Reform of the imagery specialist trade is creating opportunities for civilian photographers to join Army’s ranks.
Until recently, the only way to become an Army imagery specialist was to undertake three years’ service in another trade before applying for a corps transfer.
There are multiple new part-time reservist positions available in capital cities, as well as some regional centres such as Townsville and Rockhampton.
There are also a small number of full-time positions.
The main tasks are capturing photos and videos of local training exercises and events to help tell Army’s story, and include opportunities to deploy on exercises and operations across Australia and around the world.
Most of the imagery is published by Defence and supplied to Australian and international news media.
New reservist soldiers attend 21 days of basic training at Kapooka. This can be done part time if a photographer with a full-time job wants to take time off for their training and return to their day job.
Reservists are expected to do at least 20 days of work for Army each year.
Major Tom Maclean, of Military Public Affairs Trade and Training at the Defence Command Support Training Centre, said many professional civilian photographers had already expressed an interest in serving.
“Our ideal candidate is a civilian news media photographer, a similarly trained or experienced professional or TAFE graduate who would initially like to serve part time,” he said.
Army imagery specialist Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) Rob Nyffenegger said because new imagery specialists would already have photography knowledge, their Defence initial employment training would focus on adapting their technical skills to a deployed military environment.
“The training is a flexible online delivery model suited to the part-time force. Reservists will be required to meet all the assessment criteria, but they will have longer to achieve it. We will work closely with the learners, their home unit and supervising staff,” WO2 Nyffenegger said.
