Things have a habit of creeping up on you, as our friends at Seldex have reminded us by sending an email to their clients reminding them that come July they won't be able to use Photojunction's cover design and Send Order functions. (We announced as much here back in February.) We've counted Seldex as friends for years – in fact they sold Queensberry albums in Australia back in the day! - so this is a rather sad time, the culmination of a process that started to unfold a couple of years ago when we realised that most suppliers weren't going to support PJ as a universal album design tool, which To View More >>

Catherine Connor of Aspire Photographic Training in the UK Lakes District has been a good friend of Queensberry for over a decade. Catherine is a highly experienced marketer and business development manager, and since 1998 thousands of photographers have benefited from both her own coaching and the experience of her impressive team of trainers. I talked to Catherine about what it takes to succeed in this industry. Is there a future for professional photography? Is it really harder today? How has digital changed things? Should photographers depend less on weddings? You can follow Catherine and To View More >>

Four years in, and Suzanne Black could teach a lot of people a lot of things…especially about marketing and surviving when times get tough. I had a chat with her about what she thinks are the keys to success, how she turns 90% of her enquiries into bookings and why albums are so important to her business. Positivity is contagious. Suzanne is feeling positive right now. I haven't heard that response to a question about the state of the economy in a long time, but after chatting I've decided describing her as "positive" is an understatement... She says, “In the current climate I think it's more To View More >>

Welcome to the second interview in our series featuring clients whose businesses are thriving despite the current economic climate. Click here to read the first interview with Christian Oth. In the same year they had their first child, Chris and Darcie Siiteri started their Austin (Texas) photography business, Innovative Photography. Fifteen years later they’re still at it and doing better than ever. I gave an initially nervous Darcie an early morning call to chat about how they approach their album sales, and what they do to ensure their clients have an amazing experience and to foster relationships To View More >>

It's not all bad out there you know! There are plenty of people doing better than ever, even considering the recession. So over the next few weeks we're bringing you a series of interviews with clients who are doing just great. We'll share their advice, ideas and opinions as they give us some insights into how they're successfully running their businesses. Here's the first. He's been recognised as one of the world's best photographers, serviced clients like the New York Times and Apple Computer, photographed celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, Amanda Peet, Isabella Rosselini and Donald Trump,  regularly To View More >>

I was sitting at my desk eating Mini Dinosaurs (from the Natural Confectionery Company). I was wondering about the scope of Photojunction as a tool in our business … the list of opportunities to make money from this (very free) software. I could increase the album sale with… More pages - fancy covers - extras like flips and wings - cases - digital copies, duplicates and parent albums - press book versions. I can show some of these (like extra pages, flips and wings) in the software. Others, like fancy covers, may need help from Queensberry's swatch book. Actually press books are a huge opportunity To View More >>

Forget animal sacrifice, this is about image sacrifice, and why it is - quite frankly - morally and photographically unethical! What I’m talking about here is panoramic layouts and when to 'cut' an image (and when not to). Queensberry doesn’t make leaves with prints continuous across the spine of the book, as some manufacturers do. Instead, the prints on our digital pages are split at the centreline, leaving a gap of about 2mm (about 1/16”). The reason for this is because if the print is folded - it almost invariably discolours and/or cracks. Our albums are all about protecting images rather To View More >>

Why not design your albums in Photoshop or InDesign? A lot of people do, and they're great applications – we depend on them both ourselves. A few thoughts … Adobe don't think designing your albums in Photoshop is a good idea. That's not what it's for. Adobe's page layout software is InDesign. So how much does InDesign know about wedding and portrait photographers, their workflow, their albums and their suppliers? InDesign doesn't know what DPI your lab needs, or what file type, or what size the printed layouts should be, or about bleed and trim requirements, or what colour management processes To View More >>

I daren't start this blog with 'In my day ... things were different!' In my day 'We' were the difference ... we were the new generation biting at the heals of 'the old guard'. There was always going to be a new generation coming in to replace what we did. Several things happened in the wedding industry when I was starting up. People started looking for images that were less formal and more photojournalistic, and people started asking for their negatives. Enter Generation 2.0, invigorated and empowered by the digital revolution. Camera makers have made it easier for our audience to be better aligned To View More >>

David and Sarah Henry recently blogged about receiving their first Queensberry album... "Wow! ... This company is making albums that will get handed on to the future generations as a bespoke family reference. "Our first album, a sample based on Dave and Katie's gorgeous wedding, arrived in our studio and has blown us away. It's an 18x10 Duo (a combination of digital and matted pages) with a Blueberry leather cover and ivory pages. It's absolutely beautiful. "We felt such beautiful photos warranted the impact of a large gorgeous album such as this." Click here to view more images of Dave and Katie's To View More >>