I got reminded today that I haven’t mentioned the follow-up to David Ziser’s “perfect storm” post, which I recommended a few weeks ago.

You can find Part 2 here. It’s interesting reading and I hope you check it out. David’s saying that, despite all the factors working against professional photography you’re not doomed! There’s light at the end of the tunnel. But quality and service aren’t enough, so what does it take to succeed?

Quite a lot really: “…product innovation, responsiveness to the client, studio-client “stickiness”, product diversity, creative marketing, full understanding of social media marketing, the ability to resonate with the client at their level, and don’t forget price – yes, price too…”

It’s a long post and a good one, full of things to think about – what’s wrong with business cards, for example – but I came away wondering what you think … and wanting to have my own say.

If you do check it out I hope you’ll email me and let me know your thoughts.

Cheers, Ian

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Can Crash crash the royal wedding?

Professional Photographer (UK)’s March issue features “the holy trinity of international wedding photographers”, Crash Taylor, Jasmine Star and Yervant, in a competitive pitch for the royal gig.

An interesting range of approaches between the three, but we’re human and Crash had us at Queensberry:

“Albums would be handcrafted in New Zealand by Queensberry, which is the Tiffany of wedding albums worldwide.”

I like how Crash stresses the significance of the event … the latest installment in the continuing story of the House of Windsor. It’s not just about love and dresses!

Weddings are celebrations of love, significance and pride, but never more so than here. You’d better get context and story right if you want this gig.

But just saying that makes a point.

It is the story of Kate and William after all. And their Mum and Dad. Grabbing the little glances, intimacies and gestures out of all that pomp and circumstance would be a real challenge, and a real gift, wouldn’t it?

I smell a couple of albums at least.

Surely they’ve got the budget.

Cheers, Ian

Update: Some people are taking this a little seriously. Check out the comments.

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Justine Ungaro just blogged about her first Musée album. She’s given Nigel permission to republish the post on the Queensberry Blog, but meantime you might like to check it out on Justine’s own site.

Justine shot lots of images before handing the album over, and we love it.

Cheers, Ian

PS Some of you will recognise the bride, former American Idol judge Kara Dio Guardi.

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We discovered With Etiquette when we were looking for music for the Queensberry By Hand movie. Nice people, cool site and they seem to work with a lot of photographers. Check ‘em out.

Cheers, Ian

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Imagine taking this to a wedding.

Here’s a clever advertising campaign by Samsung promoting the NX11…

Get noticed.

Cheers, Nigel

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Did you see the album we posted on our brand blog. Michael Soo photographed it himself and I stumbled across it.

He photographed Christine and Ben’s album when it arrived and, as well as blogging it, emailed them a few photos as a teaser. Ben wrote back within minutes saying, “We’re on our way!”

What a great, easy way to enhance the excitement and experience for his clients of seeing their album for the first time.

Cheers, Nigel

PS Good for business too, and we see more and more people putting juicy photography up for clients, their friends and prospects to see.

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Those who know me know I think Seth Godin is the bee’s knees. He’s just been interviewed on the DWF Blog talking about wedding photography.

Plenty to think about – do read it!

“When everyone has a camera, and everyone thinks they are a photographic artist, it’s clear that access to the device is not a scarce resource. If that’s all you’ve got, I’m not going to pay you. The art isn’t in the taking of the picture.”

Cheers, Ian

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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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Google Docs and Style Me Pretty help happy couples plan their weddings … and choose their wedding photographer. Style me uneasy but what do you reckon?

Cheers, Ian

Click the image to see the spreadsheet full size.

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This post by photographer and twitterman Seshu is food for thought on all sorts of levels.

Cheers, Ian

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