Daniel Griffiths is cutting down from over 80 weddings per year to around 70 – by raising his prices again! He's too busy to take on more clients and he primarily works alone. When I asked about his wedding workflow, his advice was to shoot more, edit less for a streamlined wedding photography business.
Considering Daniel shoots around 4000 frames per wedding day and editing time is between 30 and 60 minutes per wedding, he is one to practice what he preaches. One of the “secrets” to his streamlined and simplified workflow is his couples get almost all of the 4000 images he captured on the wedding day!
In this interview, Daniel explains how he does it and more importantly… why he does it his way. You'll be surprised at his approach and probably make changes to your workflow following this interview.
Here's some of what we cover:
Premium Members
Daniel attributes his biggest leap forward in the business of wedding photography to his first destination wedding. From this point on, he felt like he as a photographer was seen differently by his clients.
Premium members are treated to Daniel explaining exactly how to book your first destination wedding and what has led him to European holidays every year since his first wedding plus regular trips to 8 other countries to photograph weddings.
By following his simple steps, you could realistically be booking your first destination wedding next season.
What is your big takeaway?
Following this interview with Daniel, I'd love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you'd like to implement or remember from what he had to share? Let me and other listeners know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.
If you have any questions regarding Daniel's workflow that I missed or a specific question, feel free to add them below and he'll happily answer them for you. There are absolutely no silly questions and chances are, if you're wanting to know the answer to something, other listeners will too. Get the conversation started by using the comments area below.
iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs
A couple of great iTunes review this week from John in the UK and Bradley Austin in the USA – thanks guys, it's wonderful and encouraging to read your reviews and they both mean a lot. Thanks for listening and it's great to know you're both out there and enjoying the interviews.
Don't forget, let me know if you leave a review so I can add a link to your website in the show notes. I'd love for other listeners (and me) to check out your work and it'll help with your SEO by having another link pointing to your site.
It's the iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes. Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask.
If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me andrew@photobizx.com, find me on twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Daniel's website – DG Photos
Daniel on Facebook
Sony XQD Cards
Adobe Bridge
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe InDesign – Daniel's preferred album design software
Asuka Books – Wedding Books
Vision Art – Wedding Albums
i-do.com.au – online wedding directory
Easy weddings – online wedding directory
Janis Ratnieks – Daniel's wedding photographer
Tim Pascoe – Daniel's wedding photographer
Marcus Bell – Studio Impressions
That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business. I'd love for you to leave a comment below about your biggest takeaway from this episode.
Speak soon
Andrew
Good interview Daniel, so many nuggets in there… Maybe you should do a seminar 😛
Seriously, there is some really useful information for photographers from beginning their business AND some veterans! I’ve certainly learned a few things!
Great interview Andrew, you certainly make the interviewee comfortable!
Hey Jeremy, thanks for adding your comments. 100% agree about the amount of info Daniel shared.
Thanks for the compliment too. 🙂
Thanks very much Jeremy!!
One of the first questions Brides-To-Be ask me during the initial consultation is “How many photos do I get?” And nothing frustrates me more.
I try to get them to think QUALITY over QUANTITY but it’s no use. Their minds think only in numbers it seems. They don’t care about how awesome my lens is, or how much I paid for it. They see the value for their money spent in high quantities of photos.
Which I guess I fine, but taking a photo every 6 seconds and shooting bursts of photos in machine gun mode totally ruins the atmosphere of the wedding in my opinion. I want to be the ghost in the room, not Robo-Photographer with cameras hanging all off me. But Daniel came from the Newspaper world and that’s his style, and it looks like he’s making a killing. So who the %^&* am I to tell him he’s doing it wrong?
Joey Joiner
Fort Worth, TX
USA
Hey Joey – I guess this interview, like many of the others is proof that there is more than one way to go about our photography that works. The trick is finding what works for yourself then making sire it’s profitable.
Hey Joey, haha thanks for the comment 🙂
I do shoot continuous high, bursts of 3-4 frames only, i figure if i wait all day for a genuine laugh i want to be able to bang of a bunch of shots of it, honestly most people say “we had no idea you’d taken so many photos, we didn’t see you.”
Yeah its the same here, people are impressed with the number of pics they get…. best thing to do is to find out what your client wants and offer that to them, simple really. Back in the films days (im not sure if i mentioned this im my interview) but i always gave negs. I thought, i can take orders, and i tried it, i received orders of $20-$200, i had to get the negs, take them to the lab, order prints, then get the money off the client the go pic up the prints then back home then to the post office, seriously it was half a day of frigging around for a small sale. I though why not just include the negs and up my price $500, that way the client is happy and i don’t have to stuff around getting prints done, win win.
I find one of the CONSTANT things that crops up with people who culls is, the client invariably asks, “can we see the rest, we know you took more photos here and here…” Then the snapper runs into issues with the client and things can get messy.
There’s no right or wrong, only what works for you IMO 🙂
After hearing how many photos he gives, and how fast he edits them, I was expecting to see some low quality post production, but they are all amazing! If nothing else, this interview has encouraged be to tighten up my shooting. making small exposure an white balance adjustments on each image just eats up time like none other (and I only deliver about 500!). I’m not going to stop culling my images. Partly because I’m not good enough, so a good amount of my shots are blurry, but also because I only want what I consider to be up to my standards going to the couple. But his methods will work just as well with 500 as it dies with 4500!
And I totally agree with Daniel that you should just include everything that you want to sell in the initial price. Like he said, I would much rather pay $6000 up front than $5000 before, and find out that I have another $2000 later (especially since most couples don’t save $2000 of their wedding budget for after the wedding, they spend it all before!).
This was another great interview. Now that I am all caught up on your podcast and I only have it once a week I’ll need to find something else to listen too on the other four days of the commute! Thanks Andrew and Daniel!
Hi Guys – there’s no denying that Daniel’s work is top shelf and his success rate considering the number of images he shoots is amazing in itself. Great to see that you’re taking something from his approach to use in your business – that’s exactly what the podcast is all about.
I agree in principle with the upfront prices but having experimented with it in my business I found it doesn’t work as well for me… still searching for the perfect solution.
If you’re looking for some other photography related podcasts, here are a couple worth checking out:
Ready Steady Pro – aimed at the part time professional photographer looking to go full time.
The Candid Frame – in depth interviews with photographers exploring why and how they shoot the way they do
And check out “This American Life” for a non related podcast that is always great listening.
Do you mind elaborating a bit on why the upfront pricing didn’t work for you? Did people just spend less, or were they less happy with the results?
And thanks for the podcast suggestions. I’ll have to check those out.
Thanks Andrew!
Thank you Chris and Shae,
I check all my shots during the day, take a couple and check, make an adjustment and then continue shooting. If im training a second shooter i say, “the client is happy to stand there for 10 seconds while you get it right before firing of 20 over or under shots” If i can minimize the time spent later then great, that’s the goal. I also tell clients they receive “generic enhancements” on all the pics, colour contrast, sharpening etc and these are added during the lightroom import. Secondly i do up about 50 sneak peek photos with more treatments, my own ACR presets etc.
🙂
Great interview, when he said how any he images he shoots at a wedding, and then how many he delivers, followed by how he edits all 4000 in an hour, my jaw dropped, especially after spending the last week and a half editing 400 images from my last wedding! I guess my big take away is that I need to get faster at my post! Although I don’t know that I’ll ever get to the point where I deliver all my images… and not just because 1/4 of them are blurry and out of focus… lol
Hey Terry – you’re not the only one that would struggle to deliver 4000 sharp images after a wedding 🙂
Speed in getting things done is definitely a big help in any business I’m guessing you already know but spending too much time editing has a big run on effect and the busier you get, the more of a struggle it becomes.
Are you making the most of presets and keep your editing to groups of images to get faster?
Hi Terry,thanks for your comments mate! My D4 is pretty spot on, may drop 6-10 frames focus wise but i do check with the sub command dial as a one button 100% zoom 🙂
Amazing interview Daniel, your workflow is simply eye opening. I love how you are so organised and yet keep it simple.Thanks for sharing. Huge fan.
Aww thanks Kylie!!!
Great interview Andrew! It’s great to hear from a successful photographer who does it his own way 🙂
thanks Adam, its a great Point of Difference 🙂
Thanks Adam – wasn’t it good to hear a totally different approach!
Great to have you listening.
Andrew,
Your podcast is the best I have heard, bar none. This interview I found most fascinating. Daniel’s work is tremendous, and that fact that he delivers so many photogs shows me he does not spend too much time in post. Very quick workflow, something I dream of. Great work Daniel!
Thanks Joseph!
I agree about Daniel, his work and his workflow – I think about the way he does things every time I sit down to edit (or pay staff to do it). I can us making some changes on our studio as a result of hearing the way Daniel edits.
I’m so thankful I heard this podcast as it mirrors much of my own workflow (even the albums) and I thought I was the only one. Phew! (relief)
My question is with public viewing of the multi-thousand delivery vs. a more limited number for family/friends to view (and perhaps order a print or two). Do you put images in seperate proofing galleries to guide viewers (i.e. – preparation, family groups, reception, ceremony, etc)?
Thanks in advance.
Hey Tom, that’s great to hear! i thought i was the only one lol!
I don’t do galleries, i load them all onto a USB and give to the client, they can sort them out and show & share what they want. Cant be bothered with selling prints so i give clients the highres and they can print their won to their hearts content 🙂
Cheers
Daniel
Hey Tom – it is always reassuring to hear that someone else is doing something similar to you. And Daniel is a great photographer to have anything in common with.
I see he’s replied to your question too.
What a great find for a person who is still in the very early stages of learning photography. Absolutely a new podcast subscriber.
Daniel shot my wedding 3 years ago, and we could not be happier with the experience. He was such a breath of fresh air after we meet with more photographers than I care to recall. Everyone of them seemed to be on the scam, many interviews I simply walked out on half way. Daniel was very upfront about what we would get, and how he would do it. After seeing his photos and meeting with him, both my wife and myself were sold there and then. He was a little more expensive except for one photographer/studio (who was great, but wasn’t convinced that photographer would actually be the one who turned up on the day) but when you work out what we were getting, I felt there was much more value for money. The resulting photos were beyond what we hoped for. Getting 5000+ photos was an experience to sort through, but much happier to do it that was than get 400 and think something is missing.
Daniels photos are the reason I have taken up photography as a hobby, and possibly more in the future (don’t worry Daniel not interested in weddings) and for that I would like to take the opportunity to say thanks and sing his praises. From looking back now, know a little more about the other side of the camera, I am even more impressed by the quality of the 5000+ pics. I think if more in the industry operated this way, there would be less bitterness about the wedding industry.
Hi Michael – great to have you listening and very cool to read your comments about Daniel.
It’s interesting to read that you felt so many other photographers made you feel like they were trying to scam you. I (and other photographers probably) would love to know why you felt that way if you’re happy to elaborate?
5000 photos sure does sound scary but I can totally see your point about the worry of missing out.
If not weddings, where do your photography passions lay?
Thanks Andrew, have really fallen in love with photography as an art, which was pretty much kicked off by Daniels work coincidentally. At the moment I am really into children and newborn shots, also feel drawn to sport. Don’t think that either of these areas would pay the bills if I was to go at it full time however.
Regarding the other wedding photographers, initially my wife was drawn to the bigger studios(who spend $$$ advertising), we would go in for a meet, and would have to wait along with other couples to get our allotted 15mins, which was always running late. The bigger places, tend to have one great experienced photographer, and then have 3 or 4 otter less experienced guys or girls(who’s work is not really worthy of the prices charged) , who you get the feeling would actually be the ones who turned up on the day, as “no guarantees can be given regarding who will attend”. I get sickness and alike happen, but an indication of who will be coming would make the world of difference.
Then you get the, this is the basic package, but for and extra x$ you get this, but for an extra $? you can get this, but if your spending this much, you can get our (insert emotive name)package, but for a little more you get this, and then if you want the disk its this much, and of course being your wedding day and the most important day of your life you must get this, and extra sides to your 20 sided album is this much…it puts pressure on young couples who want to do everything right, and grooms who want to make the bride happy, and brides who want it all. One studio sucked us in with a competition that we “won”(along with 3 other couples there that night), when you worked out the prices(which they were very hesitant to reveal) we would have spent more with them than Daniel, and not received as much. (this is the one I walked out of).
The breath of fresh air he gave us, was you almost felt he didn’t care if we booked, and probably didn’t! joys of being busy I guess, and obviously that cant work for everyone, but was so different to what all other experiences we had. No mention of champagne viewing, and all the other jazz where you have 45 mins to come in and choose your album. He said I shoot the wedding, you choose the photos, you get x amount of prints, albums, canvas. enjoy!
This is not an add for him, I have not spoken to him since we got our album, but of all the wedding suppliers, he was the most straight forward, and easiest to deal with. I always recommend him, most just say he is too expensive. But if he is busy whats the problem there?
Michael – thanks so much for your detailed reply. There’s a lot in there to learn from in regard to talking to clients.
I’m shocked at the treatment by the larger studios and can see why Daniel would have been a breath of fresh air for you. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when you walked out though 🙂
You never know where your photography passions will take you in regard to making a living but if you love it and have time to do it, who cares cares! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a day job and doing photography for the love of it.
Definitely gives me something to aspire to if Daniel can get that many wonderful photos.
I love the suggestion of building a list.. now to just try and do it.
The best place to start for list building is Mail Chimp or Aweber and coming up with something awesome that your potential clients would love to have from you that’s worth entering their email address for.
Thank you Andrew. I am getting into looking at why people would be part of my mail list, I will definitely check out Mail Chimp and Aweber, thank you for those suggestions.
Maybe you can use some of the things that Gabriel Machuret talked about in his interview – using your local knowledge to get the best wedding or portrait photos?
After listening to this last night, I have found my new photography hero. Many of the things he talks about, such as not limiting the number of shots, are things I strongly believe in. EXCELLENT interview. Thank you!!
Very cool to read your comments Kevin – glad you enjoyed this one and I can say you’d be 100% on the right track by using Daniel as a photography business role model.
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