A fairly common thing we hear from photographers is: “My clients just don’t want printed products.” But here’s the truth — more often than not, it’s not that they don’t want them. It’s that they’ve never been shown the value of them. They’re used to digital galleries. They expect USBs. That’s what the industry has trained them to expect. But just because it’s all they know, it doesn’t mean that’s all they want. Ian tells the story of being in a seminar with a number of very wealthy Americans. When he tried To View More >>

As a photographer, your creativity is your super-power. It’s what sets you apart, what draws clients to you, and what fills your work with meaning. But when your days are spent juggling inboxes, invoices, timelines, edits, orders, banking, and endless other to-dos, it’s easy for that creative spark to fizzle out. Here’s the truth: you don’t need less structure to be more creative — you need better systems. Think of systems as the scaffolding that holds your business up — so your creativity can roam freely within it. Strong systems take care of the repetitive To View More >>

Gary Vaynerchuk said something about the worst thing you can do in business is to be romantic about how you make your money. But show me a photographer who doesn't love taking pictures.  In fact I just wrote two rather emotional posts myself about professional photography. So I thought I'd set out the unromantic business reasons to sell products. Not how to sell or what to sell, but why.  And yes, we make the products, so of course we’d love you to sell them, but this is what's in it for you. We call them the three Ps. 1. You benefit from the sale of the To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook There are so many reasons why the printed image matters, but long term accessibility to your most treasured photos is surely a deal breaker. Why printed images matter Back in the ’90s I remember walking back to our trade show booth behind two people from a neighbouring stand. They were into IT. As they approached our booth I heard one say to the other, “I feel sorry for these guys. How long can they last in the modern world?” It’s so long ago I feel like they must have been visionaries — how did they know To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook If the first time you think about me is when you realise I’m blocking the sale, too late! Some years back there was a young man called Nigel working at Queensberry. He was about to get married, and that's how the following exchange got started. It prompted me to write a post in which I said that, to hear people talk, you’d think that only two people are involved in buying a wedding album – the bride and her mother. Same with portrait shoots, I was sure. I couldn't imagine To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Our brand isn’t a look but a promise kept — not what we say but what we do. Value Imagine if you said, “I want you to pay me what you think I’m worth.” Most people would imagine themselves out of business. We need to tell our clients what we’re worth, and live up to our rhetoric. What is the value of your work to people who don’t know you, or how much they should be paying? The value of a compelling and authentic brand is that it tells people the price of entry and helps them see it’s worth To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "Me me me! My favourite word." — Seth Godin The people paying Here’s the key thing about social photography. Those people in your viewfinder are paying your bills. All of your bills. And the images you take are more or less worthless to anyone else. What are your customers after? Why do they want their photographs taken? Actually, do they want their photographs taken? In social photography the trick is to understand that it’s not about the print, or the album, or the photography, or Photoshop, or what your peers think To View More >>

Travel photographer Lola is a Kiwi born and bred, and her work inspires the adventurer in all of us. She has a bubbly and life-affirming attitude that shines through her photography, and motivates us to get out and explore. We’ve partnered with Lola in her photography exhibition, Aqua Frizzante. Driven by the calmness and solitude the ocean can bring, she focuses on movement and textures as she floats alone, with a more abstract approach than we’re used to. We can’t wait to see what she’s installed. Details below.  Lola got into photography at a pretty young age, To View More >>

Recently we worked with Ebonnie Louise Photography  to set up her website, and we had so much fun we thought we’d share it with you. We worked with her under our Turbostart service, which helps photographers with their Workspace websites.  Ebonnie had worked with Olivia Lord Design to create her brand identity, so she came to us with a strong brand, and brand message, which was great, for two reasons. First, we knew exactly what she was after, which made her the ideal customer. And second, Turbostart is not about design and branding, but the technical stuff — setting To View More >>

The sole purpose of our Favourites feature is to make your job as a photographer easier. Your clients select their favourite images by clicking the Workspace heart while hovering over an image. (On mobile you can reveal the Favourite button by tapping an image to view it full screen.)  Your clients can review their Favourites by clicking the Heart icon at the top right of the screen. You can view them too, in the backend of Workspace, and use them, for example, to order prints, or other products you offer, or to design an album. To View More >>