After months of preparation I’m happy to announce that I’m now a qualified Master Photographer with the Master Photographers Association (MPA) based in the United Kingdom!
This has been a goal for me for a long time; that as well as getting accredited by the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA), which I did earlier this year.
During the course of my preparations I had met many talented photographers specializing in various genres of photography. Seeing their works and hearing comments by other master photographers about our works has helped me set new expectations of myself. Expectations that I think will be hard to reach immediately but will be possible over time.
Recently, I’ve been feeling that I hit a rock solid wall in terms of self-improvement. I had a chat with a fellow wise photographer and this was what he said, “Yes, you can make a comfortable living selling good kway teow (stir-fried rice cake strips) but you’ll never become a master chef”. Well, it’s pretty clear to me on which of the two I want to be. To become a better wedding photographer, I will need to take on lesser assignments and spend more time on post processing and researching for new ideas for each new couple. This will be my direction from now on. Wish me luck!
Darren Francis is an 
