Queensberry Connects


Johannes van Kan

I am a photographer, poet, and once was a traveller .... until I set up a photographic studio which somehow, almost magically sucked up any traveling funds and time. I am married to the lovely Jo Grams (also a photographer) and in June I officially became the father of Ida Valentina. People warned me that everything would change. It has. Ida has taken over from the studio as the magical time and money sucker (just kidding).

http://jvk.modafotografica.co.nz/

Johannes's Archive

The truth about brides

March 12th, 2010 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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I was thinking about this the other day as I was driving back from a wedding out of town.

We need to try to find ways for our brides and grooms to commit to being photographed.

I have seen both extremes, one where the bride is expecting you to pull rabbits from hats because she paid you a lot of money to do your magic, and the other extreme where she almost dresses as a rabbit to make your life easier, and the magic more real.

One bride came to me telling me I had the job (of shooting her wedding) if I could make her look skinnier in the photographs … I said to her we could but I needed her help. I needed her to at least think skinny and do some work to get there. I needed her to have the right dress (and dressmaker). I said we would use the right lighting and would get her standing in complimentary ways. At no time did I mention The Skinny Filter in Photoshop.

This is all about investing in the outcome.

Many people do this already …

The real magic only happens when everybody (including the magician) believes. Walt Disney was particularly good at this.

 

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    • Queensberry Connects is about the photography, technology, business and relationship skills you need to run a successful wedding and portrait studio. Album marketing and album design are our primary focus but we'll cover anything it takes to succeed in this business. We hope our posts will sometimes amuse you, sometimes inspire you, but always offer something to think about. And we're all busy, so we try to keep it brief. Click here for some suggestions to get you started.

    It is up to us to make the difference

    February 18th, 2010 in Opinion by Johannes van Kan


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    Andrew Gardner posted a thoughtful comment on a recent post of mine in which I talked about a member of the public asking if I would sell her a Queensberry album. He’s concerned that Queensberry’s aim to build their brand amongst brides might turn the albums into a commodity and encourage discounting (eg “click here for cheapest QBY albums!”) His thoughts probably reflect the concerns of many photographers. He says,

    Obviously we can’t be complacent and we should always be thinking of unique and original ways to make ourselves stand out. But I have a niggling feeling that what Queensberry thought would help us out will actually work against us.

    Certainly the request I received smacks of a search for a commodity. It is the inevitable outcome of the Shoot and Burn mentality where brides end up with files and nowhere to put them.

    It is up to us to make the difference. Yes the Queensberry album is wonderful, but it is the story told within its pages that makes the difference.

    The importance of the story can never be overemphasised. Like a Queensberry, a Moleskine is a lovely book of empty pages until you start writing truths in it … that’s when it becomes something personal, valuable, and meaningful.

    When people come to you as a photographer it is because you are what they are looking for. If Queensberry has done its job right your potential client will recognise your use of Queensberry products as a mark of excellence.

    As the channel by which one must purchase a Queensberry product photographers have the opportunity to impact the outcome of that purchase by adding their own influence. We are dealing with that situation ourselves with somebody who had a commercial photographer friend shoot their wedding. They wanted a Queensberry album but their friend washed his hands of any responsibility beyond handing over the files.

    Nobody can stop the bride from hunting down the best price … we certainly know that brides do the same when trying to get a photographer. This part of human nature will always surface. Resourceful brides are inevitable and if they consider the album a commodity – and possibly also the photographer who handed them their digital files – at that point we, rather than Queensberry, are in control of the situation.

    The sad truth is that there will also always be a ‘resourceful’ photographer willing to turn Queensberry products into commodities. But I understand that Queensberry does not look on that behaviour favourably. It is in their interest to look after you, the channel, because without you they are just a good looking, but storyless, book seller.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    • What does this email really say?

    February 10th, 2010 in Products & Services by Johannes van Kan


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    I am writing this while wearing my studio owner’s hat.

    We received this email today:

    Hi,
    I am looking to buy a queensberry album 15×15, black leather with names embossed on the front. I think you can only buy these albums through photographers and I was wondering if you sell them?
    Thanks,

    This email confirms two things for us

    That (1) amongst the general public there is an awareness/recognition of, and a demand for, the Queensberry brand, and (2) that Queensberry are not selling direct to the public.

    Both of these things validate our choice of Queensberry as our album supplier.

    Enough said

    Cheers, Johannes, Moda Fotografica

     

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    • Cooking lesson

    January 4th, 2010 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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    Somebody asked me for a way to create a better, more consistent look for their imagery.

    It was a trick question really. They were asking me how they might better use software to get consistency and classic styling.

    I thought about it and the answer was what we might call pre-emptive image manipulation.

    When I go to a flash restaurant that knows their stuff I am always amazed by what a great chef can do with the simplest ingredients.

    They start with fresh produce … the fresher the better (usually – cheeses are a different story). They don’t beat the living daylights out of it or season it beyond recognition. They use subtlety and finesse.

    It should be the same with our photography.

    Fresh ingredients, already rich in flavours of their own, cooked with a minimum of fuss and a flourish of presentation.

    If the produce is a bit ‘off’ the seasoning gets stronger and the cooking becomes a bit more intense.

    Pre-emptive image manipulation is keeping the image simple, lighting it, and getting the emotional energy happening, before it gets taken. All these things reduce the need for ‘overcooking’ later to get something special.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    December 29th, 2009 in Opinion by Johannes van Kan


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    As a proud parent I look at other babies and want to know if we are doing okay. (It’s the first time and we have no standard to work from.)

    When two babies meet it is easy to overlook the needs of the other parent as you well up with pride in the achievements of your offspring.

    Photographers can be the same with their personal prides.

    Good etiquette with babies is to resist outdoing the other parent with the successes of your own child (sleeps through night … makes own breakfast, gifted, etc). Because even though it is reassuring to acknowledge the superiority of your genealogy it has no social benefits (unless you have cities to conquer).

    Why do I mention this?  It’s about respecting the success and pride of others. It makes the photographic community stronger and of greater value.

    Cheers, Johannes

     

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    December 18th, 2009 in Inspiration by Johannes van Kan


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    Rex is a regular coffee drinker and if ever you were to meet him you would instantly know that he was a straight up kind of guy.

    Rex keeps a quiet eye on our town.

    He rises early and walks the hills around Lyttelton.

    Rex knows stuff. People share with him because they know that he is that straight up kind of guy. He can be trusted.

    Our town also has its share of Astral travelers, bad eggs, party radicals, poets and pop stars.

    There is a lot of spirit here … all under the quiet and watchful eye of Rex.

    James and Co at the Lyttelton Coffee Company make the coffees that keep these spirits on form.

    Between Rex and James, and the other watchful eyes, the heart and soul of our little town rises, falls, turns, twists, and beats.

    The photographic community is the same. There are the watchers, the leaders, the good and the bad, and the coffee makers.

    Queensberry wants to nurture a community where the poets, pop stars, Astral travelers, and all of the other photographers feel able to grow, and share with the safety of knowing they are not being judged. They want to take it further though. They want to inform, create a resource, make the best albums they can, and stimulate education through sharing.

    A coffee shop does not succeed on its coffee alone, it lives in the conversations that happen there!

    To call Queensberry a coffee shop would be understating their intentions … but to recognise them as a place for a conversation is heading in the right direction.

    On our UK tour it was great talking to the people who came, like the Rankines. Many of them were QBY clients. I felt the potential and I hope you’ll be part of it.

    Best, Johannes

    He’s right. Please don’t be a stranger. Comment … link … tweet (retweet) … or how about writing something for us? – ED.

     

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    • Photoshopping the soul

    December 16th, 2009 in Photography & Design by Johannes van Kan


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    L15_2-j0810 071026copy1copy1We have discovered a new range of Photoshop plugins that allows us to put the soul (which we forgot to put in while shooting) back into our imagery.

    Because these soulful images are our unique selling point, I can’t tell you where we found them.

    With this set of plugins we are able to take a loveless bride and groom and turn them into passionate beings. We are able to take an indiscreet glance and turn it into the look of love. We are able to take monochromatic feelings and turn them into a fiercely burning fire … all with the help of some photoshop and a couple of plugins.

    It’s not true! That’s the thing.

    The most important thing in the imagery … the soul of the image … cannot be added later.

    Where do you find the soul in the imagery … it lives in the people that populate your work. I cannot emphasise enough how important this is to the imagery we put into our albums. Emotion always wins over a dramatic landscape.

    To create the emotion we nurture trust with our clients, and to get the soul (in its simplest form) we let the bride and groom focus on being together over being in front of our camera.

    There is no easy answer and it certainly doesn’t exist in Photoshop as a filter.  As much as technology plays a dominant role in the new age of wedding photography there is that thing which technology cannot ‘create’ and strangely it is the thing that is most important.

    Best, Johannes

     

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    • Seen

    December 12th, 2009 in Noticed by Johannes van Kan


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    Tags:

    Zack_Arias
    This video by Zack Arias for Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider touched a chord for me. If you haven’t seen it it is worth the five minutes to do the journey.

    Zack Arias is one of the speakers at Photoshop World in March 2010.

    Cheers, Johannes

    PS Trust him, this is good … but it’s more than 5 minutes – Ian

     

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    December 2nd, 2009 in People by Johannes van Kan


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    Every wedding photographer has an Uncle Ken story.

    I was hanging out at a wedding with photographer Brett Prestidge when I first arrived in the UK and something amazing happened…

    We met the ultimate Uncle Ken.

    Uncle Ken informed us that he had the okay from the bride and groom to do a big group photograph for them.

    It is so often the case that as professionals we arrive at weddings and somebody there has a bigger camera than us … this time it was Uncle Ken. Brett and I were using small, discrete Leica M9s and M8s.

    So often Uncle Ken tries to take control. This Uncle Ken (his real name) earned the right.

    Cheers
    Johannes

    Uncle Ken with his 8x10" Gandolfi

    Uncle Ken with his 8x10" Gandolfi

     

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    • The Supermarket

    November 13th, 2009 in Opinion by Johannes van Kan


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    He always found it difficult going to a new supermarket … so he stuck with the one he had used for the last five years. He knew where the dried apricots were, and the gluten free pasta was always down the third aisle on the second shelf up.

    He didn’t see the need to be a supermarket slut chasing the best price on freshly dug potatoes.

    He felt safe. He shopped safe, and a diversion from the standard shop might be an adventurous purchase from the delicatessen’s department.

    He liked that nothing changed except the weekly special.

    On holiday recently he went shopping with a friend and suddenly the apricots were in the fruit section and gluten free was just too hard. He bought prunes and asian sauces that he had never seen at his regular supermarket.

    He ate like a king on new foods and drank many new wines.

    When he returned home he went back to the same old supermarket.

    He dreamed of living like a king.

    Fear of change often limits our ability to move forward. It also blinds us to a world outside of our experiences.

    That same fear of change is what can also make us uneasy when our suppliers make changes to the way we habitually do things.  Embrace change and see it as an opportunity to move forward and to grow.

    Cheers
    Johannes

     

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