Personally, I've had nothing to do with school photographers since I lined up for my own class photos, but I do pay attention to what Queensberry's clients do, and they're an important subset of our customer base. I think there's a lot to learn from them because they're serious about business and big on "systems". They need to be, given that a school gig might involve dozens of classes, each with thirty-odd kids, most of them with parents — potential customers — whom they've never met. Imagine if the way it worked was that they all emailed, To View More >>

It’s always great to bring you good news, so today we can announce an extended range of embossings fonts, the return of title pages and … a mistake fixed! Title pages They’re back! We’ve found a new supplier after a long search, so please feel free to order :) Standard personal embossings Personal embossing is our most popular cover style, and no wonder — they’re a lovely way to personalise an album cover and add visual interest, and we’ve just made some changes… But first, we offer two types of personal embossing, Custom (where you supply us with To View More >>

A long post but full of insights! Andy Fountain explains how he and Lewis developed their unique style of wedding photography, how almost every coverage includes an album, and the pay-off for both their clients and the studio. There are two photographers at Fountain Photography. How do you and Lewis work together to capture the big day? Lewis is now my business partner, rather than simply an employee and second shooter. Mid-photography degree, we brought Lewis in to the business with the idea of eventually shooting two weddings a day, and making twice the profit. But while To View More >>

For a while now we've been asking people to complete a questionnaire when they register on our site. It's optional, and not everybody does, but still the results are so striking I thought I might share some of the charts. It seems that the people checking us out are a little different to the typical "professional" … and that many people don't realise there's plenty to Queensberry beyond books and albums. 1. In the age of Mr Google we're proud that most people say they found us — not through search, or advertising — but through good To View More >>

CHOICE, TRUST AND TECHNOLOGY Has your lab stopped offering traditional silver halide printing? It’s sad to see such a gloriously refined technology abandoned. With forty years pro lab experience, and chemicals in our veins, we aren’t ready to turn our backs on traditional photographic printing just yet. In fact we think it retains an important place, and we’re committed to the technology. But here’s why the Big Boy Labs are selling the line that silver halide is finished. Their top priority is, and must be, internal efficiency. They have expensive, high-volume machines to To View More >>

A little over 6 years ago I returned to my office after a meeting with staff to introduce a design audit and branding project. My phone rang and a man introduced himself and said he was from Apple. At first I thought I was being punked - all through the presentation the consultants had compared us to, and suggested we benchmark ourselves against, not our competitors, but great companies like Apple. This gentleman proceeded to tell me he was from Cupertino and that his boss was Steve Jobs. I tried to act as if I took calls like this everyday. He said they wanted to develop a premium book, and would To View More >>

[caption id="attachment_12140" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=""Hi, my name's Angelique!""][/caption] Who drank the Koolaid? - Ed. Sometimes when I'm on the phone with clients, we start talking about different album companies. Typically, we gush about how gorgeous Queensberry albums are. Occasionally, on the other end is someone who has never actually seen a Queensberry book. I still gush. They question it. After all, I work for the company – of course I say it's best? Here's the thing, I tend to only want to work for companies I can stand by. While I've had a few bumps along To View More >>

Three things I try not to do: write about our competitors, jump to their defence, and risk offending people who could be our customers; but today I’m going to do all three. I want to write about the huge outpouring against Smugmug over their price increase – and suggest a few things you should think about before you jump ship, if you’re with them. I must admit I find these outbursts upsetting, no matter the justification. When I started to use the Net back in the 90s, it was all about support, helping each other and respect. In the world I want to live in, you respect the businesses that To View More >>

Welcome to the second interview in our series featuring clients whose businesses are thriving despite the current economic climate. Click here to read the first interview with Christian Oth. In the same year they had their first child, Chris and Darcie Siiteri started their Austin (Texas) photography business, Innovative Photography. Fifteen years later they’re still at it and doing better than ever. I gave an initially nervous Darcie an early morning call to chat about how they approach their album sales, and what they do to ensure their clients have an amazing experience and to foster relationships To View More >>

Cover layout design in PJ Remix Here are the first steps in preparing a perfect, hassle-free print-and-bind order, really fast. 1. First, upgrade to PJ Remix. If you have already, thank you. 2. Use Remix to design your cover as well as your page layouts. You'll get to frame and crop the cover image yourself, see exactly what it looks like and be sure that it looks good. For example, here you can see how much of the image in the photo front cover layout above has been cropped away. No problem in this case, but many images won't be suitable: 3. Export your cover AND page layouts using Remix's Export To View More >>