PPA's Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) program is designed to help you hone your skills and strengthen your craft to become a better photographer.

One of the biggest advantages of earning your CPP is that it helps you sell yourself to your clients. Marketing your business and the value of your photography requires the confidence to present yourself as unique from other professional photographers. Your certification can instill trust in your clients, help justify your pricing, and convey your competence as a photographer.

This video, with Jessica Stanley, CPP and Peter Malloy, CPP, offers a personal perspective on the benefits of becoming a Certified Professional Photographer.

Why Should You Get Certified?

To answer the question of why she wanted to become certified, Stanley considered the way she wanted to be able to market herself to her clients:

“I wanted to be able to say that I knew what I was doing. ‘Not only am I here to capture your portrait, I’m here to think about every aspect of your portrait.’” 

Stand Out From the Crowd

Stanley wanted to become more confident in herself and to gain more techniques to improve her portrait photography. She noticed a big difference in her confidence before certification, compared to how she felt after becoming certified:

“Before certification, I was not as confident in myself...but when you have that certification, you’re able to say ‘I’ve put my time, my effort, everything into this.’”

Earn Structured Technical Skills

Peter Malloy also felt that his confidence and skills were enhanced after earning his certification. The CPP can grant a better sense of credibility, to increase the trust you have in your own abilities. According to Malloy:

“Getting that certification showed me that I had structured technical skills about the camera, it wasn’t just stuff I’d picked up on Youtube.”

For Malloy, the CPP helped him distinguish himself from other photographers. The CPP is not only a useful marketing tool that shows your potential clients you have the right skills to create unique and beautiful images. Earning your CPP leads to real improvement in how you function as a photographer. In Malloy’s experience, earning his certification led to a change for the better in his photography routine: 

“It wasn’t until I really took the CPP class that I started to use the light meter intensely, understood why I was using it, and I started to understand light ratios like I never did before.”

Be More

Both Stanley and Malloy’s testimonies revealed an increase in self-confidence after earning their certification. At PPA, our mission is always to help you grow your business and improve your craft.The CPP is just another one of the ways that we help you achieve that mission. Invest in yourself and take your time to reach new heights as a professional photographer. Follow in the footsteps of Peter Malloy when you earn your Certification:

“Earning my CPP was a moment of realization for me that I am more than just somebody with a camera.”

When you invest in your passion and strive for new heights, you aren’t just someone with a camera. You’re a professional creator. To learn more about the CPP or declare your candidacy, read this article on everything you need to know about becoming a Certified Professional Photographer.