.... 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 >>

The other day we received an invoice from Queensberry and my wife (the fabulous Jo Grams) exclaimed, 'Crikey!' (she's Australian). It was a lot of money for an album! Too much? We talked about it and came to the conclusion that we were getting what we were paying for. We want to give our clients the best we can deliver. This means many things, not the least of which is getting them the best albums we can. We could reduce our personal costs by using less expensive covers, mounting systems, and not getting the full colour service, BUT would the outcome still fit into the requirement of giving our To View More >>

.. that you are selling to? I read Ian's post yesterday and thought he had some really good points, but I wanted to add to the discussion by drilling down another layer to ask, "Who is the man you are selling to?" Here are a few possibilities and I am sure you are easily able to add more (so feel free to contribute your thoughts): 1 The besot - hopelessly in love and a cinch for a big album. 2 The control freak - Needs to believe that they have choices. The choices empower them and allow them to "own the outcome". 3 The accountant - The value of the album is a number: that value equates to a certain To View More >>

I've gathered enough gongs now to qualify for an opinion on album design. Last week I was a judge for the Australian Professional Photography Awards at PMA in Melbourne. This was an honour I shared with the lovely Jo Grams, Jerry Ghionis, Jackie Chan, Yervant and other luminaries. Several things became apparent: 1) Some authors treated the album as a set of individual prints, mixing black and whites with colours, verticals with horizontals, with blatant disregard for the influence of those images on each other. 2) Some authors were hypnotised by the ability to apply a filter to create a look ... To View More >>

"The brides love seeing themselves": In our final installment Jerry explains how blogging generates bookings and sales, the benefits from clients look forward to seeing themselves online – and the serendipity by which he ended up shooting his first wedding in India. Click here for the audio (8:21 mins). Thanks for listening and sorry once again for the audio quality. Cheers, Ian To View More >>

More wisdom from the over-30s... ;) In this segment Jerry Tomko tells Heather and me why he won't take a wedding booking without an album, why the lady in his bagel shop doesn't like digital and what's wrong with shoot-and-burn. And Heather talks about the only question many photographers know to ask about albums ... and what's wrong with the question. Click here to listen (9:52 mins). More soon. Cheers, Ian PS Apologies again for the audio quality. To View More >>

There was a time when the saying was, "Never trust anyone over 30!" But hey, check out my picture – that was then and this is now. Seriously folks, we were talking to Jerry Tomko at WPPI, and I thought ... this man has so much sensible stuff to share. So Heather and I took him up to the suite, sat him down with wine and nibbles and interviewed him around a single mic. Jerry is now a valued client, but he used to work as a rep for Art Leather. Here he talks about teaching people how to sell, why to sell albums (and frames), pre-designing an album in the days before digital, and more. Don't miss To View More >>

[caption id="attachment_7717" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Click to view image full-size"][/caption] It's been said that the first rule of online social media is, Invest your time, not your money. Which is why it's so hard to do. Let's face it – who has the time? So how about a marketing opportunity that requires just a button-click? We've just snuck (if that's a word) a new feature into Queensberry's Photojunction Resources, and judging by the emails already coming in it's going to be a popular idea. If we're printing and assembling your album, you'll see a question asking if you'd To View More >>

I recently held a small workshop in the UK at the studio of Zoe Richards just out of Liverpool. It was intimate (there were only nine of us). We discussed album design and particularly spoke about the Musée. One of the ideas of that album is to create a feeling of intimacy. The resounding lesson from our discussion was about that and simplicity. Too often people cram images into albums to the point where there is no room to rest your eyes. The Musée design uses space to reinforce the luxury and quality feel of the product. There is something exciting about an intimate moment in a cupboard but To View More >>

All you need to know about Photojunction's upcoming webinars is now in one tidy place. Here. On our Photojunction Webinar Schedule page. We'll keep this schedule regularly updated with the latest times, dates,  info and registration details about our upcoming webinars. Most of them are free to attend so whether you're a new Photojunction convert and in need of our Intro to Photojunction webinar, or an experienced PJ beta tester wanting to spend some quality time with us in our pure Q&A webinar - you'll find all the details on the schedule page. The handy button to the right will take you To View More >>