Photojunction ran an interesting post a day or two ago. Danny referenced a report from theweddingreport.com that spending on wedding photography in the US may be in decline. It prompted Sonya to mention anecdotal reports that UK photographers, also, may be in for a rough ride for a while – bookings down etc. Yes, times may be tougher next year. If they get tough for you, we’re concerned and sympathetic. Bad stuff happens in business, and if you’re affected, we are too. But... Don’t sabotage your long-term business in order to survive! What do I mean? Queensberry has always stressed the To View More >>

Not every business owner can call themselves a professional photographer. But every business owner needs to be a marketer.  Creativity lends itself quite nicely to marketing so the chances are, if you're reading this blog but don't claim to be a marketer already, you'll be quite good at it. I was reading an article by Paul Williams yesterday that made me realise this: The current economic climate is forcing every business owner (that's you) to become a marketer. The recession is a "training ground for us to hone our businesses. The difference (or benefit?) with the recession is that EVERYBODY To View More >>

I see the Druids are celebrating the sun at Stonehenge, but Down South 21 June is the shortest day. Not that we have much to complain about. We don't even get frosts in Titirangi (loosely "fringe of heaven" in Maori) but it's sure cold in the wind and shade. Early morning I rugged up and took the dogs down to the beach and thought that, even when the tide's out on an overcast day in Winter, life's not too bad. Hopefully it's the shortest day for the economy too. The worst of Winter may still be ahead – the moneymen (and some of us) screwed up, and the consequences are still playing out ... but To View More >>

Well, today is our last day, and it's time to express once again our thanks for your support in 2010. We're hugely grateful, not just for the business you send us, but for the friendship and generosity that makes our job such a pleasure. Yesterday was the Summer solstice for us – the longest day, with the promise of long sunny days to come – but for many of you it was the shortest, and in many cases the weather has been pretty bad. Whatever the weather's like outside we hope it's warm and welcoming at your place. Our holiday wish for you is that – like Adrienne's dogs – you take into 2011 To View More >>

These articles are about strategies to combat the recession. I ended my last post by posing the question on everyone's lips: what happens if my bookings drop? You'll need to have read my previous post to make sense of what follows, but to recap, based on the numbers in the graphic below, if I get 30 wedding bookings and average $5000 per job my income is $71k. If I could get 40 bookings I'd make $114k, even if my average dropped to $4600. All good, but what happens if I can only get 20 bookings? The answer is my income drops to $28k! I could still achieve my $100k income goal with just 20 weddings To View More >>

Follow the links for "the story so far" in our series on the recession... Yes, times will be tough for a while but you shouldn't assume the sky is falling. It makes no sense to sacrifice your business and market reputation to survive the short term challenge. Instead you may need to pull your horns in and find ways to prosper while others decline. A good place to start is by analysing your budget and business model, and we have a spreadsheet to help with that. Most people react to the threat of declining sales by saying, "I've gotta cut my costs". Everyone needs to work out their own figures, but To View More >>

Well in excess of 2000 aftershocks later, the region I live in still has no idea when the shaking will stop. [caption id="attachment_9611" align="alignnone" width="333" caption="I arrived at the bride's mum's house, and they had a big crack in their drive that went ..."][/caption] On September 4, 2010, Christchurch (New Zealand) was rudely awoken (4:35am) by a rather large Earthquake (magnitude 7.1 on the Richter scale).The energy released in that one shake is still way in excess of the sum of the energy released by all of  the aftershocks, even though many have been over 4 and several To View More >>

Stephen blogged recently about how, when he's away from home, he loves keeping up with friends and family on Facebook. Loves the photos, the sharing, the little messages - likes wishing his mother a happy birthday ... and seeing the message spread around his network, so the best wishes get multiplied many times. But sharing isn't the same thing as remembering, and Facebook is really about the former, not the latter, and it's interesting to ask why. For a start, what's the likelihood of Facebook being around when our children and grandchildren want to know about us? If history is any guide, not To View More >>

I just participated in a panel discussion on management accounting for professional photographers. Well I was invited, but my contribution was zero (I'll explain in a minute). However the experience brought something to mind that I think is important, so here goes. Having an accountant (and keeping regular management accounts) is like having one leg. A damn sight better than none. But two is much better. The first leg is the data, keeping score. The second leg is analysis: strategising, playing what-if with the numbers, thinking through your options and how they might impact your bottom line. To View More >>

I'm looking at a truly beautiful print (sorry I can only show you a 233K JPEG). Where does it's beauty come from? It starts with a beautiful flower. I don't know who bred it or nurtured it, but I wish I did. It's a beautiful composition. I do know that the stylist was Katie Lockhart, the photographer Sjoerd. It's a beautiful file, worked to perfection at Alt group as part of our re-brand last year. And it's beautifully printed. Here's the thing. The beauty in the print is totally dependent on everything that went before. Break the chain and you're left with ordinary. Normally in our business we're To View More >>