There are — how many? — a million professional photographers around the world? All competing for customers who are happily uploading their own pictures to the internet by the billion every day! How do you stand out in that crowd? How do you earn a living? By being a better photographer, yes. By knowing what your clients want before they do, absolutely. And by thinking differently and acting differently. By being a price setter not a price taker. By leading the crowd, not joining it. Unfortunately the world is heading in the opposite direction. Giant labs. Huge hosting sites. Software To View More >>

"I love a little quirk from time to time - something different for the soul — to keep things fresh, to keep the spark alive and to fuel my passion for wedding photography…” Maybe that explains why Jonny Harper did such an incredible job of capturing Tanaya and Mathew's wedding. I was so excited to discover their album coming through the Bindery. Working on this blog post was a lot of fun, with rabbits hidden in the bushes, incredible walls of art and so much more… Tanaya is  a set designer, Matthew a base player for his London based jazz band. They To View More >>

My hands are how it all started, making a leather handbag for my mother. I am a woman of the craft. Creating things by hand is something that I've mastered over time and fallen in love with. Not just leatherwork and bookbinding but needlework, cooking and much more. Over the years as Queensberry grew I got busier and busier, and, for much of each year, I've put this aside. But today I was reminded how much I've missed working with my hands … the feeling, the respect for my craft, the getting back to a space that fills me with love. Why is handmade so special? To View More >>

Sarah Brookes’ first boudoir shoot was for a friend getting married. She shot some beautiful images of her friend in her bridal lingerie and found the experience captivating. Now she wonders if it’s the best job in the world, working one-to-one with her clients on something so important to them, and witnessing their personal transformations. “I get lots of lovely comments from the husband/ fiancé too, thanking me for capturing their partner in such a beautiful way. What a privilege!” Sarah enjoys the technical challenges as well. Every booking is different, and To View More >>

I got a little reminder about walking in our customers' shoes this week. We ran a survey asking regular users about twelve Workspace functions and features, from ordering albums to hosting to shopping cart sales — how important they were to people, how often they used them in Workspace, and how easy they were to use. The thing is we (OK, I) focused on how photographers experience Workspace, but not on how it works for your customers. That’s pretty bad, but in a sense understandable … because although at Queensberry we use Workspace heavily every day (in fact the entire To View More >>

I just finished a book that pinged all my Queensberry values. Gutenberg’s Apprentice is a novel by Alix Christie that brings to life the inspiration, invention and sheer hard work over several years that went into the Gutenberg Bible. Published in 1454-5, it was the first major book to be printed using moveable type. Until then books were copied by hand — by scribes — and therefore scarce, hugely expensive and prone to error. I love the way Alix Christie has given credit not just to the inventor, but also to his foreman Peter Schöffer, his business partner Johannes Fust To View More >>

Our UK friends have lots of exciting learning events coming up. We wish we could be there - check 'em out! This summer Aspire Photography have a variety of different courses to suit all abilities, from Lighroom Essentials to polish those post-production and workflow skills, Inspire My Weddings for advanced wedding photographers, and Becoming a Lifestyle Commercial Photographer for those wanting to step into the world of commercial photography. Brett Harkness also has a bunch of exciting events coming up. On his two day Prague Documentary To View More >>

Mark and Louise married on a really, really windy day, the 6th June 2015 at St John the Evangelist Church in the village of Langcliffe — the same Yorkshire Dales village church where Louise's Mum and Dad were married. We think Jade Doherty captured Mark and Louise's wedding  perfectly. We love the fully bled images, which create a perfect balance and highhlight the feature shots beautifully.  Tying of the gates, a local tradition: The church gates are tied together and coins thrown over for children of the village. The children collect the coins To View More >>

“A picture is worth a thousand words; A fine art print so much more.” - Steve Denby My daughter Alexandria has just returned from a trip through South East Asia. Stephen and I had been waiting impatiently at home for updates, occasionally getting a few photos on Facebook and Instagram — her way of checking in, letting us know that everything was okay. When she returned we could finally look through all her photographs. A computer filled with images, captured moments, potentially some of her favorite memories. It just didn’t feel right though. There's To View More >>

As a social photographer, it's so easy to get caught up working for clients and watching our bottom line that creative inspiration can become just another item on our To Do list. So how can we stay inspired, and so do our best work for clients, without getting burned out? How can we fill our 'creative well' regularly?' as Julia Cameron from The Artist's Way would ask. There is a way and it's called Instagram. As long as you can get online, inspiration can be yours in a non-stop stream of talent and buzzing creativity. When Instagram first arrived, it was known for its over-processed To View More >>