Copy Albums are easily our most popular "optional extra" and no wonder. They're a really affordable way to spread the album love around family and friends — and perfect for parents, coffee-tables and handbags. What's a Copy Album? As nearly as possible, a small replica of a larger album. You can order copies from Duo, Overlay Matted, Flushmount and Musée originals, but not Q Books or Portrait Albums. They're available in 5-inch, 7-inch and 10-inch sizes (13, 18 and 25cm) — the aspect ratio changes to suit the original. Panorama Flushmount Copy Albums, To View More >>

If you're flying in to shoot a wedding and the weather's so foul the plane mightn't be able to land, you have every wedding photographer's nightmare. And to say the weather was foul would be an understatement... But the plane did land and Johannes (of Moda Fotografica) had already covered the other bases before heading out to shoot Vicky and Ricky's wedding at French Farm in the South Island of New Zealand. With heavy rain forecast and weather warnings in place, Johannes discussed with the couple what would happen if the weather didn't play nice. He walked them through how it might effect what To View More >>

We'd never been to Lyttelton until a couple of years ago. At school we'd all learnt it was Christchurch's port, but that didn't mean you had to visit. Now everyone knows it's at the epicentre of Christchurch's earthquake. The reason I did eventually visit Lyttelton was to catch up with Johannes van Kan and Jo Grams. It's a fabulous little town, with a nice traditional pub (you walk down the corridor to the bathroom, just like the old days), lots of local music, good restaurants, great coffee, a beautiful setting. And in centre of the town the original, often funky, sometimes beautiful, apparently To View More >>

Made By Hand from Queensberry on Vimeo. Want to see what goes into making a Queensberry? We commissioned this brief movie as a way to say thank you to all the terrific people who make our albums … and who make us so proud. Johannes shot the images as he and I walked through the Queensberry Lab and Bindery one afternoon. The photography is all real and unstaged. Johannes created the video and set it to music by Amy Seeley, who has a lot of new fans. Thanks again to everyone involved, including the host of Queensberry photographers whose work you can glimpse along the way. Cheers, Ian PS If you To View More >>

Johannes posted a quote from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams on his blog. It's about what it takes, what it means, to be real. Are you in fashion photography or reality photography? Cheers, Ian PS Surprise surprise, that's a question, not an opinion. PPS Jo and Johannes (not sure which) took the picture. And that's our grand-daughter with Lucy :) To View More >>

Chaos theory has a metaphor for the way trivial occurrences can have significant consequences: it's the butterfly effect. We're proud of Johannes' post of that name in which he explains why he's a Queensberry partisan. It's about a serendipitous image that won him his first NZIPP Gold, caught Heather's and my eyes … and led to a relationship that's lasted eighteen years. So far. All because his tripod collapsed. That relationship has been positive for us in so many ways, and we hope it's been good for Johannes too. One of the benefits has a really old name: word of mouth. Johannes has a great To View More >>

If there really are 3.5 trillion photos, which are the important ones? The ones that get picked, printed and presented. Presented in a magazine, a book, a frame, an album. But who does the picking? If it's social photography and the photographer's doing the choosing, which images will make the cut? The perfect shots. The ones that tell the story. The ones that fit in the book. And inevitably, the ones that make the photographer look good. Hundreds and thousands of photographs get discarded because they're imperfect or don't suit our purposes. But those "rejects" could tell a different story, and To View More >>

Made By Hand from Queensberry on Vimeo. Want to see what goes into making a Queensberry? We commissioned this brief movie as a way to say thank you to all the terrific people who make our albums … and who make us so proud. Johannes shot the images as he and I walked through the Queensberry Lab and Bindery one afternoon. The photography is all real and unstaged. Johannes created the video and set it to music by Amy Seeley, who has a lot of new fans. Thanks again to everyone involved, including the host of Queensberry photographers whose work you can glimpse along the way. Cheers, Ian PS If you To View More >>

I know how to type, have a good grasp of English, know how to spell – but that doesn’t mean I could or would or should try to write the next John Grisham. Having a pen doesn’t make me a writer. Having a camera doesn’t make me a photographer. Having a computer doesn’t make me a designer… To be a designer takes talent, knowledge and practice. You need to understand balance, beauty, symmetry, asymmetry, flow, pace, shape, unity and contrast. Being a great visual story teller requires all those qualities. It also requires the understanding that that’s what you’re doing - telling a To View More >>

Last week it was NZIPP in Queenstown. This week Photography By Woolf's 50th Anniversary exhibition in Wellington. They very kindly invited Heather and me to share in the family celebration afterwards. It was his birthday so ten-year-old Noah got to choose the restaurant. It was great fun, the whole extended family get on so well ... and it got me to thinking: 1. What a challenge it is to build a long standing family business that truly serves … the family. We know it. Chances are you do too. Well done to the Woolfs. 2. So many photographers got a start at Woolfs, and many of them featured in To View More >>