"Value your time, skill, training and art" - Today we're talking to Lauren & Delwyn about the photography industry, designing albums and building your brand. 

• Tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got into photography Delwyn and I are both trained Graphic Designers, Delwyn at Unitec, and myself at Waikato University. We met through a mutual workplace in 2008, and started second shooting weddings for each other. • How do you promote your business and build your brand? We work hard to create a strong 'word of mouth' brand. We also take advantage of the internet as much as we can through Facebook, Twitter, public listings, our blog, our E-Magazine Butter, our website, advertising in magazines, exhibiting at shows, and supporting charities. • Tell us a bit about your work flow - how much time do you spend behind the lens vs behind the computer? We work to our strengths to increase speed and share the workload. We aim for a 50/50 mix client time/computer time. • What do you enjoy the most about your job? And what do you enjoy the least? We had a chat about this question over a coffee, and both discovered it is when we see our clients faces when they receive their gorgeous finished product. The look on a fathers face when he sees his beautiful daughter in her dress for the first time, and the look of awe on a grooms face when his bride walks down the aisle. Also that smell of hairspray that hits you when you enter brides home and you know it's go time! The least would be the headaches from drinking too many Nespresso's in the studio. • Who and what has inspired your photography? Delwyn is the visual creative and draws inspiration from design blogs, and magazines like Papier Mache. You should also stalk her Pinterest! I am more the technical/admin/accounts person, and am inspired by other photographers such as Nicola Inglis, Karyn Flett, Delwyn... My mother always encouraged me to see the best in people, so I also draw inspiration from people's personalities when photographing them. • What process to you go through when talking to clients about their album, designing it, presenting it? We have a range of Matted, Duo and Digital Albums, as well as the Press Books from Queensberry. We have designed them to suit our brand and style, and let clients choose from the samples, then customise their cover options and add copy albums if they wish. We definitely sell what we show, our display albums are an invaluable tool. With our wedding albums, we design an album, upload it to Workspace for the client to view it, and then arrange a time for them to come in and finalise the design in person with us. If they are based out of Auckland, we use the screenshare option on Skype. We really want to finish the job with high customer service, to not only reflect highly on our brand, but also on Queensberry, as we are representatives of their brand. • Any advice for others starting out in the industry? Value your time, skill, training and art. Don't discount - your time and intellectual property is not free. Give gifts instead, if and when you want to. Thanks Lauren & Delwyn for talking to us! If you'd like to check out more of their work you can visit their website here.