Time is a valuable resource in any business, but especially photography. With that in mind, it makes sense to make the most of it, and to ask yourself, can I do things more efficiently? If I could outsource something, should I? Is what I'm doing even necessary? Here are four ways to optimise your time and make the most of every shoot. 1. Outsource Ask photographers why they got into portrait and wedding photography and they'll say how they love photography … or telling love stories … or connecting with clients on their special days. Not many say To View More >>

Tessa Williams from Moemoea Collective is a family portrait photographer based in Upper Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. "Whanau is my first priority in life, so I love to photograph others who feel the same. My style is contemporary, relationship-focused imagery filled with lots of life, and I want my client experience to leave you feeling celebrated, valued and with great pride in sharing your story with your loved ones. "I will be exhibiting my first collection of original artwork celebrating the connection between wahine hapu (pregnant women) and Papatuanuku (our earth mother), embracing To View More >>

Ever since digital replaced film as the photographers’ tool of choice, there’s been a rapid rise in reported cases of Photographer’s Herd Instinct Disease (PHID). Like other herd behaviors (buffalo grazing, people drinking Kool-Aid®, etc.) the symptoms of PHID include needing to hang out with the rest of the herd, think the same thoughts and do the same things. PHID is viral and highly contagious, and affects wedding and portrait photographers in particular. Although often transmitted through direct photographer-to-photographer contact, recent studies suggest that software To View More >>

Fresh Samples, Fresh Prices (Sample Album discount) Professional products like albums and wall art aren’t just about cash in your back pocket, they’re a source of pride and great “silent salesmen”. Freshen them up and stand out from the crowd! Our January Sample Sale is the best time to buy. Because we hate twiddling our thumbs, and January can be s-l-o-w, we offer Early Birds our best deals of the year. To save 40% on your book and album selling samples quote FRESH40 when ordering in Workspace. Orders must be confirmed and paid for by 22 January.  Our normal conditions To View More >>

Everything we do is about adding value to your photography … to help sell your art, your craft, your intellectual property, your time! Matting a work of art is a powerful, longstanding way to add to its worth, and we offer matting in several products — like albums, frames and boxes. But we also offer “loose” matted prints, and new customers are sometimes surprised to find they’re just as beautifully presented. We supply them with an embossed cover sheet to protect the mat and print … and make the treasure inside more special. The embossed Q device is important To View More >>

The presentation box our albums come in has a long history. Developed for us in 1995 by leading designer Donna Hoyle, it combines two graphic elements: a 17th Century Italian text, and a series of leaf and heraldic devices including our own Cherub. It doesn’t even bear our name, but to us, and our customers, it’s a key part of our identity, like Tiffany’s Blue Box… but maybe not as famous! The Box even survived a total rebranding in 2008, when we couldn’t bear to part with it. It was another seven years before we refreshed the design, and even then we built on the To View More >>

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”  ―  Marc Riboud To celebrate a social media milestone Kelly Wolfe held a competition. She asked her followers to send in their stories, with one of them winning an afternoon photo shoot. You can see why Kelly decided to use the photographs, of Chase, Deo and Brody, the perfect three, for her Queensberry sample album. The dogs' owner (also called Kelly!) says her first and oldest fur baby was Brody, a "Sibord" — half Siberian Husky, half Border Collie. "He was To View More >>

Sarah Brookes’ first boudoir shoot was for a friend getting married. She shot some beautiful images of her friend in her bridal lingerie and found the experience captivating. Now she wonders if it’s the best job in the world, working one-to-one with her clients on something so important to them, and witnessing their personal transformations. “I get lots of lovely comments from the husband/ fiancé too, thanking me for capturing their partner in such a beautiful way. What a privilege!” Sarah enjoys the technical challenges as well. Every booking is different, and To View More >>

I just finished a book that pinged all my Queensberry values. Gutenberg’s Apprentice is a novel by Alix Christie that brings to life the inspiration, invention and sheer hard work over several years that went into the Gutenberg Bible. Published in 1454-5, it was the first major book to be printed using moveable type. Until then books were copied by hand — by scribes — and therefore scarce, hugely expensive and prone to error. I love the way Alix Christie has given credit not just to the inventor, but also to his foreman Peter Schöffer, his business partner Johannes Fust To View More >>

Last week we shipped the very first real live order for our new medium-weight lay-flat Q Books. Not a prototype, not a concept drawing or trial album, but our very first, real live order. These lay-flats were just a part of our 2015 launch, our biggest in years, with new cover materials, new panoramic flushmounts and much more. We showed them first at WPPI and SWPP, but despite our own excitement and the enthusiastic response, we’ve resisted shipping the lay-flats until now. Why? To make them perfect they needed a little extra love, so we went back to the drawing board. The last To View More >>