European Photographers Federation (FEP) announces qualification contest – European Photographer (EP). The European Photographer (EP) qualification aims to recognize competence and a professional standard for those who earn their lives as Professional Photographers. It is designed to complement the lack of a specific title to uphold the professional status. The EP is a new basic quality assurance certification now available to most general Professional Photographers throughout Europe.
Earning an Award will win you a certificate of professional quality, a useful personal contact list on our online EP Photographers pages as well as access to special offers, services and information via the website.
Eligibility for EP Qualification
To be eligible to apply for an EP Certificate the candidate:
must earn a living as a maker of still images., either photochemical or digital. The EP Certificates are only available to those who are authors of the original images and they are not intended for photographic laboratory technicians or support staff.
must be a member of a national professional photographers association. The national association must be a member of the Federation of European Professional Photographers, unless otherwise agreed by the relevant FEP member associations. Application by non members can be accepted providing they are professional photographers legally registered and resident in European countries where there are not FEP member national associations to represent them. If an application is received from a photographer who is not member of a FEP member association, they must be registered with the tax authorities as a professional photographer and they must show their VAT registration number or certificate of professional insurance which will be validated by the FEP.
may be self-employed or an employee.
must have operated as a professional photographer for at least one consecutive year.
must fulfil the necessary requirements in technical skills and achieve an acknowledged standard (determined by the FEP) necessary to uphold a professional status.
must satisfy the requirements for professional practice skill, which will be assessed by the FEP member national association.
must accept the FEP European Code of Professional Conduct.
Download the FEP Code of Conduct
Submission of Work
each candidate must submit online a panel of twelve images
each submission must be accompanied by an EP application form.
apply online
the panel must contain 12 images of a single photographic specialisation (commercial, portrait, wedding etc., as indicated in the application form), or 6 images of a single photographic specialisation and 6 of any other. No names or additional identification marks may appear on any of the submitted work.
in case of any doubts, or when the submitted images include a relevant post production work, the FEP may ask the candidate to submit also the original unprocessed files.
the submission must be images, colour or monochrome or a mixture.
submission and judging will be entirely online; applications for entries are allways open. Please check here to know when there is the next judging date.
the submitted images must be2400 pixels the longest side saved as jpg.
the submitted images will be judged by 3 international judges. EP candidates need 2 VOTES OUT OF 3 to be deemed successful.
anonymity of the candidates will be respected at all times; however, a list of the names of the candidates will be forwarded to the national headquarters of the relevant FEP member association.
if the application is submitted by a photographer who is not member of a FEP member association, he/she may be asked to submit, beyond the registration number as indicated above, some evidence of the professional status, perhaps a photo of premises, interior or exterior, and/or an example of a brochure, website address, or any further publicity material; the requested criteria are indicated in the digital application form.
the appropriate application fee must also accompany the submission, as indicated in the EP application form.
successful EP photographers will receive a digital certificate, and a plastic film sticker to display on their window or door. They will also be given a handbook containing advice on how best to exploit the qualification in their marketing.
the EP certificate will last 4 years (48 months), by which time the holder should be encouraged to apply for a QEP certificate or reapply for the EP certificate again. A failure will mean loss of the EP qualification.
EP certificate holders may apply for a QEP qualification at the first available session. To apply for the QEP certificate they must be members of an FEP national association.
unsuccessful candidates will receive from the FEP a constructive critique of their panel indicating why, on this occasion it has not been successful.
these candidates may then repeat the application process once free of charge at the first available judging session, and in any case within 6 months.
Application Fee
An application fee of € 50,00 is due to cover the costs, such as venue charges, certification, jury expense, etc.
Candidates have to send their fees via Paypal (with credit card). The FEP secretariat will keep tracks of the membership of the candidate and of the payment of the entry fee. The registration will be considered only when FEP will receive evidence of the payment of the entry fee made by the candidate.
Judging
The Jury will be drawn from delegates nominated annually by the national organisations within their relevant QEP and Master QEP holders, and then selected by the EP Jury Chairman.
Copyright and Releases
The copyright of all images submitted remains with the copyright holder. However the FEP reserves the right to use any of the images submitted, without payment, for display and publicity purposes for this and future FEP awards or projects. It is vital that the candidate obtains the permission of the client and/or the copyright holder and any relevant model release forms, where appropriate before submitting the work.
Secretariat and Organisation
All candidates will receive written notification of the result of their submission from the FEP Secretariat. A list of all successful candidates ONLY will be announced. The anonymity of all candidates will be respected at all times including during judging sessions.
The FEP Secretariat will not allow for judging any submitted pictures unless the following procedures have been adhered to if:
the images submitted do not conform to these rules
the submission fee has not been paid
the membership of the candidates has not been confirmed by the relevant association.
