Picture perfect – the art of wedding photography

February 2010, by Fiona | Add a comment

We often showcase wedding photographer Rima Darwash’s sumptuous range of bespoke MOO Business Cards at trade shows as excellent examples of their type. Vibrant, moving and full of soul, her images reflect the passion and flair she has for her work and, when it comes to promoting her business, her cards speak volumes. We thought it was about time we talked to the woman behind the camera to find out a bit more about her inspiration, her passion for photography and building up a business from scratch. We also wanted to get some sneaky tips on how she uses MOO to promote her business…

Describing her work as her “true calling”, Rima’s first break into the world of wedding photography came about thanks to a little help from her friends…:

“I’ve always been creative. After finishing my BA in Graphic Design I thought the corporate path would be for me. Taking a year off after graduating, I then found it difficult to find a job. I had the skills but no experience, so I thought I’d create a job for myself! To cut a very long story short, I had a friend who was getting married and randomly asked me one day ‘Will you do my wedding pictures for me?’”


From this simple starting point, work started to snowball and thanks to Rima’s talent, determination and undeniable passion, Occasion Photography was born. Setting up your own business is something Rima recommends for anyone with a clear idea of what they want to do and why:

“The motivation [for me] came because of the positive responses I received from clients, family and friends. I’m extremely passionate about what I do and it was humbling to find people will gravitate to that. If you have a passion for something, go for it… It’s always such a buzz when I get a booking! I love meeting new people and the best thing is I get to capture them at their best. After a long, 10-hour shoot, I get back home and still get so excited about all the fantastic images I’ve captured that I have to upload them straight away onto my laptop.”

Like many freelancers, Rima would love her own studio but works from home because it makes sense both financially and practically. Working alone, networking with other like-minded professionals plays an important role in inspiring her; helping her keep in touch with fellow freelancers, expand her business and contacts, whilst also keeping her up-to-date with wider developments:


“I’m a one man (or woman) band! I have networked with lots of other brilliant photographers and when the situation arises I may second shoot for them or vice versa… Last year I attended The Enterprise Show; this was a great resource as it put me into contact with lots of professionals who have given me a great deal of help and advice. Outside of wedding photography, I really enjoy shooting models for fashion magazines and editorials. I find that I’m incorporating the fashion elements more and more with my brides. My inspiration comes from a mix of fashion magazine spreads, insanely talented photographers and business entrepreneurs, all of which motivates me to push my boundaries.”

An advocate of contemporary reportage, Rima works hard to put her subjects at ease and often finds that it’s the seconds after a couple have posed for a shot when their true characters fall into place. When asked to describe one of her favourite shoots you get the strong sense that it’s the telling of a – rather moving – story, while hidden away on the sidelines, that she finds so absorbing:

“I did an engagement shoot over the Christmas period last year at a German market. The couple were very camera shy, so I told them I would stand back and document the images as they walked around. The results were very natural shots of the couple in their element. It was shot around the city at night, the intimacy between the two juxtaposed with the bright lights, old buildings and people passing by gave the images such a magical feel.”

Faithful to her tagline “Yorkshire and beyond…” there’s clearly a strong multi-cultural influence present in Rima’s work that transports her subjects beyond their immediate environment. We particularly love the vibrant use of colour in her coverage of Asian and Arabic weddings and wondered if she finds that these offer more creative opportunities than traditional Western weddings:

“Being an Arabian female photographer can have its advantages. I get the best of both worlds! The creative opportunities are more obvious with, say, an Indian wedding because of all the traditional rituals they involve. What I’ve come to realise is a good photographer will use their artistic vision to capture any scene; something which I’m learning shoot upon shoot.”

When it comes to promoting her business, Rima recommends the personal approach:

“Without doubt, word of mouth referrals have been the best way to generate new clients. I quickly learned that having a shiny ad in a glossy magazine was never going to bring in the enquires. I’ve realised in my line of business people want to hire ‘you’ they don’t just want see a pretty picture, but want to take comfort that they are not just hiring a stranger but someone that can make them feel at ease. Having HYPERLINK “http://www.occasionphotography.co.uk/blog” my blog up there for the world to see has been great for people to get a sense of who I am and what I’m about.”

Referring to them as her “pocket portfolio”, the range of business cards Rima’s created using MOO work alongside her personal approach to self-promotion. Being able to choose a number of different images, rather than just one, means that the rich fabric and diversity of Rima’s work is fully showcased in an accessible and practical way. And, because it’s so easy to do, she adds new images every time she orders a new batch from us so her cards are always current. They do have one downside, however … she likes them so much she wants to keep hold of them!

“I found MOO cards incredibly unique. I was struggling to narrow it down to just one image to put on my business cards – MOO made it easy, I could use as many images as I like. I now have a pocket portfolio wherever I go. My one problem is that I hate giving them away! I get such an amazing reaction when I show them to people, as each card is different they always want more than one! Every time I order a new batch I just add more new images on the front of the cards. That way my business cards are always current.”

With a creative’s eye for detail, Rima notes that it’s the little things that make the difference when it comes to weddings and also in the cut-throat world of business. Keen to keep things fresh and fun, she likes the idea of using our stickers as a unique accessory to her existing business stationery and has seen, first-hand, the powerful effect MOO’s personalised wedding invites and favours can have in transforming a fairly generic wedding into a truly personalised one.

Occasion Photography also received an unexpected boost when a MOO client decided to use one of Rima’s photographs on her thank you cards after her wedding (something she described to us as a “great way of reaching out to potential clients”).

While building up a business is, undoubtedly, important, there’s much more to wedding photography than making money and that’s the ability to make memories. This is something which became apparent to Rima after one particular shoot:

“I had a client last year who didn’t have a whole lot of money to spend on her wedding. Her brother had passed away the year before, and her mother was terminally ill. I had a call from the bride later on in the year to thank me for the pictures of her and her mum, who had passed away not long after the wedding. It really brings home the importance of what I do, and that’s something that sticks in my mind often.”

From making memories to making plans for the future, Rima – like most newlywed couples – reminds us that she’s “just getting started” so keep an eye on her blog to see where life takes her next.

Thanks for letting us zoom in on your work, Rima!

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The ups and downs, and constant busy of MOO

January 2010, by Denise | 3 Comments – latest by JK

It’s been a while since we had general MOO news update! Not for want of trying – but these last few months have been really busy for us. The frantic rush for the Holiday Season as all hands were needed for packing and posting, and the beginning of a while new year. Planning what’s to come and just how on earth we’re going to do it.

Those of you who follow us on Twitter will know we’ve been looking to hire new people. This is exciting for us (we love meeting people) but also a little sad. Sometimes you hire new people because new opportunities arise – other times because members of the team move on to something new.

Last Friday we said good bye to a very valued member of our team, Pete. With us for two years or so, Pete was much loved, not just for his marketing skills, but for being the self-proclaimed ’second strongest man in the office’. If you couldn’t get your first choice, then Pete was always your man to lug things from here to there, usually with a smile on his face. (Especially if there was some kind of chocolate-based reward.)

He’s moving on for two reasons – to spend more time with his family (we’ve seen his family, we see what he means) and also to start an exciting new business of his own. What can we tell you – not too much yet, but it sounds like a lot of fun. We wish him every success, of course – but mostly, we’re mentioning all this as a good excuse to post this picture – Pete, in his everyday office attire. We’ll miss you!

We’ve also been testing out a few new ideas. When we can, we like to open up the office and get some of our friends and customers in to tell us what they think about certain things. We did it last year for the new MiniCards box and last week for a little ‘thing’ we might roll out later this year. It’s interesting seeing people’s reaction to the office. Like any company we’re all pretty busy at computers for most of the day, sometimes it can be really quiet, other times far too noisy. (I’m looking at you, Dev-team table-footie players!)

We absolutely loved this response to last weeks visit though. It’s the sweetest response we’ve ever had! If you’re London-based (or able to travel here easily), and fancy coming in, do keep an eye on the Twitter feed, as that’s where we tend to ask for your help.

And finally, what is a post without inspiration from you? Here’s some lovely stuff we’ve spotted in the flickr pool recently:

Fantastic bookmarks, designed to highlight points of interest in design books, by Matt Gwynne

Wonderful MiniCards, by illustrator and animator Lesley Barnes

Is it jewellery or self promotion? A great little ring made by Quercus Silver, with a badge and a MiniCard.

Super-cute MiniCards as gift-tags, by bego diaz, mark the special date with style.

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The Design Firm: happy clients, Batman and Bing

January 2010, by Fiona | Add a comment

One of the things we like at MOO is the wide range of customers we serve – from individuals making cards for fun, to freelancers and small businesses. Crafters, photographers, bakers, travel agents, estate agents (realtors for our US cousins), web start ups, teachers, illustrators and innovators, we’ve made cards for them all.

A large percentage of the time, the cards will be used by the person that placed the order. Sometimes orders will be used as a gift, but occasionally designers use MOO to create cards for their clients. We caught up with one such designer, Luke, to find out how he works, where he works, and how he’s used MOO to offer his clients a bit more variety in their lives.

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A small design company with big ideas and a bulging list of clients, The Design Firm’s graphic designer, owner and all-round nice guy, Luke Despatie moved his family and his firm away from the big city when his wife gave birth to a baby girl. The slower pace and familiar feel of small-town living seem to suit his lifestyle and work, both of which are flourishing in this new, more intimate environment:

“I’ve never really actively marketed myself – most of my work comes from positive word-of-mouth. I maintain a website and blog, and Twitter occasionally, but I believe that doing good work and keeping your clients happy is the best way to build a graphic design business. This has proven a bit easier in my small town, as we’re very active in the local community and everybody’s up in everybody’s business out here – which I love.”

From swing tags for baby clothes (shown above) to funambulist-filled business cards (below), The Design Firm makes full use of our services to suit its wide-ranging clientele.

MOO’s short print runs cater to niche clients who’d otherwise be brimming over with unused business cards, while the option to apply different images to one set of cards without breaking the bank allows them to fully showcase the work of different artists:

“I often work with smaller boutique clients who would be lining their birdcages with business cards if they had a standard litho run printed. MOO cards are perfect for them… People are usually really receptive to the ability to use multiple images. If they don’t have that many images, I use multiple patterns or other graphics that are appropriate to their business.”

Luke offers MOO printing as an option for his clients and points out that the ability to upload vector artwork through the site is perfect for him – the instant preview also means everyone knows exactly what they’re getting. When it comes to ordering, he’s pretty happy with the set-up and places the order on behalf of his clients.

A sucker for the personal touch, Luke will hand-deliver the cards to clients and is always happy with the reaction he gets – the 200 Business Card multi-pack, in particular, seems a real crowd-pleaser:

“The packaging and presentation of the 200 Business Card multi-pack is a real knock-out.”

Working alongside a restaurant on a recent brief, Luke got the chance to get up close and personal with The Great Farini (aka William Leonard Hunt) – a nineteenth-century funambulist, entertainment promoter and inventor. Using MOO, Luke produced an impressive range of vintage, circus-themed business cards featuring Farini himself (the inspiration behind the restaurant’s unusual name). A unique project and the chance to work with with the images so that they captured a mix of the old and the new clearly got Luke’s creative juices flowing:

“The Great Farini was a really fun gig to work on… There was a wealth of fantastic archival imagery to work with, which made my job easy. I gave the information side of the card a vintage circus poster treatment and added bright-coloured tints to the vintage images to keep the look modern and playful. I usually work with the full image upload for both sides of the card, it helps to create something really unique.”

While he usually uses MOO Business Cards for his design business, more formal projects, and for the majority of his clients, there are a number of firms who prefer the quirky feel of MiniCards:

“In a lot of cases, clients will ask for the standard size Business Card – most of the time for reasons as simple as fitting into people’s wallets and those plastic sleeves that business-types have. For more hip clients, I’ll suggest the MiniCard… I love the format of the MiniCard – it can be a bit difficult to work with at times, but when you find an image that suits, it’s quite striking.”

Luke also chose our MiniCards when it came to promoting his year-round Christmas blog – the intriguingly-named Batman Smells – which he launched last September.

“I love Christmas kitsch and culture and was looking for a way to generate buzz and hopefully draw traffic back to my design site. I would ultimately like to steal the mantle of Mr. Christmas from Bing Crosby – especially now that he’s been dead for 30 years.”

MOO spent a good few hours browsing Batman Smells and can heartily recommend it as a one-stop shop for everything that’s cool about Yule. We mostly loved the desaturated Santa – probably the best Father Christmas costume ever.

Which leave us with only one question… does he? *Sniff*

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Thanks for telling us all about The Design Firm, Luke, happy year-round Christmas!

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Help Haiti. (It’s not hard)

January 2010, by Denise | 1 Comment – latest by Mary Mactavish

If there’s one thing we love even more than print, it’s print when used for good. There can be few of us whose feelings remain untouched by the recent devastation in Haiti; the shocking images, the news of those in desperate need – many still waiting for aid.

San Francisco based photo journalist, Lane Hartwell got in touch over the weekend to tell us how an idea she had on 13th January turned into fully fledged magazine, featuring award winning photographers by midnight the following day. The full proceeds of every copy sold will go directly to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, to assist the people of Haiti.

“The news of the disaster deeply touched me, both as a person and as a photojournalist. I wondered what I could do to help, and spoke with my friend and colleague Peter Pereira, who had the privilege of shooting in Haiti in November 2009. The idea began with his essay, but others quickly came forward with generous contributions and before we knew it we had a magazine.”

The magazine is called Onè Respe, after a traditional Haitian greeting meaning honor and respect. Featuring images from Mary Ellen Mark, winner of three Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, Peter Pereira, Chet Gordon, Lindsay Stark and Kari Hartmann. It was designed by Derek Powazek of Magcloud and it’s already available to preview and purchase at http://magcloud.com/browse/Magazine/57585.

Looking through the magazine at the images showing the daily lives of those living in Haiti before the quake, really brings home how fragile the situation must be now.

If you’d like to help, treat yourself to a copy of Onè Respe, and you’ll be donating to a great cause at the same time. It’s as simple as that.

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NoteCards: A fond farewell

January 2010, by Denise | 16 Comments – latest by Adrianna van Elswijk

We like to think MOO has always designed and delivered unique products . As such, NoteCards have been a much-loved part of our range for almost three years now – but after some consideration, we’ve decided it’s time to say good bye.

We’ll be discontinuing NoteCards in February 2010 – until that point they’ll be on sale, at just £8.99 per pack! This is not only advance warning, but a chance to take a quick look back over their history and see how you’ve been using this unique product.

Launched at 3pm on Wednesday 18th April 2007, NoteCards allowed you to upload your photos and print multiple images in each pack.

Their square shape gave a new way of cropping photos or displaying your designs with MOO – our previous product was the rectangular (and equally unique), MiniCard. Not only that, NoteCards had a magic flap on the side! A little stand, which when folded helped the card to stand – almost like a cross between a Greeting Card and a Postcard. They’re more informal than a Greeting Card, but more private than a Postcard. We always liked to think they were good for anything from a quick ‘hello!’ to a birth announcement or dinner invitation.

Over the years NoteCards were used for various different things

Wedding Photographers displaying their 16 most beautiful shots.

NoteCards for special occasions (such as Valentine’s Day).

New mums sending out original birth announcements cards.

Despite our initial worries about what to call them, you seemed to take them to your hearts. ‘Stand-up Cards!’ ‘Flappy err… Flappy Postcards!’, ‘Postcards with a flap?’, ‘Backless Greeting Cards!’ – you know how brainstorms go. In between all the laughing and ridiculous suggestions, someone finally suggested we just call them ‘NoteCards’ – because that’s what they are. Cards to write notes in.

Over on Flickr, we saw NoteCards featuring gorgeous photography, like these cards by *Cinnamon:

…And super cute product shots, like these, from siansburys

If you’re one of the many who’ve made NoteCards with MOO, we hope you’ve had as much fun making them, as we had developing them.

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And now, the hard questions answered

Will I still be able to buy NoteCards?
In the short term, yes. You’ll be able to place new NoteCard orders up until 7th February (midnight GMT).

Can I re-order my previous NoteCard orders?
Yes, but only until 7th February. After this point, re-orders or completely new orders will not be available.

How will this effect my current NoteCard order?
It won’t! If you place an order before 7th February you will receive your MOO NoteCards just as you usually would.

But WHY MOO, WHY?!
Sometimes these things just have to be done. It’s hard for us all, but we hope you understand.

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MOO Service Update!

January 2010, by Dan | 1 Comment – latest by Colin Wilkinson

Hey folks! It’s all system’s go at MOO in 2010 and we are back in the warehouse packing your lovely looking cards. We just wanted to give a little service update for January.

US Dispatch Closure
Our US dispatch team will be taking next Monday off, for Martin Luther King Day. We’d appreciate your patience if you’re ordering from the US store, as we won’t be printing or shipping any orders on that day (18 January).

UK Collection
We are continuing to offer our collection service for UK orders. If you want to collect your order, simply send us your order number via the contact form, quoting your order number and “COLLECTION” in the subject line. Your order will then be flagged for collection, and we’ll send instructions on how/where to collect it. PLEASE NOTE: our warehouse and collection point is in EC1, London, UK.

From all the printers, packers and the warehouse teams on both sides of the pond – we trust you had a great holiday season and hope you have a wonderful New Year!”

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Crumbs, doilies, MiniCards, cakes

January 2010, by Anne-Marie | 3 Comments – latest by Rachel Greiner

Michael Jackson cupcakes. Arsenal cupcakes. Twitter cupcakes. Skull and crossbones cupcakes. Cupcakes with glitter and sprinkles and handmade ricepaper flowers. So many cupcakes!

Crumbs and Doilies make delightful iced cupcakes and they like to use MOO cards to spread the word. We caught up with them to find out how MiniCards and cupcakes are made for each other…

What made you decide to try MOO MiniCards?
We thought it seemed like a really fun idea! With the low minimum order we figured it was worth having some made up, just to see what they were like. Our cupcakes are very visual and part of their appeal is the uniqueness of each order – so having a way of printing lots of different designs in one print run was a very attractive prospect for us.

How do you use MOO cards to promote your cupcakes?
It’s still quite early days as we only took receipt of our first delivery quite recently, but we’re looking at including a few cards with each private order – like a fun and collectable freebie for people to keep and show their friends.

What do you consider to be the advantages of a MiniCard over a traditional sized business card?
They’re smaller! It’s a fun way of showing off some of our imagery in a unique and eye-catching way. There’s also something about the colourful variety in miniature form that seemed to fit well with our mini-cupcakes.

You can now upload your own images for the front and back of the MiniCards – we see you’ve taken advantage of this in your designs…
Yes, we designed the ‘back’ image based on our company logo and ’sprinkles’ design. We liked the fact we could use our full branding – the templates are great – but this works much better for us, as a small business. The cards are really cute, and likely to be kept, so featuring our branding loud and clear means the next time people want cupcakes, our details are there, used as a bookmark or pinned to the fridge.

Any plans to use MOO cards in other ways to promote your business?
We’re thinking of punching a hole in a MiniCard and using it to secure a ribbon round a box of cupcakes. We’ve seen this a few times on Flickr, and it seems to work really well.

We’ve been really impressed with the quality and finish of the MOO printing, so we’re definitely considering using more of MOO’s custom products for special occasions. Christmas has only just finished but we’re already planning for Valentine’s Day!

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Thanks for talking to us, Crumbs and Doilies!
If you’re a cupcake fan, check out their Flickr stream too.

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Let the judging begin!

December 2009, by Simon G | 6 Comments – latest by Tracy Williams

It’s time to put down that sticky glue-gun, fasten the lids on your favourite pot of glitter and tidy away the beads, buttons and bows – the MOO MiniGift Box Competition is over.

Thank you to everyone who took part, but the deadline for the competition has now passed and the judges are forming their opinions on the finalists, ready to give the results in January 2010.

In case you’d forgotten (or perhaps didn’t know) the competition is being judged by MOO’s very own Product Designer (Paul) and Creative Director (Denise) along with Michael Craig – Design Director at Etsy.

Every entry we received was unique, and truly creative. The judges have got some tough decisions to make in awarding the prizes to our lucky winners. To see what a tough job the judges have, take a look at all of the entries, and pick your favourite.

From the thoroughly festive…

   

To the perfect purse for a night on the town…

   

and the out of this world…

   

As a reminder, the two categories the judges will be awarding prizes for are:

• Best reuse of a MiniCard box as festive gift wrap
• Best reuse of a MiniCard box for packaging design

Oh, and the prizes are as follows:

• 1 Winner per Category – 1 x MOO Mosaic Frame + 100 MiniCards

Keep your eyes on the MOO Blog to find out who the lucky winners will be!

• MOO Products: MiniCards

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Happy Holidays from MOO!

December 2009, by Denise | Add a comment

Well, it’s Christmas at last, and from the sound of you all on Twitter your cards are sent, and your presents wrapped. It’s been great hearing all your cries of delight recently, as your poor postmen and women have struggled with packages through the snowy weather!

Hope those of you who have time off over the festive season get everything you wish for, and those who are working have more fun than you might be expecting. We’ve published the dates we’re working over the holidays, so if you find yourself in the office, you might well have company here in the UK, or over with the MOO Crew in the US.

We’ve had a great few weeks spotting unique gifts and ideas created with MOO, here’s a few of our favourites:

A tetrabox advent calendar, by Bcome

Also by Bcome, this lovely looking memory game, complete with a great pattern on the back:

This super-cute Mosaic Frame, created by thisiswoly. Filled with 20 Minicards, it features the beautiful baby Sarah.

These wonderful looking alphabet game cards, by taraghb, which look like they were as fun to make as they will be to use!

And last but not least, look at this! another entry into our MiniCard Gift Box competition! Created by emusing-emma, it’s really bought an extra flutter of Christmas cheer into MOO Towers. We love his little sledge!

Fancy joining in the fun? Closing date for entries to our competition is midnight PST 28th December 2009. Why not grab some festive paper, and see what you can do! More competition details can be found right here.

And now, all that remains for me to say is: a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at MOO!

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Holiday Shipping and Printing Dates

December 2009, by Dan | 2 Comments – latest by Denise

Well, the last order dates for the holidays have passed, and Santa’s final sacks of festive MOOs are filling up fast. We’re still taking new orders though, and we’ll be shipping them out as fast as we can – so don’t hesitate to order thank you cards for all your lovely pressies!

Just so you know, here’s our warehouse and customer service closure dates over the holiday season.

Thursday 24th December – LIMITED HOURS: we’ll be shipping orders in the morning, but going home in the afternoon to wrap presents.
Friday 25th December – CLOSED : we’ll be at home feasting on mince pies and turkey.
Monday 28th December – UK CLOSED: we’ll be buying new trousers to fit our expanded waistlines!! (please note this is a UK Holiday only).
Tuesday 29th December – OPEN: business as usual.
Wednesday 30th December – OPEN: business as usual.
Thursday 31st December – OPEN: business as usual.
Friday 1st January – CLOSED : we’ll be trying out our New Year resolutions and nursing hangovers.
Monday 4th January – OPEN: that’s it, holidays over, back to work!

It’s also important to note that our StickerBook turnaround in the UK is severely delayed over the holidays. Any orders placed after the 20th December will not be dispatched until the week of the 4th January.

That’s all for now – Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the MOO Warehouse Crew!

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