I've gathered enough gongs now to qualify for an opinion on album design. Last week I was a judge for the Australian Professional Photography Awards at PMA in Melbourne. This was an honour I shared with the lovely Jo Grams, Jerry Ghionis, Jackie Chan, Yervant and other luminaries. Several things became apparent: 1) Some authors treated the album as a set of individual prints, mixing black and whites with colours, verticals with horizontals, with blatant disregard for the influence of those images on each other. 2) Some authors were hypnotised by the ability to apply a filter to create a look ... To View More >>

I had the privilege of being the photographer when Queensberry's pinup boy/metrosexual, Nigel, tied the knot with Kayla a few months ago, and I learnt a lesson. Pretty much at the beginning of the day I unintentionally upset the bride's parents. They had organised that I would shoot photographs outside their neighbour's property. I took half a dozen images and ticked the box for family pics at home. But I also wanted to do a quick family photograph in their own garden, in a spot that from my point of view, between rain showers, would do the job well. The bride's mother was able to conceal, through To View More >>

Some time ago a client came to us seeking advice on his newly drafted wedding pricing and packages for a brochure. We did a bit of work on it which basically resulted in simplifying. We cut the word count in half, more tightly defined his packages to adhere to the good, better, best principle, helped him decide on the best way to charge for albums, and tightened up the language. Later we received this email from him: A few months ago you were kind enough to help me as I prepared my wedding documentation and pricing. I've shot two weddings since then - one using my document before you edited it To View More >>

It's that time of year when we take stock, make resolutions and ask questions ... like how can we make this year a winner? Are there too many photographers? Why do we ask our competitors for advice? What can we learn from musicians? And the big one: How much are our images worth? Sadly, that's not just about how good they are or how much time we spend on them in post-production. Our latest client newsletter is below. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment here or emailing Ian directly. Cheers, Nigel How much are your images worth? We received this present from our design consultants, To View More >>

A couple of weeks ago I posted about aggravating business policies and touch points, and asked readers to tell us about the things we do that's frustrating! We received three comments. One I've mentioned already, and the other two also raise important issues. Katherine (not her real name) emailed her account manager to say she doesn't like Photojunction. More important, she doesn't like feeling pressured by Queensberry into using it. She feels that if QBY were truly customer focused she wouldn't feel this pressure and could continue in the way that's suited her perfectly for the last seven years. To View More >>