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 >>

You might remember a post called "the secret life of wedding photographers" on ISPWP a few years ago. Apparently photographers lead a great life – you get to spend your time taking pictures, travelling to exotic locations and partying like rockstars! Of course the sad reality is often quite different. This fertile little meme has got a lot more airtime recently because APE and now Seth Godin have posted about it. As always, Seth's post is well worth the read. He makes the point that everyone has a choice: get together the "guts and resources" too do what you were born to do, or spend your time To View More >>

.. that you are selling to? I read Ian's post yesterday and thought he had some really good points, but I wanted to add to the discussion by drilling down another layer to ask, "Who is the man you are selling to?" Here are a few possibilities and I am sure you are easily able to add more (so feel free to contribute your thoughts): 1 The besot - hopelessly in love and a cinch for a big album. 2 The control freak - Needs to believe that they have choices. The choices empower them and allow them to "own the outcome". 3 The accountant - The value of the album is a number: that value equates to a certain To View More >>

At the seminar I mentioned recently the presenter prefaced anything that might sound critical with, "I know this doesn't apply to you, but..." So, I know this doesn't apply to you, but... Tony Bramley had this to say about Johanne's last post: "There have always been crap photographers. Even in the days of film our old lab used to tell us of terrible exposures etc. "It's just there are more of them with digital cameras who think they can do a professional job in a very amateur way. If they don't know their trade and tools they are not professionals. As a printing company as well as an album To View More >>

1.4 million people have seen this movie already, but don't let that stop you. A few days after selling out Boston's Symphony Hall, one of the world's best violinists went busking with his Stradivarius for 43 minutes in a DC metro station. A thousand people streamed past. A handful stopped, nobody clapped ... and he made $32. Grab a coffee and read Gene Weingarten's story in The Washington Post. He arranged the performance as "as an experiment in context, perception and priorities". Do I want to make a cheap marketing point out of this? Not really, but it makes you think. Cheers, Ian PS Sal Criscillo To View More >>

What is it that our clients are paying for? Photography? (But what does that mean) Entertainment? (Couldn't afford the clown for the party) Documentation? (Recording content for a historical document) Memories? (Least we forget) Glamorisation? (See, the bride can look glam with the right dress, makeup, hairdo, and some photoshop!) Impressionism? (To impress the neighbours) Fairytaleism? (Living the dream) Then you might ask, what are each of these worth in the final package? It would be an interesting exercise to give each a percentage value. And then think about those percentages, and ask yourself To View More >>