I am a New Zealand Photographer. I have had a long relationship with Queensberry and Photojunction, and I suspect they may have created Photojunction out of frustration over trying to make some kind of sense from my album orders. My personal blog is http://jvk.modafotografica.co.nz
July 13th, 2009 in Noticed by Johannes van Kan
I see something cool somewhere and have to share it with my ten best friends … and some of them like it enough to share the love … You know the rest … actually the same works for the flu.
So there I was prowling the Digtal Wedding Forum and saw this little baby and thought, Wow! I have to show all the people who haven’t seen it yet.
This is not about me trying to discover something new, but sharing the love.
hugs, Johannes
PS Didn’t somebody at Olympus do a great job? [He wants one - Ed]
May 27th, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
These are all valid reasons not to pre-design:
At Moda Fotografica we measure our success by the emotional responses of our clients.
A pre-planned album lets us take control of the telling of the story and direct the clients perception of what they have (their wedding photography) before those perceptions are clouded by the fear of spending money, and any self deprecation.
Hugs, Johannes
There’s another reason why not to pre-design: your software isn’t nimble enough to do the edits (there’ll always be some). No prizes for guessing what I use.
May 26th, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
I used to go into restaurants and say, ‘Surprise me, impress me’. I would tell them, ‘No pork, no offal and no salmon,’ … and ask for a wine that matched, and fitted my budget.
I did this because I always used to order the chicken or the steak. Boring.
Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. Every now and again I would have a fantastic dining experience.
Sometimes, unfortunately, I would end up with the chef’s special … the dish they wanted to move.
The restaurants that did best were the ones that had an emphasis on service, a tolerance for weird requests and the nouse to ask a few questions about what I liked.
Was I asking too much? All I was doing was presenting the restaurant with an opportunity to show their skill with food and wine, to do what a restaurant should be doing.
How does this relate to pre design? It starts with understanding your clients (the strangers in the viewfinder). It’s about asking the right questions and figuring out their preferences.
So you can delight them with an unexpected experience.
Cheers, Johannes
May 25th, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
Is it a better proposal when it’s a surprise?
You’re out for a romantic dinner with your true love and suddenly she finds an engagement ring in her champagne … So many things could go horribly wrong.
It’s a three way bet. She could say ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘let me think about it’.
Pre-designing an album is no different.
There are risks, but if you get it right it’s incredibly rewarding.
No risk, no reward.
Hugs
Johannes
May 1st, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
I took the opportunity last Sunday to change how I did things. It was partly out of necessity, and partly curiosity.
Jo and Jeremy
My clients had indicated that they would like me to preplan their album.
Normally we would shoot the wedding, put some images on our blog, then put about 100 in a web gallery.
Then, when they arrived to collect their images, we would give them a box of previews. But we were running a little behind schedule and the prints were not going to be ready for their arrival.
I decided not to put up the gallery and make the first thing they saw my pre-plan for their album.
I laid it out in PJ and output it as a slide show.
They arrived, we talked, I turned off the lights, and I hit them with their album.
Three pages in, tears were streaming down the bride’s face.
This was a powerful opening to their wedding photography.
That power came from storytelling without preconceptions.
It brought home the fact that when somebody asks you to be a storyteller you don’t normally hand them a dictionary and ask them which words they would like you to use.
The wonderful thing was that if I did my job right I would be influencing their expectation before they restricted it on budget.
The other beautiful thing was that since it was still a virtual album anything could change.
To increase its acceptability I asked many questions about their expectations, and then designed an album to exceed them.
I love my job …. as a story teller.
Johannes
February 10th, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
Actually I forgot to mention this …
The thing that really impressed me with LabFTP was the elegant integration with Photojunction. Forget about albums, you can order prints from QBY based on the various collections you build in Remix, which emphasises that Remix is a sales tool. It’s also nice that, if you’re using Remix, LabFTP goes and looks up your account details, SMTP settings etc.
When all the bits of the puzzle come together like that it all starts making more sense.
Look out for more info from Danny on this one, but to quote the man himself, “It was awesome!”
February 6th, 2009 in News by Johannes van Kan
Yesterday we hosted the Queensberry LabFTP 3.0 presentation at our studio in Lyttelton.
It was great to see the project finally out in the wild.
Bob talked about his life and work. Stephen and Michelle added a Queensberry flavour.
Danny talked us through the simplicity and power of the latest LabFTP.
Thanks all.
This presentation reminded me of something really important. Too often we learn new software by trial and error. These guys started a conversation with us all … an important step to building a relationship. Through this relationship – the one we have with our suppliers – we can understand and use our opportunities better. Where we take this conversation is up to us as photographers but it’s a way to take the trials and the errors out of learning.
Create a conversation, build a relationship, and open a door.
Cheers
Johannes
January 14th, 2009 in Photojunction by Johannes van Kan
I’m writing a series of posts on album design on Queensberry Connects (here’s the first). Here are some quick tips, mainly PJ-related, that are important no matter what albums you’re selling.
1 Do your homework first – interrogate your clients well.
2 Organise your images – put everything in a good place where you can find it easily (eg image collections).
3 Pre-plan options – Use the Duplicate album tool (label each one distinctly) or create ‘alternative’ layouts in the main album.
4 Exceed their expectations – blow them out of the water! (Be inventive with size, layout, and content, and be generous with the pages and images.)
5 Have examples – to overcome their fear of the unknown (remember they can’t see the real album). Your sample albums and the QBY swatch book are good starting points.
6 When you see the couple after the wedding present a powerful, pre-designed album enhanced with the right music, made using the slideshow function in PJ Remix.
I lied about 5 tips - #6 was a bonus for reading this post.
Take care, Johannes
PS Here’s Tip 7 – Most important? Don’t be so impressed by your own design that you forget to observe and respond to your clients’ reactions to what they are seeing.
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