Remember the little domestic drama about how my briefcase and laptop were stolen? And how, to judge from my own buying behaviour, not everyone is going to downgrade to cheap and nasty just because of the recession? Well, yes, I bought the most expensive laptop bag I came across, but... I asked for a discount. You're not to know this but I'm a shrug-and-pay guy. It's my role in life to pay full retail, so for me to ask for, let alone get, 10% off is unusual. But what struck me was how the store projected itself. There wasn't a sale sign anywhere. Nothing to suggest times are tough, or please make To View More >>

If you're flying in to shoot a wedding and the weather's so foul the plane mightn't be able to land, you have every wedding photographer's nightmare. And to say the weather was foul would be an understatement... But the plane did land and Johannes (of Moda Fotografica) had already covered the other bases before heading out to shoot Vicky and Ricky's wedding at French Farm in the South Island of New Zealand. With heavy rain forecast and weather warnings in place, Johannes discussed with the couple what would happen if the weather didn't play nice. He walked them through how it might effect what To View More >>

We'd never been to Lyttelton until a couple of years ago. At school we'd all learnt it was Christchurch's port, but that didn't mean you had to visit. Now everyone knows it's at the epicentre of Christchurch's earthquake. The reason I did eventually visit Lyttelton was to catch up with Johannes van Kan and Jo Grams. It's a fabulous little town, with a nice traditional pub (you walk down the corridor to the bathroom, just like the old days), lots of local music, good restaurants, great coffee, a beautiful setting. And in centre of the town the original, often funky, sometimes beautiful, apparently To View More >>

A while ago I suggested "keeping it simple" was a great goal ... but not simple to achieve in a complicated job like photography. But I did suggest you could do it with Queensberry. Take our Design Service. There are benefits to doing your own album design, so what I'm about to say isn't going to work for everyone. But if you're snowed under or uncomfortable with album design it's worth serious thought. Say on average you spend 3-4 hours on each album design ... and many people do spend a lot more. Send them to Queensberry and you've just freed up at least a day. You can bet that at this time To View More >>

Heather recently returned from a Better By Design US Study Tour bursting at the seams with inspiration and excited to share her journey with the rest of us. Instead of a powerpoint presentation or a sit down discussion of what she learnt, she went about posting her thoughts and snippets of wisdom all over our office walls. (Which we actually think is a lot more fun for us to digest). Above are some of my favorite post-it notes, but to be honest I probably haven't even read them all yet! (There are hundreds). I'm glad Heather had a good trip, and I'm glad she was able to bring some excitement To View More >>