I just finished a book that pinged all my Queensberry values. Gutenberg’s Apprentice is a novel by Alix Christie that brings to life the inspiration, invention and sheer hard work over several years that went into the Gutenberg Bible. Published in 1454-5, it was the first major book to be printed using moveable type. Until then books were copied by hand — by scribes — and therefore scarce, hugely expensive and prone to error. I love the way Alix Christie has given credit not just to the inventor, but also to his foreman Peter Schöffer, his business partner Johannes Fust To View More >>

I took the opportunity last Sunday to change how I did things. It was partly out of necessity, and partly curiosity. [caption id="attachment_1008" align="alignleft" width="324" caption="Jo and Jeremy"][/caption] 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 To View More >>

Not the movie! I am talking about wedding photography. OHHHH if only I had a dollar for every time somebody said to me can you airbrush/photoshop me thinner/more beautiful/younger/less wrinkled, and why oh why is it always, I want to look like Brad Pitt or Angelina?! I would be RICH!!!!! Filthy dirty rich, and in truth I would not have to make any money as a photographer. Photographers didn't really invent the lie ... Adobe did. Actually that is a lie, it was the first person to do a cave drawing representing themselves (or somebody else) as a bit more upright than they really were, or possibly To View More >>

Yes our circumstance is unique (our studio was wiped out in an earthquake), but what a great motivator to get a new sample album or two. Very seldom do we get a blank canvas opportunity where we get to look at what we do and ask, "If my past no longer dragged down my future what would my future be?" On February the 22nd  everything changed. We went from a plan, to a nightmare, to a dream. But this post isn't about us. This is about you. We as a studio would often leave updating our samples until there was a specific need, which most often was a bridal show. This always put pressure on us and the To View More >>

So you have a few album designs under your belt and you are thinking "I need more!' Flips and wings are a remnant from early creative album design days, but are in fact a very cool design addition. They are easy to use and add an element of difference – provided your album maker allows them, as Queensberry does. A Flip is an extra page that folds out from the outer edge of a standard page while Wings are half pages that fold over the base page and meet in the middle. They are simple to add and can be found in the Layout tab in the Tools window. [caption id="attachment_5603" align="alignnone" To View More >>

I'm heading back to New Zealand after four gigs for MPA and CPT. When I left home Jo (my wife) gave me two things (other than the advice to stay away from danger). She gave me an iPhone so that we could stay in touch ... my phone was in a bad way ... and she gave me a small box. Now you would have thought that a caring wife would have uploaded a set of images or a small video of her and our daughter to remind me of them in their absence ... this is the beauty of technology. No she didn't. She went 10 times better. She gave me a small box of prints of our family to take away. This low fi approach To View More >>

My clients would not dream of paying me $4000 for an empty photo album. Nor would they pay that for a book with somebody else’s photographs in it. They wouldn’t pay me that much even if I supplied them the files to print the images themselves. My clients would pay me $5000 for a book that told a story about themselves that was beautiful, personal, and emotional. The tooth fairy only pays up on the real thing. What is a sample album? Sample albums have several jobs. The main one is to set up an expectation. An expectation of quality, style, and professionalism. Our sample album(s) are what To View More >>

.... and we do! Our clients look at the covers on our album samples and make judgements on what is inside. It's true! We help them do it. We want them to look at the cover and suspect that there is something very special inside. It was rewarding to know that when the New Zealand album award judges saw our 2009 award album in the first Musee cover they were wowed into silence. This cover demands respect. Working through the range of covers available to us we have made a studio decision to display a specific look for our albums. This makes them recognisable in the wild and it is our aim to earn those To View More >>

Gotta love her: Bride by Steve and Cheryl, photography by Johannes, album by Queensberry Why do images look so good in books? I asked myself that question as I walked out of the new Aussie movie, Tomorrow when the war began in which the main character delivers a satiric line, "The book usually is better than the movie"... Take an image accompanied by a line of text in a great print ad. Or a series of images of a bride walking down the aisle in an album. Or a double page spread of a horizon in National Geographic. I reckon it's because the real beauty of the images is only discovered when they're To View More >>

Every Saturday we wake up to a new wedding ... well I wish it was every Saturday. Every time I know that I must do my best. That is what my clients expect and what I would expect also. How do you make each day your best? I started writing this thinking that there was an answer. There is, but it is personal to each photographer. Having great assistants makes the best more achievable. Do your homework, have a safety net, have the skills to stay out of danger, underpromise and always overdeliver. Be stimulated by your work and by your clients. Have fun. There was a time when I would have told people To View More >>