The other day we received an invoice from Queensberry and my wife (the fabulous Jo Grams) exclaimed, 'Crikey!' (she's Australian). It was a lot of money for an album! Too much? We talked about it and came to the conclusion that we were getting what we were paying for. We want to give our clients the best we can deliver. This means many things, not the least of which is getting them the best albums we can. We could reduce our personal costs by using less expensive covers, mounting systems, and not getting the full colour service, BUT would the outcome still fit into the requirement of giving our To View More >>

(Photography by Simon Whitten) Truth is, sometimes I've felt a bit self-conscious writing about our wedding. Every day I see albums from top photographers around the world of the most elaborate, extravagant and expensive weddings you could imagine. Sometimes I've wondered if what I'm writing is even relevant ... because Kayla and I didn't get married in a castle! But my intention has been to share our experiences and insights, not to compare our wedding to another. And the truth is that the weddings we're lucky enough to share in at Queensberry take place everywhere, "from humble homes to palaces." To View More >>

Caroline and Jamie's beach wedding was shot by well known UK photographer Simon Whitten last summer. Location: Scarborough Beach, Perth, Australia. Check out several more of Simon's albums featured here and here. Cheers, Nigel To View More >>

The first thing you need in a wedding photographer is that they show up on the day. Simon Whitten gets from Venice to London under an ash cloud ... Thursday AM I am wrapped up in a honeymoon photo-shoot with clients in Venice when my phone rings: "Have you heard the news? - UK air space is being shutdown this evening from 7pm". Oh dear ... we are booked on a flight that afternoon to get back to the UK with a clear full day between our shoot in Venice and a wedding on the Saturday. The airline Jet2.com's website is useless, as are their emergency contact numbers. Not a single one of their phone To View More >>

Simon Whitten is a long-standing and valued Queensberry client from Yorkshire in England. His association with the luxury castle hotel Swinton Park is very important to him, and for years his Queensberry sample album has rested on the piano in the drawing room. When the time came to update it, the question was “with what?” Having covered many great weddings at Swinton Park, he decided on an 18x12 Duo “best of” album, featuring three couples/weddings that reflected both his own best work and Swinton Park at various times of the year. • Sarah and Paul had “a glorious summer wedding in To View More >>

As the new month rolls over (can you believe it's August already!), so does our webinar schedule. The August schedule will be online shortly, but in the meantime, here's the details about tomorrow's webinar: Intro to Photojunction @ 9am (NZT) In this webinar Danny will show you how to fire up the software and start using it. He'll also walk you through everything from registering, to designing an album, to exporting and sending. It's free to all so come along, listen, learn and ask questions. We'd love you to join us. Remember that's 9am NZT. Here are tomorrow's times for the rest of the world... To View More >>

A discussion about album upload times (specifically the length of them) last week reminded me of a good post Danny wrote on the Junction a while back, about internet connection speeds, pricing and plans. While we do everything we can at our end to optimise the FTP process, ultimately (album) upload speed is determined by your internet provider, so it pays to understand exactly what you're getting for your money. Here's Danny's post – Nigel Warning: contains math and abbreviations From time to time I'm asked for advice about internet connection speeds and pricing plans, so here goes... Most To View More >>

Darlene Hildebrandt was running a very successful Edmonton (Canada) studio with her first husband when we first met in 2000. She'd come from nowhere to become one of our best clients in spectacular fashion - spectacular because it happened so quickly! Often we find new clients "convert" their business to Queensberry quite slowly. In many cases they have contracts with their customers to deliver a Brand X album, and feel obligated to do so. But having made the emotional commitment to move on, Darlene wasn't prepared to be that passive. Every single one of her upcoming wedding clients upgraded to To View More >>

With the addition of long time Photojunction fan Angelique Buckley to the Photojunction support team, our support hours have changed slightly to better accommodate our friends in the US and UK. There's a wee gap between shifts due to the switch over between our NZ and US staff, but you'll be well looked after for most of the day - and there's even a bit of coverage for you moonlighters ;) New Zealand: 8am - 4.30pm (Mon-Fri) and 1am - 7am (Tues-Sat) Australia: 6am - 2.30pm (Mon-Fri) and 11pm - 5am (Tues-Sat) UK: 2pm - 8pm and 9pm (Mon-Fri) - 5.30am (Sun-Thurs) US (East Coast): 9am - 3pm (Mon-Fri) and To View More >>

Kathryn tweeted Ian about his blog post on selling to men, saying her studio actually did better with guys than girls. He asked her if she'd mind sharing with us - Nigel Just like Johannes, I read Ian's comments the other day about selling to men with great interest, because of late, we've noticed a real trend in our business: Grooms seem to like us more than brides do! While that's actually mildly alarming in one way (we don't want brides NOT to like us!), it's also a good thing. It means we don't need to worry about the grooms seeming bored, terrified, or otherwise un-engaged with us and what To View More >>