Queensberry Connects


Nigel Hicks

I'm Nigel. A twenty-something year old with a new wife (my first) and a red Vespa. I'm into Marketing and that's mostly what I spend my time doing here at Queensberry. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Webinars, newsletters, interviews, PR and networking... I especially love the online stuff. Other than that, give me a ball, a movie, a book, or my iPod and I'll probably ignore you. One day I'll have two dogs (big ones) a couple of kids and own a coffee shop. Maybe. I'm pedantic, tallish, a middle child and some people think I'm metro-sexual. I'm pleased to meet you and I hope we can connect.

Nigel's Archive

Interview: Jonas Peterson

March 8th, 2010 in People by Nigel Hicks


Comments

About twelve months ago Jonas Peterson left his high profile, high paying position as a leading advertising copywriter to become a full-time photographer…

In his first year on the block he shot 42 weddings and jumped to number one in Google rankings for ‘Brisbane wedding photographer’ (actually he did that in two months).

He’s booked 15 destination weddings so far this year and describes his business as ‘wedding photography with a touch of awesome’.

He’s built a loyal following on his blog (over 2000 hits a day), has over 1450 followers on Twitter and a similar number of fans on his Facebook page. All reflect his engaging style and are well worth a look.

Johannes van Kan talks to Jonas about how he got up to speed in just 12 months, how he uses social media to get his message out there and his workflow and approach to albums.

Click here to listen to Johannes’ interview with Jonas Peterson (40 mins).

Cheers, Nigel

PS Skype dropped out in the middle of the interview, so you might notice a little awkwardness where I’ve stitched together the two halves of Jonas’s response to one of Johannes’ questions.

 

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    • WPPI and FOCUS 2010

    March 1st, 2010 in News by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    In just a few days the Queensberry team will be heading off to the excitement and bedlam of WPPI and FOCUS.

    We love this opportunity to visit the States and the UK, meet old friends and make new ones … and we hope you’ll be among them.

    Queensberry is for people who believe that the way to succeed is to stand out from the crowd, not join it, and this year we have two new projects to talk to you about:

    1. As you may know Apple chose Queensberry as one of “the world’s finest bookmakers” to introduce their album design and ordering service in Aperture 3. Far from us to say why they chose us, so come along and make up your own mind!

    2. We’re announcing a brand new album. This is all we can say about it: It’s beautiful … it’s about standing out from the crowd … and photographers who’ve seen it so far absolutely love it.

    Here’s the details:

    WPPI: 8-10 March 2010

    MGM Grand, Las Vegas @ Stand # 1235

    FOCUS: 7-10 March 2010

    NEC, Birmingham @ Stand # B19 & B21

    WPPI and FOCUS are the best possible time to check us out and sign up. Buy at the shows and you’ll pay 20% less for your Starter Kit. Plus, one person each day will win their Starter Kit free!

    See you there!

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS if you’re coming to WPPI here’s a complimentary Tradeshow pass. Just click the image to save or print, and take it along to WPPI registration, or register online at www.wppionline.com

    Email back up and running

    February 25th, 2010 in News by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    You may have noticed our email has been down for the past couple of days.

    We’re glad to report that the problem has apparently now been fixed (a damaged cable) and we’re all back online. Fingers crossed!

    Emails sent to us while the server was down may be a little delayed in getting to our inboxes but we’ll respond as soon as we can.

    Our apologies again for the inconvenience. It’s a relief to be back on line.

     

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    • Queensberry’s plug-in for Aperture: online demo

    February 17th, 2010 in Products & Services by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    Yesterday we hosted our second intro to Queensberry’s plug-in for Aperture 3 webinar. Danny and Stephen explained the history behind the project and demonstrated the plug-in, covering everything from downloading and installing the plug-in to ordering an album.

    If you missed the live presentation not to worry, we’ve just uploaded a recording to our Vimeo Channel.

    Or you can stick around and watch it right here. (To watch it in full screen and high definition click here.)

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS. Haven’t heard about Queensberry’s new plug-in for Aperture 3? It allows professional photographers to design and order a selection of our albums directly within Aperture 3. More info here.

     

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    • Show offs

    February 16th, 2010 in Noticed by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    You sell what you show, right?

    Well here’s a few Queensberry friends we’ve noticed doing a fantastic job of showing off their albums.

    Abby Rosenbaum from Abby Rose Photo seems to photograph and blog about all of her albums… Here’s one of the latest albums featured on her blog.

    The team at Blue Sky Photography in the UK have a dedicated web page explaining their philosophy behind using Queensberry albums. They also include links to several example album designs.

    And New Zealand photographer Bruce Gabites of Fine Photography features some lovely images of his Queensberry albums in the album section of his website.

    How are you showing off your albums? We’d love to know!

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS Make sure you mention our name so we can help boost your google juice on queensberry mentions.

     

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    • Queensberry Album Plug-in for Aperture 3

    February 11th, 2010 in News by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    With the release yesterday of the latest version of Aperture, Apple’s powerful photo editing and management software, we are delighted to announce Queensberry’s new plug-in and album collection for Aperture 3.

    Please register for one of our free webinars (tomorrow or next week).

    Apple ApertureQueensberry’s plug-in for Aperture allows professional photographers to design and order a selection of our albums directly within Aperture 3.

    Timeless simplicity

    The watchword for the Queensberry album collection for Aperture is ‘timeless simplicity’ – simple designs to create confident, timeless classics and project the best contemporary taste.

    The Collection features contemporary flush-mount pages and true photographic printing. Albums are offered in three sizes and three cover materials.

    Album orders are placed in Aperture 3, with production and delivery managed by Queensberry. All albums are made to order, with delivery times of between two to four weeks. With 40 years experience in the bespoke album business Queensberry can deliver door to door almost anywhere around the globe.

    Only for professionals

    As we work only with professional photographers, Aperture users will need to register with Queensberry and be accepted as such before downloading the plug-in or placing orders.

    Getting started

    For more about Queensberry and the new plug-in and album collection, please visit our partner site.

    To have your say or ask questions please comment here or visit our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you!

    For more information and to see the Queensberry plug-in for Aperture in action please register for one of our free webinars (tomorrow or next week).

    Best wishes from everyone at Queensberry.

    PS We have already been asked about any impact on Photojunction. Photojunction is very much alive and well and essential to access the full range of Queensberry matted album features. More about this on the PJ blog The Junction later today.

    Queensberry makes bespoke albums of the highest quality and distributes them worldwide through our partner professional photographers. We capture occasions of love, connection and pride so they can be enjoyed, reflected upon and shared forever. Each Queensberry is handmade, a unique collaboration of skills from artisanal to high tech.

     

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    • No price on quality

    February 3rd, 2010 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    In light of Ian’s newsletter a few days ago (well worth a read!), here’s a timely little story from one of our clients reinforcing what he was saying…

    From Paul Maven

    I did a wedding fair two weeks ago. One of the other photographers came over to have a little spy. “Oh, Queensberry” he uttered, looking down his nose at my samples. “Too expensive them, can’t sell them”.

    Later, he came back and I asked him how things were going. He told me that he had two almost definite bookings. One on Lindisfarne Island and one on the 29th December.

    “Actually”, I told him, “those two couples have just booked with me, because ‘nothing we have seen so far compares to the Queensberry books“.

    I confirmed four bookings at that fair and all of them stated that the quality of the books as a major reason why.

    No price on quality, I suppose.

    Cheers, Nigel

     

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    • Queensberry’s Facebook page

    January 29th, 2010 in News by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    About time we got ourselves onto Facebook don’t you think? Yeah, us too…

    If you haven’t already found us, we’d love you to come shoot the breeze with us on our new Facebook page:

    Find us on Facebook

    We’ll keep it updated with new blog posts, featured albums, mentions and videos… plus whatever else we think you might enjoy.

    Feel free to comment, ask questions or post photos.

    We’re looking forward to getting this conversation started and would love you to spread the word! :)

    Cheers, Nigel

    PS check out the Photojunction Facebook page and connect with Ian, Nigel, Danny and Stephen on twitter.

     

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    • New send order procedure

    January 28th, 2010 in Products & Services by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    Photojunction version 1.36 introduced a change to the way in which Photojunction sends your orders to Queensberry.

    Your order is not sent to Queensberry until you hit ‘Upload Now’ to send us the bundle of files associated with it. This is necessary whether you’re printing with us or not. It means Queensberry will receive your order in one send, behind-the-scenes automation will be improved, the amount of time Order Processing spends on your orders reduced – and you’ll get your albums faster.

    The steps in Photojunction to sending your order are exactly the same, but, to repeat, whether you’re printing or not, it’s important to hit the ‘Upload Now’ button when you reach this stage of the process…

    If you do decide to ‘Upload Later’, Photojunction will remind you of this change to procedure before allowing you to continue.

    Cheers, Nigel

     

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    • Winning the competition for attention

    January 27th, 2010 in Marketing by Nigel Hicks


    Comments

    Taken a bird’s eye view of your competition lately? Here’s how photographers show up in Google Maps. Little red dots, all the same.


    Auckland                                                                   Sydney


    New York                                                                  London

    Seth talked about the ubiquity of competition a few days ago, pointing out that competition is everywhere, we just forget to notice it. Let me add to that … or respond to it.

    If your little red dot looks like every other little red dot, and it does, you can be sure there’s only one question the consumer will think to ask … How much?

    Which I guess is why Ian reckons that in business there’s two options, differentiate or drop your prices.

    We’ve all got to fight for our patch. The question is, What are you doing to win the competition for attention? So that more people search for your name instead of “photographer” … and get one red dot, not a skin disease.

    You’re not safe from competition anywhere, not even in little Westport … in the remotest region of New Zealand … at the edge of the world.

    Cheers, Nigel

    (Thanks to Hooman for the Google maps idea)

     

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