Gemma Sains qualifies with The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Gemma submitted her submission panel for qualification at this year’s Convnetion and was awarded a Fellowship Qualification by our experienced team of judges.

Statement of Intent

Good morning, judges. Thank you for attending this morning to assess my panel. My name is Gemma Sains, and I am a part-time photographer. I primarily shoot portrait images but I also enjoy other photoshoots, from newborn to light trails and macro to wildlife. Originally, I wanted to go to sixth form and learn about photography, however, my mum told me to get a ‘proper job’, so I went off and did an apprenticeship to become an electrician. Over the next 10 years, I dabbled with picking up a camera and taking pictures of things, but my images would often not turn out the way I wanted.

In 2016, I decided to give it another shot and started my journey of workshops. Over the following two years, I attended around 28 seminars ranging from street photography to commercial photography, including lighting and editing classes. Then I came to realise that photography was also about practice.

The panel I present to you today is my Kings and Queens. I have always been interested in drag queens after watching Dame Edna Everage as a young child. I became more and more fascinated with the clothing, the make-up and the dancers, and comics who came out on stage at the clubs. I started a project a couple of years ago photographing drag queens, and found out there was more to it, with drag kings and, back then, bio queens as well. As I got to know these performers better, I heard stories of sadness and how the performances helped them with their mental health and general confidence. The people you see in these images are trying to make a living doing what they love, so I offer them free shoots so that they can promote themselves on flyers and publicity material. I want to demonstrate more representation through photography – to dispel some of the prejudices – these people are artists and spend time and money perfecting their craft in the same way as photographers – they should be shown in their full glory.

I am submitting this panel for consideration for Associateship and I feel I have shown all my models for what they are; that includes showing padding in bras to hairs being where we may not think they should be. I wanted to keep it as natural and raw as the subjects are in the reality of their acts or day-to-day lives. I also want to provide them with good quality work for their advertising and marketing materials. I feel the drag community is not well showcased within the photography industry but this is mainly due to them being struggling artists who are unable to afford the cost of a photoshoot, so this is also my way of giving back to the community.

I hope you enjoy viewing the images as much as I did creating them.

Gemma Sains

(The qualifications panel went on to award the submission at Fellowship level.)

Watch the video below or see the full panel here

Learn about our photography qualifications.