprisals.
