The Junction has been a bit quiet lately so I thought I would talk to you about what the developers have been brewing. I have a lot of fruit trees at my place but two of my favorites are a Peachcot and a Peacharine. These are cross pollinations between a peach and an apricot and a peach and a nectarine. Individually beautiful to eat, but when you blend the two together you get something special. The guys at Queensberry and Photojunction have been doing a bit of cross pollinating of their own. Press albums are the new kid on the block for us. Taking two products, both beautiful in their own right, To View More >>

My two children are getting married, and In Part 1 I talked about how my eyes have been opened by the experience. What would my kids get if they hired a "professional photographer” for $3500.00 or so? Generally the photographer's time on the day, a DVD, no post work, often from someone who doesn't know how to give a "wedding day experience" on top of everything else. $3500 feels like too much money for that, but as I pointed out, the wholesale costs involved are too high to expect much more. Prices like that encourage couples to go shopping with unrealistically low budgets for photography … 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 >>

We love it when our clients win awards for their work, especially when our albums are involved. Laura and Marilyn of Natural Expressions recently won the New Hampshire PPA 2008 FujiFilm Masterpiece Award for Photographic Excellence with this beautiful album, which they called "a bright future". Winnie and Sean's wedding, held at a beautiful country club in Massachusetts, was all about a colourful palette, so a colourful album was only appropriate. Laura and Marilyn design a 10x7 Pagemount feature album with a Teal Leather Photo Front cover - Teal Leather chosen to complement one of the couple's To View More >>

Happy New Year! As I always say, this is a great time of year to reflect. We achieved a lot to be proud of in 2010. As well as our regular software releases, and a user base that grew by another 25% over the year, some of the highlights included: - Queensberry press book integration – our new classroom movie series – and of course our popular weekly webinars... We're not quite so proud of these out-takes from a filming session Nigel and I did for our website home page. But Ian found them pretty funny and made them into a short video. Maybe you'll have a laugh at/with me too. You can click on To View More >>

Jerry Tomko is a long time friend who comes to mind whenever we think of heavy Photojunction users. He designs and sells a huge number of albums each year and has been using the software for as long as we can remember. 1) What impact does Photojunction have on your album design workflow? Photojunction has had a huge impact on my album design workflow. I have always been a firm believer in predesign - and in wedding albums, and I truly believe you should be able to see what you are purchasing. Even back in the film days, I would always present to the client what the album would look like before To View More >>

A couple of weeks ago I posted about aggravating business policies and touch points, and asked readers to tell us about the things we do that's frustrating! We received three comments. One I've mentioned already, and the other two also raise important issues. Katherine (not her real name) emailed her account manager to say she doesn't like Photojunction. More important, she doesn't like feeling pressured by Queensberry into using it. She feels that if QBY were truly customer focused she wouldn't feel this pressure and could continue in the way that's suited her perfectly for the last seven years. To View More >>

At the seminar I mentioned recently the presenter prefaced anything that might sound critical with, "I know this doesn't apply to you, but..." So, I know this doesn't apply to you, but... Tony Bramley had this to say about Johanne's last post: "There have always been crap photographers. Even in the days of film our old lab used to tell us of terrible exposures etc. "It's just there are more of them with digital cameras who think they can do a professional job in a very amateur way. If they don't know their trade and tools they are not professionals. As a printing company as well as an album To View More >>

"Previously we were offering albums we knew our competitors were also offering, but we’ve realised we can use the album to separate us from our competitors." That quote from Nigel's interview with the Youngrens reflects Queensberry's key message to photographers and it got me thinking... A while ago I posted about album companies in trouble – and not hitching your own wagon to dying stars. Today I'm suggesting you be wary of the latest and greatest too ;) In the US and UK markets of 2000, Queensberry albums were revolutionary because we hand-made every album to order. That meant photographers, To View More >>

Thanks Heather. Cheers, Ian To View More >>