For a country with the population of the San Francisco Bay Area, New Zealand has a lot of great photographers, and we're proud that many of them are Queensberry clients. We're delighted to say that one of the best has agreed to write for us. Johannes van Kan of Moda Fotografica has been a friend since 1993, when Heather and I first met him at NZIPP's annual conference and awards judging. Since then Johannes has qualified as a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers and was New Zealand Wedding Photographer of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and winner of the New Zealand Wedding To View More >>

A series about storytelling in album design. Highlight the Heroes Every story needs a hero, and so does your album design - probably one on most layouts! The hero image is the focal point, the main attraction, the place you want the viewer's eye drawn to. In graphic design speak it’s called creating visual hierarchy. The supporting characters help the story along and keep things interesting, but it's the heroes you want to shine. I talked about ways to begin and wrap up a story previously, but the middle of the story is where the action is. People dress up and assemble together, the guy finally To View More >>

The Image College in association with Queensberry, is bringing Johannes van Kan to Australia for a brief visit in August/September to present one day seminars in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The heart and soul of the high end wedding album Winner of the 2010 WPPI Album of the Year, and multiple winner of the NZIPP Iris Awards Wedding Album of the Year, Johannes van Kan is one of an elite group of world class photographers creating profoundly beautiful albums for his wedding clients. In this event Johannes will take you on a journey beginning with: - Why he does what he does - The thought processes To View More >>

The Iris Awards are an important platform for showcasing the outstanding talent of New Zealand professional photographers. This year we had six Queensberry clients win categories, and you can view their winning images on our blog post here. We were also pleased that Bruce Gabites won the Wedding Album category and allowed us to share his winning album layouts with you. Bruce says “being able to put together a great wedding album is the true test of a wedding photographer's ability and consistency by being able to capture a series of stunning images right throughout the day – not just being To View More >>

The Iris Awards are an important platform for showcasing the outstanding talent of New Zealand professional photographers. This year we had six Queensberry clients win categories and we're proud to share with you their winning images. Anna Kernohan - Landscape category winner Bryan Isbister - Wedding Classic category winner Michel Perrin - Creative category winner Jake Thomas - Wedding Creative category winner Bruce Gabites - Wedding Album category winner Mark McKeown - Photojournalism category winner  Congratulations to each of you on your outstanding photographs and success at the awards. We'd To View More >>

Our clients featured strongly again this year among the winners of the 2009 Annabel Williams Contemporary Photographic Training (CPT) Awards. Sarah Wright took out the Queensberry-sponsored Portrait Album category (we featured the wedding album category winner a few days ago). Ex-CPT student Sarah submitted this design of a portrait shoot of a teenager shot in the Borde Hill Gardens - a country estate in the South of England. “The subject really wanted a rural shoot as he loved the country side and country clothing – so I utilised the Estate’s striking features like the wrought iron gates, To View More >>

Late last year Ian and I caught up with award winning photographer Bruce Gabites at his new Auckland studio. He'd just won his eighth straight Kodak Gold award  in the Wedding Album category, and we wanted to find out his secret... We spent a morning talking with him about why he enters photography competitions and what makes him so successful, the affect winning awards has on his business, and albums – the part they  play in his packages, and how he goes about selling them. To listen to our interview with Bruce Gabites click here (22 mins). Cheers, Nigel PS Bruce recently shared some To View More >>

We like to say “We’re local” wherever we do business, but this story is as local as you can get… When we asked our regular clients to complete a survey, we promised a free album to one lucky respondent. We couldn’t believe it when the winner was a New Zealander, Liz March, from our own hometown! In fact she used to work not a mile from the Bindery. When we asked Liz to introduce herself to our readers, this is what she wrote: “About ten years ago I was working as an art teacher at a full immersion Maori school in Glen Eden. On my way to school one morning I picked up a hitchhiker who To View More >>

Johannes has a better metaphor, but the photo is from iStock. - Ed. The Bumble Bee Effect. Different to the Butterfly Effect because they haven't made a movie of the same name with at least two sequels. The Bumble Bee effect is all about buzz and pollen. It's about being talked about. We successfully did so by putting on an earthquake (a really big one). There are other ways to create a buzz that are much more positive. Obvious buzz topics are awards, photographing the wedding of Kate and Prince William, standing tall in the face of adversity, scandal, heroism, and achievement. (Actually 'scandal' To View More >>

I couldn't help myself ... I just had to jump in on this one. There are many reasons why photographers are coy on their pricing. They want to keep their colleagues uninformed. They don't want to frighten potential clients before they have had a chance to impress them with their own brand of personal charm, their list of awards, and the opportunity to brandish their Photoshop skills. They don't feel confident in their own pricing. We have two companies dealing with different budgets. The less expensive brand has full disclosure on the website. 65-75% of people responding to the website are booking To View More >>