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CASE STUDY: SELF-ADHESIVE ALBUMS
Why ‘new-glue’ album technology looks set to stick around for generations

‘As far as I am concerned these ‘new-glue’ albums are going to take over’ – Steve Chapman

Essex-based wedding photographer Steve Chapman has known for a while that his thriving business was going to come to a sticky end – and he’s delighted.

It means he will at last have more time to spend doing what he loves doing – taking photographs.

He says his new-found freedom is all down to market-leading album manufacturer Spicer Hallfield and its UK exclusive ‘new-glue’ innovation – which is set to change forever the way wedding photographers handle their album presentations.

Chapman has been walking down the aisle pretty much every week for the last 38 years – at one point his company was covering over 200 wedding commissions a year.

Now things are different. Digital evolution has changed the wedding environment completely – some of it not so positive for professional wedding photographers – but some of it, like ‘new-glue’ album technology, is helping reshape workflow and save precious time.

He notes: “Everything is changing. For example, people used to always get married on a Saturday at 2pm or 3pm. I had a team of five photographers working with me and the season would largely run from March until October – then we’d do portraits until Christmas. January to March was spent trying to book new weddings but the advent of civil marriages completely changed the whole business.”

“Now we do as many weddings on a Friday or a Sunday as we do on a Saturday. We shoot weddings all through the week but to a maximum of around a hundred a year now.

And numbers have reduced because ‘easy to use’ digital technology has empowered many amateur ‘would-be’ wedding photographers – and even guests, to offer their services cheaply or even free, to the bride and groom.”

He adds: “It’s getting ridiculous. I have even been asked to move my tripod out of the way of amateur point-and-shoot wedding photographers at some of my commissions.”

But things are really looking up on the presentation side of Steve’s Black Notley-based business.

“Spicer Hallfield’s new self-adhesive albums are saving me hours of work and making me more margin than ever” he maintains.

“When I started testing their new Madison range my clients loved the modern digital art book look and feel of the album – and I really rated it because it made things so easy. Instead of spending hours loading an album I can now do it in minutes thanks to this innovative repositionable technology.

If I am not happy with a page I just change the layout. I can buy an album from Spicer Hallfield for £78 and sell the finished product to my clients at a very, very good margin. As far as I am concerned it’s the future.”

John Wyatt, Spicer Hallfield MD reveals: “The advanced ‘Post-It Note – style’ adhesive technology used in our new Madison and Manhattan albums enables photographers to reposition prints on pages as many times as they wish, with no damage to photographs, or the page – and no loss of adhesion.

This innovative technology is a major breakthrough in the portrait social market. We are liberating photographers from all the time-consuming challenges of the past.

An album that might have previously taken a couple of hours to load with images can now be completed in just a few minutes with this unique repositionable option.

He added: “There may well be other forms of self-adhesive albums in the marketplace but none of them have the repositioning capability of this unique range.”

This amazing ‘new glue and mesh’ technology is easy to use, it’s completely forgiving and with its unlimited page design flexibility it offers the photographer total control of his/her album presentation.”

Spicer Hallfield plans to roll out a comprehensive self-adhesive range over coming weeks, including albums, mini books, pocket books and CD folios.

Added Wyatt: “Application is really easy but we have provided free online tutorials on our Eye brand website (www.youandeye.co.uk) to show just how easy and effective they are to use.

CHOOSE PHOTO:
select the photo that you wish to use – this can be a single image, or a print with multiple images, a montage – the choice is yours.

STICK PHOTO:
once you’ve removed the protective cloth which covers the page, place your print onto the adhesive surface.

MOVE PHOTO:
if you are not happy with the placement, just peel off the print and reposition it. Or if you prefer, you can use another print entirely. And you can repeat this process on every single page, as often as you like, with no damage to your print or your album.

REPOSITIONABLE TECHNOLOGY FROM SPICER HALLFIELD: BE LIBERATED