Whether it’s their first enquiry, the day of the shoot or the day they receive their beautiful prints, every interaction with your client shapes their impression of you and your brand.  Here’s a straightforward process to analyse and improve your client experience, step by step. 1. Understand the customer journey Start by listing all the steps your clients take when working with you — their initial enquiry, the booking, your pre-shoot communications, the shoot itself, and product selection and delivery. Any others? Identify the key moments and To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next  Download the eBook You can divide the people who contact you into two groups, those who know how much you charge and those who don’t. Those who know are the perfect prospects. Don’t assume Back in the ’90s Heather and I backpacked around Vietnam. It was a rewarding and emotional experience from end to end, but one of the highlights, after weeks sweating our way around the country, was heading to the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi for a high end lunch. The wait staff weren’t particularly keen to see us, dusty and unkempt with To View More >>

If you love Panorama Flushmount albums, chances are the full bleed, uninterrupted layouts are one reason why. This 12x12 album by  Birch & Wattle of Sydney, Australia,  makes great use of panorama images. What also caught our eye was the warm and joyful imagery of Fleur and Steve's wedding. Yana shared some stand-out moments  from  the day, and some thoughts about their photography business. "We are Pavel and Yana - professional wedding photographers, based in Sydney, who  specialise  in natural, genuine and emotive story-telling 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 >>

You're probably aware of the widespread unease about data protection and privacy online — for example the Cambridge Analytica Facebook scandal and the other major data breaches that have been in the news so regularly. Protecting people's data is the focus of the European "GDPR" (General Data Protection Regulation), which comes into effect later this month. It applies to everyone who does business in the EU, including us and many of our clients. In brief the GDPR is saying that people have the right to complete control of their data, and that you, as To View More >>

Isn't technology great? A decade ago "photo books" were a wonder. I can create one-off books! Printed on both sides! Like a glossy magazine! We loved them too, and launched Q Books in 2010. But now photo books are … just a glossy magazine! Commodity products with prices to match. Mostly sold direct to consumers, meaning very little value in them for photographers… Something for people who get their photography on a flashdrive. Q Books still look great, as beautifully printed and bound as our albums, but for a couple of years the trend has been To View More >>

"When you love something so much it's easy to become completely consumed by it." Tammie Pittwood was always the one with the camera at school. She had a thing for capturing moments, and from early on a passion for photography. But was equally as good at painting and decided to take a Fine Arts degree. She loved it but after graduating realised it wasn't for her. She loved the creative process of painting, and still misses it sometimes, but as a career it didn't inspire her as much.  Throughout university she photographed a few weddings for her friends, and so began her natural progression To View More >>

Last week we shipped the very first real live order for our new medium-weight lay-flat Q Books. Not a prototype, not a concept drawing or trial album, but our very first, real live order. These lay-flats were just a part of our 2015 launch, our biggest in years, with new cover materials, new panoramic flushmounts and much more. We showed them first at WPPI and SWPP, but despite our own excitement and the enthusiastic response, we’ve resisted shipping the lay-flats until now. Why? To make them perfect they needed a little extra love, so we went back to the drawing board. The last To View More >>

Kate Hopewell-Smith believes that the more confident you are, the better photographer you'll become. But she worries about the lack of confidence in our industry, and wonders how many photographers are considering whether to carry on or not… From my experience meeting and communicating with lots of photographers there is a serious problem out there with lack of confidence, which for some can become quite debilitating. In fact I describe it as an “epidemic” –extremely prevalent, widespread. I read a lot of photography magazines but I can’t recall ever To View More >>

As told to Cate Scaglione - Life As Fine Art “There is a space between imagination… and attainment…that may only be traversed by… longing.” ― Khalil Gibran, Sand and Foam The story of Cindy Harter Sims is about more than going from part-time hobbyist to full time award-winning photographer. Cindy’s is a tale about longing for all that life has to offer. Photography just happened to be her way of finding it. There is something about an image by Cindy Harter Sims. It’s an inexplicable surge of emotions that make you feel as if you’re To View More >>