Tempest Photography

[Janeygidds]

Has anyone heard of, or worked for, this UK company that does school and baby photography? I've seen an ad of theirs for a school photographer/representative. I've sent for an application pack but I wondered if anyone has any personal experience of them.

[candidrachel]

Hi,

The only experience with Tempest is that they produce bog standard school photos. They just set up a backdrop and all the kids just line up and the photographer just snaps away like some sort of conveyor belt. When my son was 3 they even took his photo with his outdoor coat on!

That's all the imput I can give.

[Swisstony10]

I applied for their information pack, and didn't bother applying. They don't really sound like they're looking for a photographer, or someone who wants to make a career as a photographer. They're looking for someone who's kids have finally started school and who wants to something once or twice a week and thinks that a camera might be fun to use and hey, they give you a couple of weeks of training to know how to use it...

I'd like to say that I'm sure they do great school photos, but to be honest, when I was thinking of applying before, I spoke to a bunch of people (including Rachel, above), and not one of them was actually impressed with their work..

Russ.

[candidrachel]

I agree with Swisstony. I googled "Tempest Photography jobs" just out of curiosity and Tempest have a vacancy in Wakefield looking for someone "with an interest in photography but experience is not necessary as full training given" and and its "term time" only would suit someone for a "mini career".

That probably explains why the photos are so bad as its just mum's looking for an easy way to make a few quid while their kids are at school.

[Swisstony10]

As I recall (I possibly still have the documentation at home somewhere), the "salary" was around £450 a month, although I think they paid some commission if you hit sales targets.

EDIT - On the plus side, their head office is in lovely St Ives, down in Cornwall, so you get to go down there for a nice little spell while they show you which end of a camera to point at a tear-stained, red-faced child, and which button to press to take the picture. ;-)

Russ.

[candidrachel]

St Ives is pretty. We went down on a day trip last summer on our camping holiday

[Swisstony10]

I've no idea what makes it like it - I'm guessing it's a trick of geography, the shape of the hills and the sea and stuff - but the light at St Ives is VERY special. It's entirely too long since I last went to Cornwall (and to think I'm only an hour and half away) - I really should get myself back down there sometime soon.