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Posts Tagged ‘Award Winning’

Winter Winner

July 3rd, 2009 in Uncategorised by


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For Jo and Simon of Shoot Lifestyle Photography, several Annabel Williams’ photographic training books provided the eye opener they needed to see the wedding industry wasn’t quite as ‘naff’ as they thought…

Seven years on, they’ve just been awarded the Annabel Williams CPT Award, for the Queensberry sponsored Wedding Album Category.

Jo says, “This was a real life wedding album we’d designed for clients Andy and Lisa.”

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Their wedding took place in a quirky little tavern which Jo says exposed some beautiful natural light. The light doesn’t last long on a UK winters day though, so they had to work quickly.

“The lighting issues made this a technically challenging wedding to shoot. We always want the ambience of the venue to show through, so our number one rule is never to use direct flash. Having the two of us shooting really adds to the dynamics of the shots though.”

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Jo designed Andy and Lisa a 15×12 Duo album with a classic black leather cover and says the images really lent themselves to the diversity that Duos offer.

“In our experience most clients want a classic ‘heirloom’ abum but love the power that full bleed pages bring. With the Duo they get both – perfect!”

She’s used Photojunction for the past four years and reckons it’s the best software on the market for the job.

“Because every album I design is totally different, Photojunction gives me free reign to design bespoke albums which always reflect the personalities of the couple.”

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Annabel Williams said about Shoot Lifestyle’s album, “This winning album is absolutely beautifully executed. No special effects, just blindingly good photography. The photographer has a fantastic eye for a moment. The whole album is done with confidence, empathy and great design, and you really feel like you are there.”

As part of their prize, Shoot Lifestyle Photography received a £500 Queensberry voucher which they’re planning to spend on a sample album of their winning design.

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Click here to view a slideshow of Shoot Lifestyle’s winning wedding album.

Cheers, Nigel

 

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    • Johannes van Kan

    January 10th, 2009 in News by


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    jvk_smallFor a country with the population of the San Francisco Bay Area, New Zealand has a lot of great photographers, and we’re proud that many of them are Queensberry clients.

    We’re delighted to say that one of the best has agreed to write for us. Johannes van Kan of Moda Fotografica has been a friend since 1993, when Heather and I first met him at NZIPP’s annual conference and awards judging.

    Since then Johannes has qualified as a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photographers and was New Zealand Wedding Photographer of the Year in 2004 and 2005, and winner of the New Zealand Wedding Album of the Year Award in 2007 and 2008.

    Johannes describes himself as a Queensberry partisan, and the feeling is mutual. We regularly use his images in our display albums, for good reason: they always attract admiring attention, and that’s always great for sales!

    Johannes describes himself as a “photographer, poet and coffee tester”. He’s also a fan of good music and an exceptional album designer and Photoshop artist. We look forward to him sharing his secrets, skills and insights with us.

    Cheers, Ian

    PS Johannes isn’t the only winner in the family. He runs Moda Fotografica with his wife Jo Grams, originally from Queensland Australia, who is also an NZIPP Fellow and won Wedding Photographer of the Year in 2006.

     

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    • A bright future

    September 22nd, 2008 in Uncategorised by


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    We love it when our clients win awards for their work, especially when our albums are involved.

    Laura and Marilyn of Natural Expressions recently won the New Hampshire PPA 2008 FujiFilm Masterpiece Award for Photographic Excellence with this beautiful album, which they called “a bright future”.

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    Winnie and Sean’s wedding, held at a beautiful country club in Massachusetts, was all about a colourful palette, so a colourful album was only appropriate.

    Laura and Marilyn design a 10×7 Pagemount feature album with a Teal Leather Photo Front cover – Teal Leather chosen to complement one of the couple’s favourite portraits.

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    Inside, Ivory mats and a unique combination of coloured pages brought the album to life. Pink pages were used to frame colour images, while more subtle Ivory pages complemented the black and white images.

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    Laura and Marilyn said, “We wanted to stick with a traditional matted album but take a modern approach to the design. This album is a great example of the flexibility that Queensberry offers photographers.”

    Congratulations Laura and Marilyn on your outstanding award win. We’re sure a bright future awaits.

    Click here to see a slide show of the album.

     

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    • Oh what a night

    July 7th, 2008 in Marketing by


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    How many of your competitors promote themselves as “award-winning”? Better still, “international award-winning”? “Plenty” is the likely answer. Award-winning (like quality) is claimed by too many people for you to rely on it as your only differentiator.

    And yet there’s no denying that winning awards doesn’t just feel good, it’s good for business.

    Tony Bramley of Storm Photography, one of our key UK clients, certainly thinks so. He was already feeling pleased with himself for winning second place in his regional BIPP Wedding Print Competition when he was called back to the stage as the winner!

    Tony’s point is that you win awards by working hard to stay ahead of the game, “creating unusual pictures… developing new ideas and techniques and honing your style”.

    And that does set you apart from what he describes as the “unqualified people” who each year “buy a digital camera and say they are wedding photographers… Excellent wedding photography does not come cheap but you are buying into the quality of the photographer and their work.”

    We agree. Winning awards validates you as a photographer, and in the long run helps to justify the prices you need to charge.

    A similar theme surfaced on the Photojunction blog, where a reader commented, “The average client just wants good believable pics that are vibrant & clean & candid. The challenge is to give them that + more by way of making sure that we include some masterpieces that are beyond the ability of the semi pro masses.” The emphasis on the client is exactly right: it’s more profitable to impress them than your peers!

    Tony’s winning picture, a night shot of Stacey and Matt Armstrong (above), was lit only by a streetlight.

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    The second-place shot was inside the Abbey Gate arch in “a very dim, grimy corner”. Tony managed to capture the internal beauty of the architecture, with some wonderful natural light coming through on to the bride, Alex Dey.

    While we’re at it, several of our other clients were acknowledged that night: Gavin Woollard (Weddings by Gavin), Amanda Every, Ivan Finch (Town & Country), Rebecca Portsmouth, Jo Tennant (Studio Rochford) and David Islip. Well done all.

     

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