Here are three photos that won’t mean much to you but mean everything to me. They explain why I love wedding albums. The first is from my parents’ wedding in 1945, a beautiful sepia print in a classic folder. Young as he looks, Dad had just returned from five years at war. The girl on the left is his younger sister. Seven years later she married the young man on the right. Like my parents they were together for 55 years. The other woman is my mother’s best friend. I remember her, but she died quite young. The other uniformed man is my father’s best friend. I’m writing To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook I would not sabotage my long-term business in order to survive a panic attack or a short-term crisis. Panic attacks — we all have them “My bookings are down.” “I’ve gotta cut my prices.” “I’ve gotta slash my costs.” We all have anxiety attacks, so maybe this chapter’s for you. Anxiety is worrying in advance, worrying without a plan, psychological rather than rational. And the actions you take while you’ve got the cold sweats could affect your business for a long, long To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook If the first time you think about me is when you realise I’m blocking the sale, too late! Some years back there was a young man called Nigel working at Queensberry. He was about to get married, and that's how the following exchange got started. It prompted me to write a post in which I said that, to hear people talk, you’d think that only two people are involved in buying a wedding album – the bride and her mother. Same with portrait shoots, I was sure. I couldn't imagine To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook GOOD is what gets people in the door, like a newspaper headline or a “special” at the supermarket. Good is what makes you competitive. Don’t offer just one service, offer choices. Don’t assume the deal that encourages people to get in touch with you is the one they’ll commit to later (once you’ve open their eyes to how good you are, and what you can do for them). And don’t assume that they won’t go even further once they’ve fallen in love with their own photographs. That’s the To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next  Download the eBook Be yourself. Everyone else is taken. Be yourself Heather and I have been friends with a particular couple since our kids were pre-schoolers, which is some time ago. She’s got progressive musical tastes. He likes Simon and Garfunkel. She’s been complaining for forty years about Neil Young’s whiny voice. He’s been complaining that Bob Dylan can’t sing at all. I don’t care. What would they know? Not everyone likes Neil’s voice, or Bob’s, or what they have to say, but everyone knows them, To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "Me me me! My favourite word." — Seth Godin The people paying Here’s the key thing about social photography. Those people in your viewfinder are paying your bills. All of your bills. And the images you take are more or less worthless to anyone else. What are your customers after? Why do they want their photographs taken? Actually, do they want their photographs taken? In social photography the trick is to understand that it’s not about the print, or the album, or the photography, or Photoshop, or what your peers think To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "They’re proud of their family or their new baby. Proud of their farm, cars, horses, dogs. Proud of the party they put on for the wedding..." Pride — personal and professional We’re in the “love” business, yes, but we’re in the pride business too. Professional pride in your case, but with your clients it’s personal… They’re proud of their family or their new baby. Proud of their farm, cars, horses, dogs. Proud of the party they put on for the wedding — the location, the spread, To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "...There are those who serve the high end and those who serve the budget end of the market. And like most industries, if you don’t choose the high end, the low end will probably choose you." What I mean by " professional" When I talk about professional photographers I mean people who aim to make a living from their photography — pay the bills, buy a home, raise kids, enjoy a good life and save for retirement. We all do it differently, but you get the picture. I think people for whom it’s a side hustle — To View More >>

Someone asked the other day why some photographers using Print Shop seem to be selling their prints “quite cheaply”. "I can understand that there is potentially volume in art prints that isn't there with portraits. But I still wonder how a client might feel if the price is significantly lower for an art print." I think there are a few questions here — does the difference in price matter? Are people undercharging? — and anyway, how much should you charge? I'll leave the last one for later, but meantime… 1. Why might you need to charge differently for your art versus To View More >>

How to talk about products? In a nutshell, in your own voice, with conviction! Let's start by saying there are three aspects to this: Talking about products. Sharing about products. Believing in products. Talking  about products We'll be brief because we've covered this in a separate article, about how to sell more without being  "pushy" or "sales-y". Photographers who  love  selling probably don't need our help, so it's addressed mainly to those who're shy about it — which is possibly most of us. In that article we discuss how to build "talking about products" into To View More >>