All is not what it seems

[I @ M]

The best way to be a professional photographer is to simply tell anyone who will listen that you are one.

Start one or more web sites and a blog and loudly proclaim that only professional photographers are capable of producing the goods. It doesn't really matter whether the images you post on the web sites are any good or not of course because you have the AIPP accredited logo on your web page.
At least that seems to be the approach of one that I encountered yesterday.
Being an inquisitive type I headed over to the AIPP web page and entered just about every word associated with the person, their web pages and business names through the search function on the AIPP search page.
No results found --- maybe the search function is less than optimal I thought. A quick phone call should clear that up then and after a conversation with the Melbourne office and passing on the details of the web site with the AIPP logo it turns out that the web site owner / photographer had merely "borrowed" the AIPP logo. Needles to say the logo is no longer on those web pages, somehow I don't think that the AIPP staff were very happy to see such things on the net.

So for all the aspiring pros out there, it seems that all you have to do is want to be a pro and therefore you are.

99% the truth, the first and last sentences are a little "tongue in cheek".

[ricstew]

sharp intake of breath! Oooh how naughty!..........but it doesn't surprise me any more
Does the average punter know who the AIPP is? Do the majority care?
cheers
Jan

[I @ M]

Does the average punter know who the AIPP is? Do the majority care?

The average punter being --- those who are looking to employ a photographer and whilst they may not know of the AIPP they are more than likely to be impressed with the logo that says the photographer is an "accredited professional photographer" in much the same way as many trades / businesses have accreditation from a body that recognises their work to be of a certain standard.
It is a reassurance to a potential customer and a valuable marketing tool.

[ricktas]

I hope they took more action than just asking the logo be removed. Using and professing to be part of a professional body of any sort, when you are not, is pathetic and in my opinion a direct attempt to appear to hold a status that you do not.

[PH005]

We see this type of fruad everywhere, dont we ? Doctors, Mechanics, even War Veterens. Very sad. I only hope that people hadn't forked out their money and then were not satisfied with the results. I hope this persom is not a member HERE !

[ricktas]

We see this type of fruad everywhere, dont we ? Doctors, Mechanics, even War Veterens. Very sad. I only hope that people hadn't forked out their money and then were not satisfied with the results. I hope this persom is not a member HERE !

Yeah, Australia used to be a place where you could trust a person's word, people where generally honest, and if their was someone in your community who was less so, everyone knew about them anyway. Low Life's exist in greater numbers these days and everyone seems to have to be alert all of the time. Sad that! No this person is not a member on AP.

[Longshots]

sharp intake of breath! Oooh how naughty!..........but it doesn't surprise me any more
Does the average punter know who the AIPP is? Do the majority care?
cheers
Jan

Well if the average punter does their homework, and then go to the AIPP site after doing something as simple looking for a Professional Photographer (pretty much an obvious search), in GOOGLE, and guess what ? AIPP is the very first result. So the AIPP then explains in numerous pages to potential clients, what they might consider looking for, and then offering a list of Accredited photographers who through a continual professional development system within the AIPP, can feel reasonably safe that they will get referred to a photographer who is capable, and has business insurance, and comply to a reasonable set of professional ethics.

Like any profession there is a decent association whose members both find their membership to be useful and beneficial, and of course there will be a fair number who dont agree with that and dont join. Doesnt make them any better or worse. However those individuals have no one to answer to other than themselves and their local fair trading office can do anything they dam well please - AIPP has a mediation system to investigate any member who fails to comply with a condition of membership.

Should the average punter care about the difference between a sham operator who considers it ok to use a logo of an association that they dont belong to, and one that not only acts professionally, but has an organisation that they're answerable to if everything turns bad ?

Should they also wonder if that same sham (or should that be shameful) operator who has no issue with using a logo of a professional association that they dont belong to, may also be displaying images that they have not personally taken (seems to be a growing trend for "photographers" using iStock and others stock library mages that they havent shot themselves) ?

While I dont want to take this subject off topic re responding to the AIPP point of which you asked two questions Jan. Hopefully I've offered a reasonable answer.


Thank you Andrew for being curious. And thanks for pointing this out to AIPP

But the topic is really about people passing themselves off as something that they're not. Fair Trading should be able to do something about this person. I hope and trust that AIPP will legally pursue the offender for gross misrepresentation.

[kiwi]

bundle into the misleading practice of some the use of istock images in their oen galleries too

[Art Vandelay]

bundle into the misleading practice of some the use of istock images in their oen galleries too

That's just seriously weird.

[colinbm]

Even Doctors do it............um...........sham doctors that is
Col

[ricstew]

.....the trouble being the average punter doesn't do their homework Thats how these people get away with it. Be they photographers, plumbers or Dr's. I always wonder how people get scammed by Nigerians......surely they are not that dumb......but yes they are.
I doubt I have ever asked the plumber what associations he belongs to......and even if he had some sort of card would I know if it was legit or not? I wouldn't be interested in following it up I just want the plumbing fixed..........but I am also not dumb enough to employ a plumber I knew nothing about.......personal recommendations would work far better for me then an association card
What the photographer did is more than likely illegal and FT should follow it up. Just as well Andrew is not your average punter!

[Bear Dale]

The AIPP need to be on top of this and should be actively snooping to make sure that this type of fraud doesn't happen.

[colinbm]

The AIPP need to be on top of this and should be actively snooping to make sure that this type of fraud doesn't happen.

Yeah......... how long did it take to find that man with the whiskers & rag wrapped around his head, hiding out, outside the Pakistan military academy
Col

[ricktas]

The irony in this is that the photographer has removed the logo from the site (as he had to), but has now posted a big whinging blog about the AIPP and how they are not good for anything. Some people just do not get it!

[Kym]

The irony in this is that the photographer has removed the logo from the site (as he had to), but has now posted a big whinging blog about the AIPP and how they are not good for anything. Some people just do not get it!

So he illegally promotes himself as being an AIPP member, then when caught out bitches about the organisation that he tried to associate with?
He is a complete idiot - no parts missing

[Longshots]

So he illegally promotes himself as being an AIPP member, then when caught out bitches about the organisation that he tried to associate with?
He is a complete idiot - no parts missing

Perhaps more idiotic than I would have thought possible. Let me elaborate.

If you're a sole trader/individual you cannot (as I understand it) share an ABN.

And if you have your ABN on your website, its very easy to do a search for it via

www.abr.business.gov.au

Now while you might have a cosy relationship with your partner, girlfriend, wife, you cannot (as I understand this) use the same ABN number for an entirely different business name.

Which is exactly what the search produced.

It would also be worth noting that the same site can state if that sole trader/individual ( both terms suggesting fairly clearly that its for one person) is registered for GST.

Unfortunately I can no longer check the person in questions website to see if they were also adding GST to their pricing, as all links to this person seem to be now coming up with a 403 Forbidden message (out of curiosity I'm wondering if anyone else is getting that same message - Kym ? )

Foolish indeed.

[ricktas]

Perhaps more idiotic than I would have thought possible. Let me elaborate.

If you're a sole trader/individual you cannot (as I understand it) share an ABN.

And if you have your ABN on your website, its very easy to do a search for it via

www.abr.business.gov.au

Now while you might have a cosy relationship with your partner, girlfriend, wife, you cannot (as I understand this) use the same ABN number for an entirely different business name.

Which is exactly what the search produced.

It would also be worth noting that the same site can state if that sole trader/individual ( both terms suggesting fairly clearly that its for one person) is registered for GST.

Unfortunately I can no longer check the person in questions website to see if they were also adding GST to their pricing, as all links to this person seem to be now coming up with a 403 Forbidden message (out of curiosity I'm wondering if anyone else is getting that same message - Kym ? )

Foolish indeed.

I think he is blocking our IP addresses William. I got a cousin to check the site (different ISP etc) and they can see it, when I cannot. My guess is he is aggressively targeting IP addresses that check his site(s) out.

[I @ M]

Just opened all 3 sites here.

[ricktas]

I get :

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

incidentally I can access the site from my iPad, but only via telstra 3G network, as soon as I try via my wifi network it doesnt work, so he is definitely blocking IP addresses.

[Art Vandelay]

I must be blind, where's the link to the site in discussion ?