Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "That process has two distinct stages—before and after the shoot. The first sells the booking, the second is the up-sell…" High-end photographers have been selling albums profitably for as long as we’ve been in business, but for many today it seems a lost art. Why? Obviously the world has changed — "shoot-and-share" and "just the files" are seductive ideas, and so is selling online. And who needs the hassle of getting people into the studio, playing nice, offering them bubbles and selling To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Bad taste takes a while to show up, but as soon as it does it’s embarrassing. How to avoid it? Start by keeping it simple. If in doubt, leave it out. The half life of crap In her book The Mesh, Lisa Gansky talks about “the half life of crap” – about cheap manufactured products and how long they last. Or rather don’t last. Her point is that the half life of crap products is way too short. They get boring or they break. They end up at the back of your garage or as land fill. Our poor planet can’t afford To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook “Measure results, change activities.” — Keith Cunningham Focused I’ve never met a photographer with a more analytical approach to his business than Craig. He was a wedding photographer whose goal was to clear “100k in 100 Days” from 30 weddings. (The actual figures don’t matter — they just sound snappy — so I’m not going to tell you when, where or in what currency.) Many a photographer has built a profitable business out of shooting 30 or 40 weddings a year, bur Craig’s To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook There’s no room in this business for cynics. Ambassadors of Love Sure you love photography … but then this whole business is about love. Love and other emotional drivers — like the desire for connection, significance, family pride, and the human need to remember and be remembered. My Dad wanted a photo of my mother to fit in the breast pocket of his battle tunic in North Africa. Eighty years later I still have it. They married after the war. We have a few formal group photos. All us kids can do is try and judge what To View More >>

I'm going to be a bit pushy here. Our series on selling albums talks about:  — setting expectations — making it clear you sell them, and why! — making it easy for your clients to buy — not coming across as "pushy or sales-y" etc. I think that's good, sensible stuff — I helped write them, so there's that! — but let's face it, they lack something: ambition. Sales-ambitious or sales-shy? Portrait and wedding photographers come in all shapes and sizes, attitudes and ambitions, but one of the most important things that define them is surely their attitude to To View More >>

I've just finished re-watching Barry Schwartz's Ted Talk on The Paradox of Choice. He makes this very important point: Too much choice produces paralysis. Offer people too much choice and they'll find it very difficult to choose at all. Yes, at Queensberry we offer a lot of choice! We know that. We do it because every photographer is different. And we agree, as Barry Schwartz says, that it can be difficult to get your head around. But … if you want to sell products, you need to make the effort, not leave it to your customers.  As our designer friend Donna says, to run a design To View More >>

We’re very excited to announce that our online Client Galleries in Workspace have had a face lift, and boy do they look good!  We’ve released four new gallery styles, including a video option. Each can be further personalised to suit your taste and style by very easily changing fonts and other elements. Please do check them out and let us know what you think. Client Gallery Option 1: Simplicity  Simplicity is an upgrade of our current "Standard" gallery style. We've worked to refine the font selections and sizes to give this gallery a more modern feel. To View More >>

We love it when one of our staff members gets an album made for themselves. We spend most of our time creating handmade products for photographers, but we like to walk the talk when it comes to printing our photos. Maddy works in the Queensberry bindery and she's let us share her Portrait Album with you. Take a look.  "I made my own scrapbook style photo albums when I was younger and printed photos to frame. This is the second Queensberry album I've made.  "I wanted to make a gift for my partner, Simba, to celebrate the adventures we’ve had together so far, including a To View More >>

Someone suggested the other day that Queensberry’s “look” is “classic”, and if you want “hip” albums you’ll need to look elsewhere. So … how do we plead? Well yer Honour, on the one hand, it’s true … and on the other, it isn’t! Why isn’t it true? It’s your art, we just provide the frame. It’s your album, so if you want hip, make it so. We see plenty of up-to-the-minute designs going through the Bindery, and lots of classic work too. What we suggest is, pick from our paintbox whatever supports your To View More >>

How do you target high-end clients? How do you stand out from the crowd? What types of albums could you, or should you, offer? Those are all good questions. Today we share why Duo albums might be the answer.  01. Turn your images into art What make Duos different are their unique pagemount mats. They frame your images with a striking key line, created by meticulously hand-trimming and mounting each print to fit inside the mat opening — each one presented with the same care and attention as your framed wall art. 02. A package superstar If you're thinking To View More >>