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 >>

The end is nigh for our Classroom Movie series as we finish off the syllabus this week with a 'presenting to clients' webinar. This is powerful functionality that gets overlooked in our introductory webinars... Here's what we'll be covering tomorrow: - Full screen review mode - The Collection builder - Proof sheets and proof layouts - Reports - Slideshows/Quicktime - Online proofing Click here to register and for more information. If you’ve missed our previous webinars, check out our up-to-date Classroom Movies here. As always, hope to see you there! Nigel To View More >>

.... and we do! Our clients look at the covers on our album samples and make judgements on what is inside. It's true! We help them do it. We want them to look at the cover and suspect that there is something very special inside. It was rewarding to know that when the New Zealand album award judges saw our 2009 award album in the first Musee cover they were wowed into silence. This cover demands respect. Working through the range of covers available to us we have made a studio decision to display a specific look for our albums. This makes them recognisable in the wild and it is our aim to earn those To View More >>

[Edited 6 December.] UK clients are doubtless aware that VAT rates are increasing from 17.5% to 20% effective from 4 January 2011. We had understood that it would be necessary for us to charge additional VAT on orders placed but not dispatched before the change date, even if they have been pre-paid, but after reviewing HMRC's anti-forestalling guidance notes this turns out to be incorrect. We're pleased to advise that all orders placed, confirmed and paid for before close-down will incur VAT at the old rate of 17.5%. If you have any questions about your orders or how we're handling this change To View More >>

When I talk to Photojunction users and they express frustration with the application, I have to know more. When we hear so many users rave about how much time it has saved them, I am just perplexed when someone feels the exact opposite. For example, I've talked to few of you who are frustrated with the time consuming nature of exporting high res layouts when you simply want to send a client a layout to approve. Or, you had to make tiny changes requested by the client and had to deal with the Problem Reporter all over again. High Res exports of layouts only need to happen once. This step in Photojunction To View More >>

Gotta love her: Bride by Steve and Cheryl, photography by Johannes, album by Queensberry Why do images look so good in books? I asked myself that question as I walked out of the new Aussie movie, Tomorrow when the war began in which the main character delivers a satiric line, "The book usually is better than the movie"... Take an image accompanied by a line of text in a great print ad. Or a series of images of a bride walking down the aisle in an album. Or a double page spread of a horizon in National Geographic. I reckon it's because the real beauty of the images is only discovered when they're To View More >>

Justine Ungaro has just published a stack of images of her first Musée album on her blog and agreed to let us feature them here too. A beautiful wedding. Beautiful album. And beautiful bride... You may recognise her as former American Idol judge, Kara Dio Guardi ;) Here's what Justine had to say about Queensberry and her first Musée... I discovered Queensberry albums way back in 2003, my first year at WPPI and have been using them ever since. Queensberry is based in New Zealand and their attention to detail and level of craftsmanship of their albums is always notable. However, in 2010 they really To View More >>

Have you ever asked yourself questions like these: I know how much I want to earn, but how much do I need to charge my clients to make it? How much is enough? What happens if my bookings go down, or I move to cheaper albums... or shoot-and-burn? Then check this out... We've just uploaded a recording of our latest album-based marketing webinar in which Ian uses his Minimum Average Sale Calculator to help you answer those questions - and more important, show the impact on your income if you change what you're doing - or your bookings go up or down. Click here to view the full post and video on Queensberry To View More >>

Every Saturday we wake up to a new wedding ... well I wish it was every Saturday. Every time I know that I must do my best. That is what my clients expect and what I would expect also. How do you make each day your best? I started writing this thinking that there was an answer. There is, but it is personal to each photographer. Having great assistants makes the best more achievable. Do your homework, have a safety net, have the skills to stay out of danger, underpromise and always overdeliver. Be stimulated by your work and by your clients. Have fun. There was a time when I would have told people To View More >>