photographer

account manager

account coordinator

it assistant

operations manager

Mountain West Studios

As a begginer photographer, this was the perfect job. The training was very helpful and thorough, and paid. 

It definetly requires a lot of effort and hard work, you can't really slack at any moment. Normal shift would be driving to the storage, filling up your car with heavy equipment, driving to the location, setting up, taking pictures of students for like 6 hours straight (with a 30 min break) and then packing up, heading back to the storage to return all of the heavy equipment. So if you prefer a slower paced work enviroment you will not enjoy this job at all. 
 
I made really good friends and liked everyone on the team. There were some begginer photographers and some professional ones, but we all learned so much from eachother! 

I would definetly reccomend this job if you dont mind stepping out of your comfort zone and carrying a lot of heavy equipment. 

I was there as a school photographer

The typical day is to show up early, set up, wait for people to come and take their pictures, then a small break and wait for last calls. Generally school staff is really nice when accommodating the photographers.

Managment was great. Equipment maintenance was not as great but I am sure the new management is working on that.

My coworkers were always really friendly and helpful and they really took serious their job.

The hardest part of the job was carrying the portable studio all over the place specially when going to multiple schools in the same day.

I really enjoyed interacting with all the students and just the comodity of a morning shift with good pay.

The pay was awful, $30 for travel put fumes in my vehicle. When you're driving to a place like Cranbrook $30 for the day is nothing. When you have to stay overnight in one of the towns you travel to they cover $100 of your hotel, which is nothing nowadays. The food when you're traveling overnight isn't covered, sometimes the only places open when you get there are expensive! You end up paying part of your day wage on food.

 Unorganized, which is something photographers shouldn't be, I was getting my schedule days before I was supposed to go to these places. Its hard on your vehicle. Their turnover rate is awful, so many of their photographers don't come back and there's a good reason for that.

Great training in Burnaby. Typical week was to get the cards and other from the manager for the schools travelling to that week. Load up vehicle with camera equipment  Travel to the first place over the weekend (Sunday). Book into a hotel and prepare for the next days photo shoots. Go to the first school. Find out where to set-up at the school. Set-up. Do tests and then photograph. Handling money and checking cards match students. Take down all equipment. Go to next school if that was scheduled. Set up again. At the end of the day of shooting go to LOOMIS and send out the photo files and money to the company. Back to hotel and prepare for the next day.

Typical day is driving to the school, coordinating a location with the administrators, carrying equipment to the spot, and setting up portable studio. You speak with the helpers provided at the school to keep a flow of student coming to your camera. Photograph entire school body. Take down set. Deliver images to the studio in Burnaby. The end.

I learned personal skills dealing with so many different types of people. Able to speak to and manage large groups of people by doing class group photography.

Most enjoyable part is getting hundreds of kids to smile for you. Take a great deal of pride in getting great expressions and photos for people.

I worked here for a season, and it was a lot of fun. It was a bit stressful because there was so much to be done, but everyone worked well together and it operated like a well-oiled machine. I liked mostly that I got to work by myself, only checking in with a "boss" of our area.

Most people there are extremely friendly and welcoming, but, asI guess with other jobs, some people there had their noses in the air since they'd been with the company since the very beginning.

Overall, though, it's a great place to be.

I would expect that when given an address by management for a school, it is correct. Especially when travelling within a 2 hour radius of Kelowna, going places you’re not familiar with. This is not always the case, and it’s your fault for messing up. 

You’re not done by lunch. It hardly happens and you spend your “extra time” driving or finishing classes that didn’t make it before lunch. It’s a gong show. 

I was lied to by management from the very beginning. Had to work primarily alone, didn’t get to work my full contract, and was bullied by management. 

For this postion you will drive 1 to 4 hours to and from school location, you will set up, take photos tear down and them must upload you photos nefore the end of the day
No overtime pay, low per diem rate for out of town days. 

The company refers to themselves as a "family run businesses" that supports their employees but it's far from that. They change/edit hours, don't provide overtime pay, and the management is a toxic environment that belittles their employees. I'd think twice about apply at this company.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Photographer 12 salaries reported	$25.58 per hour
Account manager 1 salary reported	$55,000 per year
Account coordinator 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year
It assistant 2 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Operations manager 4 salaries reported	$75,000 per year

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