Welcome to the AOP
The AOP brings professional photographers together, protecting their rights and promoting photography.
We campaign for all photographers and our awards promote the best in photography. We also provide information services, education programmes, exhibitions and publications to support these activities.
As image-makers respond to globalisation, the AOP is building an effective network of communications with photographers from around the world.
History: Bringing Photographers Together Since 1968
The AOP was formed in 1968 as the Association of Fashion and Advertising Photographers by a small group of photographers (later joined by editorial photographers to become AFAEP). United by a common aim to challenge the then unreasonable demands of model agencies, it brought together professional photographers, to protect their rights and promote photography.
Constituted as a non-profit distributing trade association, today its membership exceeds 1,800 photographers and photographic assistants. It is supported by photographers´ agents, printers, manufacturers and suppliers of photographic equipment. The AOP also has a number of affiliated colleges and plays a significant role in promoting, maintaining and developing relationships between all levels of higher and further education and the professional industry.
For over 40 years the AOP´s principal aims have remained the same and through its campaigning and education work has improved rights for all photographers and created a unique community of professionals. We are proud of our history, and rightly so: we negotiated reforms which led to the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988; we developed the widely accepted Standards of Practice, which afford photographers greater protection and ownership of their work; wrote ´Beyond the Lens´, the definitive guide to rights, ethics and business practice in professional photography; and created the AOP Awards, the most prestigious accolade in the photographic industry.
The AOP, recognising the many pressures photographers face, has developed a number of support services. These provide members with practical help to reduce the administrative burden of running a business and include workshops, guidance on how to resolve business and rights matters, freelance assistant referrals and a database of world-wide services. We also act as a forum for discussion and exchange of information about changes in the industry and the impact of new technologies.
As well as the Awards, the AOP also organizes separate annual competitions for photographic assistants and students of photography, which are equally highly respected and well established.
As image-makers respond to globalisation, the AOP is moving forward by building an effective network of communications with photographers around world. Chairs of the AOP: 68 - 69 Ray Harwood
69 - 70 Michael Boys
70 - 71 Anthony Blake
71 - 72 Anthony Blake
72 - 73 Philip Modica
74 - 75 Philip Modica
75 - 76 Christopher Joyce
76 - 77 Christopher Joyce
77 - 78 Max Forsythe
78 - 79 Max Forsythe
79 - 80 Alan Brooking
80 - 81 Alan Brooking
81 - 82 Alan Brooking
82 - 83 Bryce Attwell
83 - 84 Bryce Attwell
84 - 85 John Timbers
85 - 86 Robert Golden
86 - 87 Geoffrey Frosh
87 - 88 Rob Brimson
88 - 89 Rob Brimson
89 - 90 Mike Laye
90 - 91 Alan Brooking / Bob Harris
91 - 92 Bob Harris
92 - 93 Bob Harris
93 - 94 Clive Frost / Max Forsythe (Interim Chairman)
94 - 95 Martin Beckett
95 - 96 Michael Harding
96 - 97 Michael Harding
97 - 98 Tessa Codrington
98 - 99 Sandra Lousada
99 - 00 Derek Seaward
00 - 01 Adam Woolfitt
01 - 02 Grant Smith
02 - 03 Grant Smith
03 - 04 Anthony Marsland
04 - 05 Anthony Marsland Henceforth known as President of the AOP: 05 - 06 Michael Harding
06 - 07 Michael Harding
07 - 08 Richard Maxted
08 - 09 Martin Brent
09 - 10 Simon Leach 
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