I need to know where people get their products if they live in Oz. Been looking at http://www.photoimagingworld.com.au/exhibitors/ and trying to help a friend get started. What can you help me with?

I only know US vendors! help pls.

Hey Matt...

I'll reply to this in an hour or so.

I'm up to my eyeballs in kids at the moment!!!!

Annie

OK Matt....I'm back!

For printing, I use NULAB...and have been very happy. They do tend to print on the 'warm' side, so calibrating to their specs is very important. They have a wonderful technical support team for any PS or color profile issues. A lot of the staff there seem to be American!!! ha ha ha

Then there's THE EDGE. I haven't used them before, but might consider it in the future! A close photographer friend of mine swears by them. They're more expensive than Nulab....but their customer list is a who's who of Australia's BEST photographers ...including Yervant and Jerry....so they must be top notch, and I guess you pay for that!!!!

I haven't made an album yet...but it's high on my 'to do' list, and something I intend on offering in the future. I have done a lot of research though, and my 2 top contenders are

ALBUMS AUSTRALIA

SELDEX

I'm sorry I can't give you experienced advice with albums, but to my knowledge these are the top 2 players in OZ for albums.

ALL of the above vendors are based in Melbourne....

Hope that helps Matt.....

Annie

Thanks Annie! I knew about Albums Aus and my friend found Seldex and some other labs as well. I'll tell her about The Edge and Nulab. I also told her about some of the higher end Oz albums as well but she's not *there* yet. I pointed her at your site (I think you must be 6 hrs or so away from her). She wants to start out doing portraits then graduate to weddings when she has the gear & a bit of experience.

M

Hey Matt...

No problem..my pleasure!
Tell your friend to phone me anytime. That would be a real hoot, and I'll help her out any way I can. (OSP has taught me the glory of being a lovecat)

Melbourne...if that's where she lives...is barely a 2 hour drive from Bendigo where I live. The big city can feel like a lonely, isolated place sometimes if you don't have links to people who can give you a helping hand! I know...I used to live in Melbourne with musical aspirations. So yeah...please urge her to ring me. Oh, and tell her to join OSP as well. I'll never manage that Aussie takeover if we don't get some more Australian members!!!!!

Curious which 'higher end' album companies you're referring to. Please do tell! I'm not exactly 'in the loop' myself. This is actually all really new to me too, and as I said I haven't even made an album yet. The strange truth is I've been too flat out doing weddings to look into it, and make a sample album or 2. It is very high on my priority list. I've just shot my last wedding untill August (it's coming into Winter here) so as soon as I get the last 3 weddings out I'll be exploring the album side of my business.

Annie

Hey Annie!

Thanks for the info & I'll definitely have her give you a call sometime. The hot to trot high end album company I know is Jorgenson http://www.jorgensenalbums.com/ They are based in Oz and have beautiful books. It's funny that your season is just about over. I'll have to remember that.

As far as my friend, she may or may not join OSP - she's been on forums I've been on before and realistically most forums can only handle one or other of us. I may have her join ILP as she wants to do more portraits than weddings right off the bat. She's too nervous to be shooting at weddings right now. I told her I'd help her find someone to assist/2nd for next season so after a year or two of doing this, maybe she'll decide to branch out to weddings. She's been in photography as long as me, maybe 6 or 7 yrs now. She started where I did, doing landscapes, travel, etc.

Thanks!!

Matt

If she wishes to dabble in the wedding waters she'd be very welcome to shoot with me anytime! It would mean a 2 hour drive...but she could stay with me and make a weekend of it! WHAT FUN! Pass that on...and hopefully we can chat about that possibility on the phone.

P.S. I was just thinking about you sending her to my web site. Uhhhhgg! I haven't updated that site in more than 6 months! I have HUGE plans for re-branding and a new site with work from this season. I've just been TOO busy with a flat out season AND 2 very young little boys. I've been dabbling in photography for years now, but I would call the last 8 months my first 'true' wedding season....really ever since I joined OSP!

These links are a more current representation of my work now...if she cares to have a look! (oh hell...I just realised they've all got the same music!!! They've only been put on line for the customer's benefit. So sorry about the length and same boring music! ha ha ha)

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/zoejarrah/

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/kathmark/

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/marinajames/

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/anniebrian/

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/miakyra/ (babies)

http://www.anniewarren.com.au/leach/ (tots)


Annie

I can tell you're a night owl. lol I know she wakes up early but she'll be up in a couple hours and you're still up. haha

Is it almost 1am there now?

I'll pass along your message and hopefully she'll get ahold of you. I think it'd be great fun to see it work out. She's always loved photography but felt that going into it would be just following me ya know? So I finally just set her up a website, got her going and decided to push instead of pull. lol

Y'all are gonna make me jealous when you work together & I wanna be working with both of you though! She keeps trying to book us for an Oz wedding but something about the $2500 17 hour flight keeps people away! lol

Ummm yeah....night owl is an understatement! Years and years of playing in rock bands did that for me! It's like a permanant jet lag of sorts! Never quite kicked the cigarettes, excessive alcahol OR the very late nights. Maybe I just refuse to grow up and behave like a Mummy!

You rock Annie! I just passed all these messages to Loz so we'll see where she takes it!