About CPPA
The organisation...
Like most things that evolve, CPPA evolved out of a need for a "Chamber of Commerce" style of industry organisation able to separate itself from the often controversial area of what actually constitutes a Professional Photographer.
Some rather quaint left overs from our convict past that have never been changed allows Accountants, Photographers and computer technicians (to name only a few) to call themselves this without having any formal qualification.
For many years photography was recognised as a trade. Apprentices were bonded employees who couldn't be dismissed without first finding them another job. Five years after starting an apprentice, you were issued with a Tradesman's right and legally permitted to call yourself a "Photographer".
How things have changed! The trades category no longer exists and it's "Rafferty's rules" as far as qualifications are concerned.
Some "peak" level organisations refuse to accept trade qualifications as a pre cursor to membership. Others provide certificates to hang on your wall in exchange for "membership' and all along these has been a glaring lack of facilities for self employed photographers who simply need to get on with the business of being in business. And so CPPA was born.
Members certainly do get a membership certificate to hang on their office wall but if we stopped there, we'd be guilty of breaching our own ethics.
CPPA provides a complete solution to any working professional photographer or those in companion businesses by way of associate membership.
From casual office facilities right through to negotiation and legal assistance normally out of the reach of self employed people. We can do this through buying power and the power of numbers. The more members we have, the stronger we will become.