Four years in, and Suzanne Black could teach a lot of people a lot of things…especially about marketing and surviving when times get tough. I had a chat with her about what she thinks are the keys to success, how she turns 90% of her enquiries into bookings and why albums are so important to her business. Positivity is contagious. Suzanne is feeling positive right now. I haven't heard that response to a question about the state of the economy in a long time, but after chatting I've decided describing her as "positive" is an understatement... She says, “In the current climate I think it's more To View More >>

I was sitting at my desk eating Mini Dinosaurs (from the Natural Confectionery Company). I was wondering about the scope of Photojunction as a tool in our business … the list of opportunities to make money from this (very free) software. I could increase the album sale with… More pages - fancy covers - extras like flips and wings - cases - digital copies, duplicates and parent albums - press book versions. I can show some of these (like extra pages, flips and wings) in the software. Others, like fancy covers, may need help from Queensberry's swatch book. Actually press books are a huge opportunity To View More >>

I was talking to Stephen last night and he made a comment about how photographers will approach an album on the Queensberry stand at trade shows. He said that most often they will pick up the book and look at the last pages first. If what they see catches their interest they look more closely. I can think of several reasons for this behaviour. At trade shows there are many suppliers peddling their wares, It is important for photographers to be efficient in their research. The last image in an album is often a defining one and in some way summarises the quality, content and feeling of the album. To View More >>

Why not design your albums in Photoshop or InDesign? A lot of people do, and they're great applications – we depend on them both ourselves. A few thoughts … Adobe don't think designing your albums in Photoshop is a good idea. That's not what it's for. Adobe's page layout software is InDesign. So how much does InDesign know about wedding and portrait photographers, their workflow, their albums and their suppliers? InDesign doesn't know what DPI your lab needs, or what file type, or what size the printed layouts should be, or about bleed and trim requirements, or what colour management processes To View More >>

Three quick tips to simplify album design. 1. Avoid unnecessary repetition (eg this is the bride looking slightly left, straight ahead, and slightly right) unless you make your profits from the number of images you sell. 2. Embrace open space (especially in sample albums - lead by example). 3. Offer a two album option that allows people to have lots of images without overcrowding. While I'm mentioning 'leading by example': If you don't make a sample album from each order, at least make each design into a slideshow you can show prospective clients. This library of slideshows allows you to show To View More >>