Everyone loved Johannes’ imagery and we had a constant stream to the Queensberry stand to check it out (lots of people recognised the Musée album he displayed it in).

Thanks a million to everyone who came to see us. The team caught up with a heap of old friends and made lots of new ones. We’re full of gratitude to you all and especially to the photographers whose work stars in our albums and makes them look even tastier.

I know our FOCUS team in the UK, who had a terrific show, feel just the same. Thank you all.

Cheers, Ian

PS We’re looking forward to getting home to God’s Own. And we’re quite proud of our packing.

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We need to try to find ways for our brides and grooms to commit to being photographed.

I have seen both extremes, one where the bride is expecting you to pull rabbits from hats because she paid you a lot of money to do your magic, and the other extreme where she almost dresses as a rabbit to make your life easier, and the magic more real.

One bride came to me telling me I had the job (of shooting her wedding) if I could make her look skinnier in the photographs … I said to her we could but I needed her help. I needed her to at least think skinny and do some work to get there. I needed her to have the right dress (and dressmaker). I said we would use the right lighting and would get her standing in complimentary ways. At no time did I mention The Skinny Filter in Photoshop.

This is all about investing in the outcome.

Many people do this already …

The real magic only happens when everybody (including the magician) believes. Walt Disney was particularly good at this.

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About twelve months ago Jonas Peterson left his high profile, high paying position as a leading advertising copywriter to become a full-time photographer…

In his first year on the block he shot 42 weddings and jumped to number one in Google rankings for ‘Brisbane wedding photographer’ (actually he did that in two months).

He’s booked 15 destination weddings so far this year and describes his business as ‘wedding photography with a touch of awesome’.

He’s built a loyal following on his blog (over 2000 hits a day), has over 1450 followers on Twitter and a similar number of fans on his Facebook page. All reflect his engaging style and are well worth a look.

Johannes van Kan talks to Jonas about how he got up to speed in just 12 months, how he uses social media to get his message out there and his workflow and approach to albums.

Click here to listen to Johannes’ interview with Jonas Peterson (40 mins).

Cheers, Nigel

PS Skype dropped out in the middle of the interview, so you might notice a little awkwardness where I’ve stitched together the two halves of Jonas’s response to one of Johannes’ questions.

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In fact it begins with three stories, and the real magic is how they weave together…

The first begins several years ago with a traveller on a bus in Spain, who strikes up a conversation with the woman sitting next to him. They like each other enough to introduce themselves.

He’s a wedding photographer from the far side of the world, in Spain on a scholarship.

She’s a paper conservator living in England, home to visit her family in Barcelona – and as it turns out, later, in love.

The photographer and the conservator like each other enough to swap email addresses … and that’s it.

Until one day five years later the photographer gets an email.

Virginia is to marry Richard, her Irish lover, in the Salo de Cent in Barcelona, and she wants him to photograph the event.

Every fibre in the photographer’s being wants to do this. The serendipity, the connection, Spain, the opportunity to shoot in a magnificent space.

He and his wife Jo travel to Barcelona, shoot the wedding, assemble a magical collection of images … and the photographer wonders what to do with them.

§

But Johannes is not just an artist and storyteller, he’s also competitive. How to create something original to do justice to the Barcelona images is one thing, but another challenge is gnawing at him…

For the last two years he’s won the New Zealand Wedding Album of the Year award, and he wants to win again. He knows how good his colleagues are … he knows he’ll use Virginia and Richard’s Barcelona images … but … is that enough?

He picks up the phone and calls a friend.

Can you make me a very special album, he asks her?

I want something small and jewel-like, he says. I want it to feel precious and intimate, like the memories it contains. He cups his hands as he speaks … not that she can see … like those photos of the father holding his newborn.

I want it to be of leather. I want it to have that feeling of authority that the family Bible has.

I’d like it if the leather had laughter lines, like an old couch, as if it had absorbed the wisdom and memories and conversations of the people who had sat in it…

Is that possible?

§

Conversations like this can be very awkward because they can so easily lead nowhere…

You’re not a sole craftsman, you’re creative director … so many demands. How much can you give to other people’s dreams? Do you really understand what’s in the other person’s head? Will they like what evolves in yours?

Can you even get the materials to realise their ideas?

But in this case Heather knew exactly what she would do.

She was already dreaming of a new album.

Strange perhaps that people can dream of albums, but really, no stranger than people who dream of wedding photography.

For years Queensberry had been building a system for designing beautiful custom albums, but now she wanted to do something that took her to a new level, something that took her back to her artisan roots.

She and her design team were already at work on a concept.

In fact Johannes’ album sounded like their album … and how fortunate to have his photographs for it.

She even had the brown vegetable tanned leathers in the studio. She’d bought them for her dream, but she knew they would age to fulfil his.

With a feeling of certainty she made the book and sent it to him just in time for the judging.

I saw it just before it shipped, and I was much less certain than Heather. Not because of the book – I thought the photography and the setting and the binding were beautiful – but because I did not know whether this was Johannes’ dream…

§

But he loved it. He won.

He photographed the album, unfolding the elements to get to those intimate pages and the memories they will keep for generations. Then he made a slide show and set it to a song I thought was perfect.

We showed it to a few audiences, who loved it, and the tactile experience of the actual album, and I could tell Heather it was a success.

Virginia loved it too. Of course she did. She loved the images, but art and paper are her profession, as they are Richard’s – they’re both conservators, he at the Victoria and Albert, she at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich – and she adored how they were presented.

§

The postscript is another story, and as I write I don’t know how it ends…

Gino, one of our account managers, was talking to a Manhattan photographer whose work we’d featured on our new website.

You know my clients, he said. They want the very best, and they can afford it. I need something very special for them. What can you do?

When Gino called Heather about the conversation she was in the process of designing a second album, black this time. She wanted to fill it with beautiful black and white photography and she felt she’d found the perfect images … In fact she had the Manhattan photographer’s images on her screen when Gino called.

It was such serendipity that she called me in disbelief.

She doesn’t know whether Christian will like the album yet because he hasn’t seen it … but we think it looks stunning, and we hope he will.

Best wishes, Ian

You can see Queensberry’s Musée albums pre-release at WPPI and FOCUS.

Please email me if you’d like us to advise when we release Musée on line.

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Plenty to think about – do read it!

“When everyone has a camera, and everyone thinks they are a photographic artist, it’s clear that access to the device is not a scarce resource. If that’s all you’ve got, I’m not going to pay you. The art isn’t in the taking of the picture.”

Cheers, Ian

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We love this opportunity to visit the States and the UK, meet old friends and make new ones … and we hope you’ll be among them.

Queensberry is for people who believe that the way to succeed is to stand out from the crowd, not join it, and this year we have two new projects to talk to you about:

1. As you may know Apple chose Queensberry as one of “the world’s finest bookmakers” to introduce their album design and ordering service in Aperture 3. Far from us to say why they chose us, so come along and make up your own mind!

2. We’re announcing a brand new album. This is all we can say about it: It’s beautiful … it’s about standing out from the crowd … and photographers who’ve seen it so far absolutely love it.

Here’s the details:

WPPI: 8-10 March 2010

MGM Grand, Las Vegas @ Stand # 1235

FOCUS: 7-10 March 2010

NEC, Birmingham @ Stand # B19 & B21

WPPI and FOCUS are the best possible time to check us out and sign up. Buy at the shows and you’ll pay 20% less for your Starter Kit. Plus, one person each day will win their Starter Kit free!

See you there!

Cheers, Nigel

PS if you’re coming to WPPI here’s a complimentary Tradeshow pass. Just click the image to save or print, and take it along to WPPI registration, or register online at www.wppionline.com

 

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Congratulations Johannes

We’re coming to SWPP

Queensberry Album Plug-in for Aperture 3

]]> http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/03/wppi-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/03/wppi-2010/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/queensberryconnection/~3/-ZH8Db0PcSo/ http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/running/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:35:38 +0000 Nigel Hicks http://www.queensberry.com/connects/?p=6923 You may have noticed our email has been down for the past couple of days.

We’re glad to report that the problem has apparently now been fixed (a damaged cable) and we’re all back online. Fingers crossed!

Emails sent to us while the server was down may be a little delayed in getting to our inboxes but we’ll respond as soon as we can.

Our apologies again for the inconvenience. It’s a relief to be back on line.

 

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Email down

WPPI and FOCUS 2010

Queensberry announces Musee

]]> http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/running/feed/ 0 http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/running/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/queensberryconnection/~3/yuZjRrpAmvY/ http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/email-2/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:53:44 +0000 Ian Baugh http://www.queensberry.com/connects/?p=6916 We regret to advise that due to a line break outside our control our secure websites and email are down.

That means you can’t access your Queensberry account, Queensberry’s and Photojunction’s registration systems aren’t working and we cannot access your email. Your email should have been received but we can’t get to it: to avoid confusion please don’t resend it unless you don’t hear from us within normal service times once we’re back online.

It could be 24 hours before we’re back up.

Our apologies for the inconvenience. When we get more news we’ll post it here.

 

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Email back up and running

Queensberry Album Plug-in for Aperture 3

Wish you were here

]]> http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/email-2/feed/ 1 http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/email-2/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/queensberryconnection/~3/hroSLdYKvWc/ http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/interview-simon-whitten-uk/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:02:01 +0000 Ian Baugh http://www.queensberry.com/connects/?p=6896 “I’m going to interview Simon Whitten while I’m in the UK,” I said to Heather, “Short story – what springs to mind?”

“Stately homes … panoramic images … simple, classic album designs,” she said.

Simon has established a solid business at the very top of the UK wedding market, and what struck me about our conversation was his confidence and clarity in talking about it.

To succeed in this business requires a lot more than photographic passion and skills. You need a clear understanding of your market position, your clientele and where they come from, your brand and how you project it.

The low end of the market is always there, and always has been, he says, but it’s irrelevant. His challenges come from mid-range competitors.

In our conversation he talks about all this, the history of his studio, how he responded to the recession last year, and why timeless design is so important.

He stresses the importance of his website, so be sure to check that out too.

You might also like to take a look at the albums from Simon that we’ve featured on our consumer blog.

Click here to listen to my interview with Simon. (51 mins)

As they say, success leaves clues…

Cheers, Ian

 

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Interview: Jonas Peterson

Simply good

No obligation

]]> http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/interview-simon-whitten-uk/feed/ 3 http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/interview-simon-whitten-uk/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/queensberryconnection/~3/ORiKOp7YrOA/ http://www.queensberry.com/connects/2010/02/difference/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:00:17 +0000 Johannes van Kan http://www.queensberry.com/connects/?p=6768 Andrew Gardner posted a thoughtful comment on a recent post of mine in which I talked about a member of the public asking if I would sell her a Queensberry album. He’s concerned that Queensberry’s aim to build their brand amongst brides might turn the albums into a commodity and encourage discounting (eg “click here for cheapest QBY albums!”) His thoughts probably reflect the concerns of many photographers. He says,

Obviously we can’t be complacent and we should always be thinking of unique and original ways to make ourselves stand out. But I have a niggling feeling that what Queensberry thought would help us out will actually work against us.

Certainly the request I received smacks of a search for a commodity. It is the inevitable outcome of the Shoot and Burn mentality where brides end up with files and nowhere to put them.

It is up to us to make the difference. Yes the Queensberry album is wonderful, but it is the story told within its pages that makes the difference.

The importance of the story can never be overemphasised. Like a Queensberry, a Moleskine is a lovely book of empty pages until you start writing truths in it … that’s when it becomes something personal, valuable, and meaningful.

When people come to you as a photographer it is because you are what they are looking for. If Queensberry has done its job right your potential client will recognise your use of Queensberry products as a mark of excellence.

As the channel by which one must purchase a Queensberry product photographers have the opportunity to impact the outcome of that purchase by adding their own influence. We are dealing with that situation ourselves with somebody who had a commercial photographer friend shoot their wedding. They wanted a Queensberry album but their friend washed his hands of any responsibility beyond handing over the files.

Nobody can stop the bride from hunting down the best price … we certainly know that brides do the same when trying to get a photographer. This part of human nature will always surface. Resourceful brides are inevitable and if they consider the album a commodity – and possibly also the photographer who handed them their digital files – at that point we, rather than Queensberry, are in control of the situation.

The sad truth is that there will also always be a ‘resourceful’ photographer willing to turn Queensberry products into commodities. But I understand that Queensberry does not look on that behaviour favourably. It is in their interest to look after you, the channel, because without you they are just a good looking, but storyless, book seller.

Cheers, Johannes

 

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