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 >>

Before we close the doors for our holiday break we hold team get-togethers at the Bindery and Lab. Every year they're truly inspiring, and I thought I’d try and tell you why, and say thank you. The chart shows Queensberry's work in progress for the last nine months, lifted from yesterday's daily management report. It shows, more clearly than words, how our business trebles every November and December, as it has for more than 40 years. We call this hay-making season, a nod to my farming background. You have to make hay while the sun shines, and when I was a kid our neighbours turned To View More >>

From our little corner of the world, here's wishing all you Americans and Canadians a happy thanksgiving. Sadly we don't celebrate the day in New Zealand, so we spent it at work - it's Friday morning here now - but we wish we could join you. It's a reminder to pause and give thanks for our blessings, so here's a huge heartfelt thank you to ALL our friends, readers, likers and commenters, album customers, Workspace users and PJ geeks, brides and grooms, mums and dads, suppliers and partners - and of course all our bindery, lab, IT, design and support staff, past and present - in fact all who make To View More >>

If you follow our main Queensberry blog, you might have seen that I recently designed and ordered my own Queensberry album. (View the blog post here). Well, Stephen wandered in a while ago and saw me looking at what he assumed was my album, and asked how I liked it. "It's crap," I said. "I don't even like looking at it." He went really pale! What he didn't know is that Heather had suggested I use the exact same image files to create an album with another well known supplier. I'm not naming names, but wow - the differences are astounding. I understand that you get what you pay for, and that our 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 >>