This is a long post, so I’m starting with the short story! Some people are upset about the terms of trade for our new web-based lab service, Queensberry Print. We want to clarify that, yes, Queensberry Print products are available to both professional photographers and end-consumers. Certainly, “consumer” means “everyone”, but in reality we believe these products will only be of real interest to professionals, serious amateur photographers, and people who received digital files from a professional and who really care how their photos are printed. Our existing range To View More >>

Let me tell you a story about why we're in the album business, why we believe in brand building, and why you should too. Don't tell anyone but you're looking at two early Queensberries from the days when albums weren't everything we do. It may look a bit tired but the old wallet on top has excellent provenance, as they say. In 1990 Stephen brought his new fiancée home from Brisbane to meet his family in New Zealand. He gave her the Queensberry tour, saw the wallet and asked could he have it? Heather gave it to him. (I hope she gave Sonya something too!) Years passed. We stopped making wallets. To View More >>

After reading over Nadine’s heartfelt description of her wedding day, it quickly became clear that Nadine and Pascal’s wedding was filled with a great deal of love and emotion. The entire day was a beautiful celebration of their love for one another  - a true love story! The wedding ceremony was held at Les Trois Glands in Luxembourg, which was a special moment Nadine describes very beautifully... “Discovering Pascal at the Trois Glands was a very big moment.” Nadine says, “I look at him already from far away… yes, this is the man of my life, looking To View More >>

I recently saw London photographer Serena Bolton blogging about one of our 14x10H overlay matted albums, so I asked her if we could share it here as well. It's nice to see portrait images in our albums. We're so used to seeing weddings! Serena says, "My client landed on my website late one night by mistake! The mum had been doing some research into interior designers and I had just done a shoot with designer, Samantha Todhunter. "Samantha's website lead to a discovery of my website! She wasn't really looking for a photographer but was captivated by my family portraits. She had always really wanted To View More >>

Looking through the design workshop yesterday I discovered a book I made nearly twenty years ago. It reminded me how grateful I am to one of my mentors, the bookbinder Michael O’Brien, a man of enormous talent, insight and good humour, and without a doubt the most eccentric person I’ve ever met. I met Michael in 1994, just before he moved his workshop from Auckland to the South Island. One of the books he was working on was for a European art collector, to mount his Picasso drawings. This was a revelatory experience for me. Do people like this exist? Do they pay thousands of dollars for books? To View More >>

For those of you who don't live in Godzone (New Zealand, OK?) Vaughan Smith does the drive time show on New Zealand's top music station, The Edge. He and Fletch have arguably the funniest radio show in the country and I listen to them every day. So when I saw his album working its way through production I thought I'd grab the opportunity to ask him a few girly questions. Read on, ladies, he's not just funny, he's got a soft centre. • Tell us about how it all began - where did you and Sharde meet, and how did you make her fall for you? Like any good modern day romance, it was in the workplace To View More >>

Why are some photographers more successful than others? In part it's their level of confidence. Or anxiety. Picture the anxious photographer preparing for a pre-wedding consult. Setting out coffee and cakes in the studio. Grateful someone got past the email stage. Anxious to finalise the booking … And not wanting to push their luck! They know the bride's looking for a cheap photographer and a cheap album … or a good photographer and a DVD! The most important thing to her is her BUDGET. The confident photographer starts by assuming the most important thing to the bride is her WEDDING. She sets To View More >>

LOST MEMORIES (French, English Subtitles) from Francois Ferracci on Vimeo. We saw this clip recently and it really resonated with us. Not only do we work in an industry that values the physical, but it's an important reminder of how easily our memories can be lost if we're not careful with them. I shared the video with Heather, which opened up an interesting discussion. "The printed image and the written word are the only way to directly access the past," she says. "We have family images captured on slides, but now it's hard to find a projector for them. Same for 8mm movie projectors. Tape VCRs To View More >>

The Archive of Accidents that once was photography. Les Walkling describes a truth that is often forgotten in our pursuit of perfection. Editing our images to only show our best is destroying a potential archive of wedding (and family) culture. Not only do we forget but we actively discard 'the accidental archive'. In making albums we look for the best-ofs, often overlooking the incidental truths. When we are editing we discard photographs that are imperfect or that don't suit our story (this is the inevitable outcome of editing). It's a fact that vanity rules over truth, but there is something To View More >>

For a little hippy nostalgia you couldn’t ask for better than Sami Sunchild’s Red Victorian Bed & Breakfast, Peaceful World Center & Cafe in Haight-Ashbury. Still going strong 45 years after the Summer of Love. Nice food too. But it was Sami's take on how to be an entrepreneur that struck us most, and reminded me of so many photographers! Heather spotted it on the wall next to our lunch table (click here for full size). And if you think being an entrepreneur is easy, read this. All you need is love. And perseverance. Cheers, Ian Here's Grace, Janis and Jimmi for ya. To View More >>