Wow, last Friday we offered 200 sample books and albums discounted by 50% (instead of the normal 25%).

Well, it blew the doors off the OP department. They had 200 acceptances and counting before the email had even finished sending!

So first we need to say “thank you”.

Second, we can hardly say No to people who’s email address starts with “Z”, or who happened to be asleep in the “wrong” time zone, so if you’ve already contacted us we’ll definitely do the deal for you.

Just a few Buts (sorry!):

- Don’t forget they’re for samples only, and (new policy, so pardon the repetition) marked “not for resale”.

- We must have your order by Monday 6 February, and confirmation and payment by Monday 13th.

- Also, because we’ve had so many acceptances it may take us a bit longer than normal to deliver these albums.

Once again, thanks heaps for your support.

Cheers
Ian

PS Sorry, we can’t extend the offer past the dates above, so do get in quick…

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Well, it’s a sad day.

Kodak has been felled by exactly what it espoused: universal access to cameras. – The Washington Post.

That’s true, but it’s not the whole story. Kodak was also felled by its commitment to its legacy film business … even though it was a digital pioneer too.

To be clear, Kodak says it isn’t closing the doors, it’s continuing to restructure, but still, it’s sad to see a company (and technology) decline that brought so much good into the world – art created, memories conserved and stories told.

Three things are certain:

1. Our world is changing, and we have to change with it.

2. We’ll miss the old world (the new one mayn’t work that sweetly for a while).

3. Queensberry will be part of the change.

So much has changed already. Since we started doing business in the northern hemisphere, it’s not just the big film and paper manufacturers that have struggled. All the major British and American album manufacturers we aspired to compete with have been toppled. It’s been just as wild a ride for professional photographers. The whole album business and how it works has been turned on its ear.

Well, the revolution isn’t over.

We aren’t the same company today as we were three years ago, let alone ten. We won’t be the same company in three years more, either.

Last year was busy, as we deepened our involvement in digital offset printing.

This year will be just as hectic. Watch this space!

Cheers, Ian

PS Kodak is emphasising it’s business as usual, but obviously we are concerned about continuity of supply for paper and chemicals. If worst comes to worst, we have some months’ supply, and alternatives from other suppliers. We are also very confident about our digital offset print capability. Queensberry Press is already a major product category for us, and there is no reason we can’t apply the technology to our other product ranges.

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Just a final reminder that we close for our Summer shutdown at 3pm NZT today 22 December 2011, and re-open at 8am 16 January 2012. A few of our office team will be back on the 9th.

Our phones will be unattended until then but you can leave a message or email us with any questions or queries. We’ll be checking messages from time to time, but will reply to non-urgent matters when we get back.

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday.

All the best from everyone at Queensberry.

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There’s always a mighty surge in orders right on cut-off date, but right now we’re in the mood for another Queensberry Press special offer. You’ll have to be quick though:

Order a Press Album or Press Book SAMPLE in the next seven days (i.e. by 26 October) and we’ll DOUBLE THE DISCOUNT – to 50% instead of 25%.
Don’t tell anyone

All the best from everyone at Queensberry

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Our first Northern Hemisphere show was in Birmingham UK in 2001, when we shared a booth at FOCUS with the Guild of Photographers. We did so well we decided to fly solo at WPPI the following year. Our first time in Vegas!

At that first show I turned up late on Day One because of a minor drama back home. It was amazing. Our little team (with an Aussie customer in support) were red-faced and practically shouting to make themselves heard to photographers piled up like driftwood round our booth. We had a blast for three days, heading back to the Casino in the evenings for a quiet drink in the din of the slot machines.

Each year we’ve built bigger booths at both shows, taken more staff along, and the events have certainly been good to us. Thank you!

But we think it’s time to try something new.

We started thinking about this last February at WPPI. There were – how many? – fifty? sixty? vendors selling albums. There was Costco! There was breast painting! There were people throwing dollar bills around (in the booth next to us!) And plenty more side shows and conversation stoppers.

We don’t care so much that it’s a bazaar (or a circus – it’s Vegas after all) but we do care that it’s so hard to get quality time with clients and prospects in the middle of this me-too madness.

We prefer situations where you can have our full attention, and we can get yours.

So yes, you’ll be able to catch up with us at both shows in some way, but we’ll be doing things differently.

Stay tuned for more about what we’re doing, and that “something new”.

Tomorrow: Why we’re doing discounts.

Cheers
Ian

PS As always, we’re keen to know what you think.

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Thinking about the December holiday season already? We are. It’s our busiest time of the year, and because we hand-make all our albums to order, November and December can be very hectic – especially as we close down for three weeks over the NZ summer holidays.

Short story: If you definitely want your Album or Press Book before the holidays, we’ll need your order by the 10th of November (23 October if we’re designing for you).

Long story: We work really hard to get most if not all our November and December work out before the holidays, so even if you place orders in late November/early December we’ll do our very best to get them to you. The advantage of ordering earlier is that it gives us more time to make sure everything’s correct and ensure delivery.

Close-down dates

This year we close at 3pm on 22 December 2011 and re-open at 8.00am 16 January 2012 (a few of our office team will be back a week earlier).

January bridal shows

If you need sample albums for early January shows, please get your orders in early so you’ll have them before the close-down!

What you can do to ensure December delivery

• Get your order (and all image files) in to us before the 10th of November. Make sure you’ve included everything – no missing files or information (eg text for titles).

• Answer any queries, confirm your order and arrange payment as soon as you hear from us. Same if we find any problems with your image files.

• If we’re designing the album for you, sign off on the design promptly.

Remember, your order can’t go into production until this is all done.

Looking forward to a hassle-free December!

Anna

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If you’ve been wondering where we’ve been lately, this is it!
We’re excited – even proud in an understated Kiwi way to announce Queensberry Press version 3.0.

We get to say “yes” to a lot of things you’ve been asking for, and well … we think you’ll like the prices!

So with that little fanfare please welcome Queensberry Press Albums. Press printed, flushmount or matted albums. Simple, affordable and gorgeous.

Here are some of the features:

Pages are either flushmount – unmatted and similar to our digital albums…

… or matted – overlay style in a clean cut page block reminiscent of Duo.

Images are printed on our Press paper range of Satin paper, Pearl, Nettuno or Tintoretto art papers, or our new photo-quality Kodak stock.

The Photojunction development team have been really busy too, and they’ve just released v1.53 to make it all possible. The resources you’ll need to design Press Albums will download automatically once you upgrade.

The new price lists are also available on our website. We think they’ll make good reading.

To top off our accountant’s anguish, and get the new press albums into your hands as quickly as possible, we have another half-price introductory offer.

Order any Queensberry Press Album before Friday 2nd September 2011 and pay half price on the original as well as the first duplicate if you want one. (NB offer applies to the new Press Albums only, not to Press Books.)

If you have any questions you can contact us by all the normal means. We’d love to hear what you think.

But don’t miss out on the half price special!

Cheers, Ian

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Our previous special offer was such a great success, we wanna share some more Queensberry Press Book love. Here’s the deal:

Order any Press Book before the 4th of August, and we’ll give you an extra copy free. We’ll also send you a free Queensberry Pressbook sampler.

If you haven’t got a Press Book yet – now’s the time! Buy one for your clients and get a free sample for your studio.

To claim your second Press Book, just request it in the special instructions when you send your order through Photojunction.

Please Note – discount applies to the original book, including extras like Mayu Cases and Dust Jackets, but not to add-on packages, studio samples or additional duplicates, for which our normal terms apply.

If you have any questions you can contact us by all the normal means. We’d love to hear from you. Don’t miss out on the Press Book special!

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We’ve just spent a great Monday afternoon browsing through the submissions for our Bragging Rights campaign, which closed last Friday. Thank you to everyone who participated!

We had a terrific response from friends old and new. Plenty of weddings of course, but also engagement shoots, family portraits, maternity, pets, you name it. Different countries, cultures, locations and styles.

So that was inspiring, but now comes the hard part – choosing!

We’re looking for twelve sets of images to showcase on our website, in our new season sample albums and books, and in our blogs and marketing pieces.

As Anna said, we’re not choosing just on the basis of image quality, either – all the more reason to say that some awesome photography is going to miss out.

We’ve been swamped with riches, thank you!

Cheers, Ian

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The Queensberry phone server is down right now due to an external fault – no idea yet when it’ll be back up again, sorry.

We’ll let you know on Facebook and Twitter (links to your right).

Sorry for the inconvenience.
Ian
UPDATE: everything back to normal – Ed

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