Join our fun, dynamic and growing team!

Smiles At School is growing…

As we expand to offer our fun and natural photography services to more Early Years and School customers, we need great people who share our passion for capturing natural smiles and delivering outstanding photography.
We are currently looking for experienced freelance School photographers and Nursery photographers to join our fun-loving team, covering clients across Surrey, Hampshire, and up to Buckinghamshire.   Our current successful photographers (meet the team here) are enthusiastic, patient and slightly crazy, willing to be a little bit silly to get the best out of the children they photograph every day. They love working with our relaxed but professional company, and are committed to a long term working relationship – our longest standing freelancer has been on the books for almost 10 years! And we’re after more of the same.

Could you be our next Smiler?

We’re currently on the search for additional School photographers and Nursery Photographers to join the team. But, not any old photographer will do – check below to see if you’ll fit the bill:

School photographers wanted!
New applicants MUST have experience of successfully photographing at Primary Schools with over 400 children, confident to work independently and be able to overcome challenges onsite as and when they arise.

Photos generally take place indoors in a portable studio environment with studio flash, as well as outdoors with natural light in the Spring season. Ideally, you’ll be comfortable in both environments, and able to construct a balanced, tidy class group photo too, whether indoors or out. Then gain their attention and smiles!

You’ll be confident at shooting to a specific brief, whilst being creative. Taking care to engage with every pupil equally to gain those cheeky smiles! You’ll have shot for system images before (maybe tethered shooting and even printing proofs onsite if you’re a superstar!) although we can train you on this as systems differ. And you’ll be confident to get your crop and exposure correct in-camera consistently – no reliance on photoshop for us!

Early Years photographers wanted!
For our Nursery photographer roles, new applicants MUST have experience of successfully photographing at Preschools and Nurseries with over 60 children confidently. You know it’s an exhausting day, yet you’ll be confident to work independently and be able to overcome challenges onsite as and when they arise.

Photos may take place indoors in a portable studio environment with studio flash in Autumn, and outdoors with natural light in the Spring. Ideally, you’ll be comfortable in both environments.
You’ll be confident at shooting to a specific brief, whilst being creative, but more importantly you’ll understand the importance of entertaining every child to get the best from them, whether they are 4 months or 4 years old. And you’ll be confident to get your crop and exposure correct in-camera consistently – photoshop is a last resort for us!

What we Offer…

Successful applicants – once trained – can expect up to 2-4 days of work each week, depending on ability and availability (with seasons April to July and Oct to Dec). The majority of jobs are mid-week, with occasional weekend opportunities, if desirable. We’ll work together to suit your availability, desired shoot frequency and other commitments, so the role is entirely flexible. All we ask is that you honour any agreed bookings once finalised.

We’ll pay a good rate, in line with the industry, and balanced with the type of photoshoots you take on. Plus offer regular training, onlgoing support and the ability to extend your knowledge of the genre, with higher rates paid to those willing and able to extend to tethered shooting and onsite proof printing.

To apply you must…

· have proven frequent experience in early years and/or school portrait photography (you’ll be photographing solo from day one!)

· show a positive can-do attitude, willingness to feed back on your experiences and offer great communication with children, parents and staff.

· be able to build a rapport with young children to elicit genuine smiles! The clue is in the name….

· have a full UK driving license and vehicle and be willing to travel to your shoots within an agreed distance of home, always on time.

· have a professional DSLR, lens(es) and portable Studio lighting (we will provide most props)

· have or agree to an enhanced DBS Check, updated annually (we can arrange this)

· be willing to confirm and adhere to agreed shoot dates, whilst remaining flexible with working hours (most shoots require a setup start time by 8am with shoot end times varying between midday for Schools and 1-4pm for Nurseries depending on the number of children)

– be ready and willing to have fun! Every day! We’re called Smiles At School… and it’s up to us to bring the Smiles!

We’ll happily supply you with…

· Backdrops and props.

· Ongoing training and support.

· Shoot schedules booked and confirmed up to 10 months in advance to allow you to manage your schedules

· A windows laptop with relevant software when needed.

· Hardware sourcing support where needed.

· Team meetups to share experiences with our other photographers

– Support and feedback on a job-by-job basis, so you’re never alone!

Here’s what a typical job will entail…

– Arrival on time and setup of studio or outdoor set.
– Photograph all children, including siblings and often staff to our pre-agreed style.
– Engage with School/Nursery management, helping them understand the process and other services we can offer
· Leave the client and their team with smiles on their faces
· Select and upload final great images to our secure servers within our agreed timely turnaround time.

Remuneration

Job Type: Freelance – you will be responsible for your own employment and tax status.

Pay: From £130 for a short morning small preschool shoot up to £200 per day for schools and larger Nurseries with additional bonuses for more experienced staff who can upload to our systems, print proofs for our clients, and upsell too. All invoices paid promptly within 2-3 weeks 😊 

Start date: ASAP, but we’ll want you up to speed for the start of April for Spring season, and by September for Autumn – your first shoots will be shadowing our team, then we’ll be building bookings up for you based on your abilities and availability.

Please remember…
We are looking for self-starters who have experience in this type of volume photography and unfortunately cannot, at this stage, consider those who cannot prove and show previous examples of school / nursery portrait photography work. Sorry! Be ready to share your experience, and show us previous work.

Interested?

Click the link below and send us your interest – we’ll email you back and get the ball rolling if you fit the bill! Look forward to hearing from you 😊 

CLICK HERE TO APPLY TO JOIN OUR TEAM TODAY!