Remember your first time? Doing whatever. Maybe photographing your first wedding? Years back when Subway turned up in New Zealand it took me 10 minutes and enough questions to drive mum up the wall to finally place my order. Why? Because I didn't know how. I've just committed to spending a lot of money on our wedding photography, but before I did, I was nervous. Not so much because of the money, but because I wasn't sure what I'd get for it. It was my first time. I'm in the industry, talk to photographers all the time, and write articles about marketing and business every day.  But I still felt To View More >>

When people contact us about their wedding, if they are doing a general search, they most often ask, 'How much to shoot our wedding?' Eventually they get around to 'What do I get?' and finally 'Are you available?' This email just came in. It says it all really.To whom it may concern,Would it be possible to be sent a full price list of your wedding packages?Thanks, Justin We all want our clients to care, because it is the caring that makes them better clients. So what are we selling? Are we selling a product at a price? Are we selling our ability to make great photographs? Are we selling our ability To View More >>

What is it that our clients are paying for? Photography? (But what does that mean) Entertainment? (Couldn't afford the clown for the party) Documentation? (Recording content for a historical document) Memories? (Least we forget) Glamorisation? (See, the bride can look glam with the right dress, makeup, hairdo, and some photoshop!) Impressionism? (To impress the neighbours) Fairytaleism? (Living the dream) Then you might ask, what are each of these worth in the final package? It would be an interesting exercise to give each a percentage value. And then think about those percentages, and ask yourself To View More >>

We are about six weeks off having a child ... holy moley! Actually, Jo is pushing for an early arrival ... Our child will do no wrong, and it will certainly never vomit or cry inappropriately. We know this because we'll be the proud parents and our pride will blind us to our newborn's shortcomings. Or maybe it's love, not pride... Stepping down a level, our pride in our albums, the stories they tell, and their look and feel, help us to talk passionately (not blindly) about them. It's our passionate gestures and words that gives our pride a voice. It's infectious. Only six weeks!!!!!!! (or less) To View More >>

Tom Waits has a cranky, croaky voice. I am listening to his CD 'Orphans Brawlers and Bastards' as I write this post. You could argue that his voice lacks 'quality' ... The words are often run together, mumbled, and broken. That collection of imperfections is the quality that makes his work so unique. It's a different type of 'quality' to the one we describe to sell our albums. We talk about the personal elements in the creation of the book. We talk proudly of the craft involved and the quality of the raw materials used in the album construction. We do this because we are proud of their perfections To View More >>