Dawn Richardson: [00:00:00] I'm really passionate about is transparency. And I would very clearly put at the top of these emails that this is an automated email. Like not only does that give transparency like. Oh, okay. Like I got this random email like, wow, that was so fast.
Dawn Richardson: Like of course it was fast cause I didn't send it [00:01:00] [00:02:00] Hey, Dawn, welcome to workflows.
Dawn Richardson: I'm so excited to be here. Scott. I've been like, we've been talking about this for a while, but today's here and I am pumped.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. So as a quick heads up, Dawn is recovering from being under the weather. So, we are working through this. This is just the nature of podcasting. It just, it is what it is. So this is, it's gonna be a good time.
Dawn Richardson: Know, it is what it is. And it's just like wedding photographers, right? Like I feel like we have a different kind of threshold for like illness. Like we obviously wanna keep our clients safe, but like, I need to be really sick to miss a wedding. So like here we are. I'm just here, you know, working through it.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. We all, it's like a, it's like being a teacher. You build up an immune system as well, but then you know there, then when you get hit, you get hit hard,
Dawn Richardson: Oh my gosh, I [00:03:00] don't I have a four year old and a one year old, and I swear I get everything that they get, like four times over. So I'm just like, constantly. I'm like, where's my immune system? Like, this is great for them, but where is it for me?
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah, yeah. My, my wife is actually feeling ill right now. She actually is on her way to pick up our son from camp and then dropping him off when we are done with recording. And then I have to take my son to go get my daughter from camp because she has to go to the doctor. So,
Dawn Richardson: I get it. I'm right there in the weeds with you.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Parenting. So for all the listeners out there who don't know who you are, can you give you know, I'm doing an intro ready. I'm gonna be recording a, an intro, but if you can give a quick summary of like, you know, what you, what your, your past and where you are now. So everybody understands cuz this, we're approaching this different, this episode so that everybody understands where you're coming from when you provide your answers to my questions.
Dawn Richardson: Absolutely. I'm not your typical [00:04:00] Imagener, but I am here and all in, that's for sure. So I'm Dawn, I live in San Antonio. My story's a little bit of a full circle story. I actually started my career as a software engineer and I spent over a decade in it. I worked for Apple. We launched the first iPad in iPhone four.
Dawn Richardson: So that's how. Long ago I was there got my degree information systems, went full-time as a Java developer, and while I was working full-time, I decided to buy a camera with my big girl money from my corporate job and just like. Every other photographer. All of a sudden I found something that I was really like loved doing, fell in love with it, and I fell in love with the idea of being my own business owner.
Dawn Richardson: Even more so, started my photography studio. I shot about 40 weddings a year, first. Six years. So we had a very wonderful run. [00:05:00] And it was about 2020, I don't know, 17, 18 when I started to realize in the photography industry the thing that I love the most, which was technology. Was what most other photographers were really intimidated by.
Dawn Richardson: So I started doing some education through the studio, like, here's how to create systems. Here's how to improve your processes. Technology is not scary, you just have to get comfortable with it. And then started leading into doing it full-time. And that's when Tech Savvy Creative was born. So we launched Tech Savvy Creative in 2020, and now I do that full time, so kind of phased out of the wedding world very slowly.
Dawn Richardson: I stopped taking weddings in 2020 and gosh, it took almost two plus years to fully phase out cuz in Texas we booked weddings out. About two years in advance. So, so it took a long, it was a very slow fade into sunset. So now I [00:06:00] teach photographers and creatives how to use technology in their business and go from being tech overwhelmed to tech empowered, and I love learning about new tools and showing other photographers and creatives how to use them.
Dawn Richardson: And I get to do that every single day now, and it's really a dream come true.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I've, I recall when your, when, when tech savvy created first. Came to the internet and you
Dawn Richardson: we are.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: know, I, I've enjoyed watching it get to where it is. And so it's you know, this is the first time you and I are chatting, but y know that I have been admiring what you've been doing since you started doing that.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So,
Dawn Richardson: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I feel very sometimes alone in that my little corner of the internet because it's not talked about a lot, but it's been kind of exciting, especially the last, you know, six months to a year because AI is becoming so,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah,
Dawn Richardson: Mainstream that people are starting to realize like, oh, I kind of have to [00:07:00] pay attention to this.
Dawn Richardson: And I'm like, Hey, I'm here for you. Like, I would love to help you. So it's, it's all kind of coming full circle, even more. But I, I truly love what I do. I get to do what I'm passionate about with, but with people that I'm even more passionate about than the corporate environment. So it's
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: You know?
Dawn Richardson: amazing.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. So before we dive into the questions that I, that I have for you last comment is that I am very happy that what you talk about, what you educate people about with technology and you, you know, for photography is a very male dominated niche. So I am.
Dawn Richardson: that.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Very happy that you have you know, not only built what you built, but made a name for yourself in this genre of, of education, the photography space, because it needs more people like you that are not men to, to talk about it.
Dawn Richardson: I mean, that's true in technology across the board, you know, I was one of like two women in my [00:08:00] graduating class in college. It, the, luckily the, I went to work as a software engineer for U S A A and U S A A is very, Passionate about having like a third of the workforce, you know, be women and veterans and they're really good on making sure everybody is very diverse.
Dawn Richardson: So I came into a very diverse workplace, but across the board, technology is very male-dominant and you know, I think there's amazing male educators out there that teach on technology. Like I'm a huge fan of Mar Marquez M k b, hd like a huge fan of him. I love everything that he does. But I yeah.
Dawn Richardson: Right. Just, I'm obsessed with him. But I think that sometimes it's really nice to have somebody that might feel a little bit more approachable, a little bit more like, of a friendly face. Like, I'm gonna, I wanna explain it to you like you're five, but not in like a, a condescending way. Like, like here, like, this is a really great place and I think this could change your life, and I would love to show you how.[00:09:00]
Dawn Richardson: So that's been my goal, to be a safe little corner of the internet.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Love it. Love it. So for everybody listening, now you have an understanding of who Dawn is and where we're approaching this from. Everything that she's going to answer is not only coming from her own experience as a full-time photographer, but also as somebody who has deep understanding of, of technology, of systems, of, of workflows, of, of approaches for things.
What is one thing that you do for the photographic process that has saved you time?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: with that, the first question that I. Ask every guest, and again, I'm gonna be shifting how I ask this question. What is one thing that you recommend for photographers to do in camera during the photographic process? That can save time.
Dawn Richardson: Ooh, that can save time. Well, number one, if your camera has two card slots and you're not using two cards in it, you're gonna stop right now and put a second memory card in their slot. Okay. I'm very passionate about backups. When I worked at Apple, I worked behind the Genius Bar, and 95% of my appointments were something [00:10:00] that caused somebody to lose all their data and.
Dawn Richardson: As photographers, we owe it to our clients to protect their memories any way we can. And it starts in camera. So if your camera has two slots, you better be using both of them. If I find out you're not using them, I will call you out. But other than that I actually love to rate my Imageners in camera.
Dawn Richardson: Like I, you know, like you're, you're shooting and you're in the groove and you look back and you're like, yes. Like you have that moment of like, That's right. I'm good. Like they're gonna love this. Just take a quick moment to tap that rate button because when you actually import those photos, that gives you a handful of photos to instantly send over to Imagen or to do a quick edit.
Dawn Richardson: I know I shot what I call my encore wedding. I. In May, and at that time I was an Imagen. I wasn't an Imagen user when I was actually shooting because I hadn't been introduced to Imagen yet. But I did a same day [00:11:00] slideshow in about three minutes at that wedding. Because I was able, I had, you know, 30 photos marked as rated in camera.
Dawn Richardson: I just grabbed those photos, threw 'em into a quick catalog and sent it off. And before I could even get my plate for dinner, my photos were done and just threw it over to an iPad. And there we go. I do same day slideshow and. I, I sat there and I was like, wow, I missed so many dinners as a wedding photographer, cuz I was doing same day slideshow and Imagen just did this for me in three minutes.
Dawn Richardson: Like, it's amazing, but it all starts with rating in camera. So I'm not sitting there trying to pick Imageners. So that's, that's one of my quick tips.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So I can share this because this podcast, we're recording this July, but it's not, it's airing August 1st, and I can share this with you now and with all the listeners. Now Imagen is getting into backups.
Dawn Richardson: Yes.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: been teasing this out for some time. We've brought it up, but it's actually inactive beta right now to a group Imageners.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So, [00:12:00] very exciting. And it's, we made it very, very easy to back up your photos either like optimize compressed RAW files or originals. Seamlessly without you having to go through any extra effort. So it's a beautiful thing. I can't wait till till that gets out in the world. So I'm glad that you're all about backups cuz I'm all
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: about
Dawn Richardson: Yes.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so,
Dawn Richardson: I'm very passionate and I will be getting my hands on that as soon as I possibly can, cause. I teach a whole course on file management and backups. So like, yes. Like it just needs to be done. And you know, just copying it over to another hard drive is not enough. Having a cloud-based solution, like what it sounds like Imagens going to be, is crucial.
Dawn Richardson: I live in Texas. When I started Tech Savvy Creative the idea of Tech Savvy Creative actually started during Hurricane Harvey because I had so many peers in Houston that lost everything. And you know, that's great that you had three copies and your SD cards on your desk, but when your desk is [00:13:00] underwater, those, it doesn't matter.
Dawn Richardson: They have to be in an offsite location. So
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: happens fast.
Dawn Richardson: yes, it does. And I mean, extreme weather and burglaries and all of these different scenarios, it just, it is. You have to have it in more than one place. So having a solution that's easy, that's going to be familiar to them, you know, Imagen it's familiar to these users, it's gonna be game changer and sign me up.
What is one thing that you do for the business that saves you time or money?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Awesome. So moving on to the business side of things. What is one thing you do or would you recommend for the business that would either save time or money?
Dawn Richardson: Oh, there's so many things you can do, but. One thing that I'm really passionate about, tech savvy, creative, is that not every photographer's business is the same. My challenges are gonna be different than your challenges, than the person next to me. So I can sit here and tell you one thing, but it might not be your pain point.
Dawn Richardson: My biggest [00:14:00] recommendation to you is to identify where. The pain is in your business, and then Chase after that. So I always start with like, Hey, if we we're new to this, you don't know. Let's get some of the basic things automated, like your contracts, your invoices, you know, that basic admin process. I think that's really powerful, not only because it's really a good idea to have that in a safe system where it's consistent, you're consistently sending out the same contract invoices.
Dawn Richardson: But I think there's a big mental shift that comes with using our CRM that takes a new photographer from, I think I'm doing this for real, but it's still kind of fun for me to, I'm a legit photographer, and having that online contract and having those invoices and those payment reminders is a really great way to kind of mentally take you to that level of like, I'm a professional.
Dawn Richardson: So I always start there. And then where is your pain? For me, it's Editing. I could [00:15:00] not, for the life of me stand Editing, it just wasn't, it didn't work for me. And I joke, and I've said this before, if, if Imagen was around or if I knew of, Imagen when I was shooting weddings actively, I probably would've not left the industry.
Dawn Richardson: That's how big of a change it was for me. I was like, what? Like this is all my problems.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So we're gonna get to Editing. But before we do and we'll get to Imagen as well. But before we get to, before we get to either of those going back to the crm, is there a specific platform that, of all the ones that you've tried that you prefer above the rest that, that you've enjoyed and, and why?
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Why?
Dawn Richardson: So, full disclosure, I set up all of them. I have done full service setups for Honey Buck Dedo Tave Sprout Studio. Studio Ninja. I'll hold on. There's a new one, unscripted. That's another one. There, there are new ones. Come and go. Me personally, the one that I have [00:16:00] chosen to use for my business, for the studio and for also Tech Savvy Creative, has been Sprout Studio.
Dawn Richardson: I adore them. I adore Bryan and his Um, He's so great. He's just a great guy. And as coming from a software engineering background, the way that they run their development shop is just so impressive to me and I respect what they do so much. So if you're on the market, I could not recommend sprout Studio enough.
Dawn Richardson: It is very powerful. I find that it has more features than a lot of them combined. And it has a really friendly face behind it. It just, Doesn't have the, quite the same following as some of the other ones. There's a couple really popular ones that everybody's like, I will live and die by this tool.
Dawn Richardson: But you know, it's, again, it's different for every person. Depending on what you're looking for, your personality, what problems you're trying, trying to solve, that answer can be different. But for me, sprout is my, my choice of CRM
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. So [00:17:00] oddly enough, So I, I'm not a full-time shooter. I knew going into photography years ago that I did not wanna do full-time. So I've always worked in the industry for companies like Imagen.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And I do have a Sprout account, which, which I use whenever I need to do client work. So I, I've, I've always enjoyed sprout as well.
What is one thing that you do for editing that has saved you time?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Okay, so moving on to Editing again, let's not talk about, let's, Ima, let's imagine, Imagen is not here right now. What is one thing that you have recommended or one thing you have done historically for Editing that has saved you time before Imagen came into your life?
Dawn Richardson: Before Imagen came into my life. So I think something that's a really powerful piece of Editing and Editing well is having a consistent workflow with your files. We get in trouble as photographers when you kind of have like all of these different hard drives. Sometimes they're on your desktop, sometimes they're on a hard drive.[00:18:00]
Dawn Richardson: You don't really know what catalog this is. And I see that happen more often than not. I get a lot of dms of people like losing their cards or losing a hard drive and having that consistent workflow of like, this is how I store my files. For me personally, I create a new Lightroom catalog for every shoot because for me and how my brain thinks, having that smaller bite-sized chunk just makes more sense in my brain.
Dawn Richardson: And it also keeps the catalog very thin and very lean cuz it's only the Imageners that I need in there. So I think that's a really important process. Also for me, when we're talking about Editing, we're talking about Editing weddings. Taking that single catalog for that wedding and breaking it up into smaller collections within that lets me edit and view these photos in different chunks of the day.
Dawn Richardson: And for me and how my brain works, that's just a lot less intimidating. I feel more confident. I'm able to see all of the details together and [00:19:00] make sure that it's consistent in the way that I want it. So, Being very aware of how you're managing your files, keeping them in the same process, being repetitive with that process, creating that catalog each time and organizing them.
Dawn Richardson: Same way each time is just gonna kind of put you in this like automatic, like, here I am, I'm gonna do my job. And you just kind of get into this autopilot, which is really a powerful place to be. And it's not gonna be it for any tool. It's not gonna be autopilot right away. It's gonna take some time to get comfortable.
Dawn Richardson: But that consistency can be a real big game changer. And it definitely was for me in my seven years.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: it's so, it's so interesting that it, it, it just proves that there are multiple ways to do the same thing, right? Editing, for example, organizing your catalog or catalogs, there's multiple ways to do it. There's no wrong way. It's a matter of finding your best way to put you in autopilot to make things faster.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Me, if I had multiple catalogs, it would drive [00:20:00] my brain insane.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah, exactly. And that's totally fine.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah. Yeah. But I figured out how to work with my one massive catalog that just fits into my, the way my brain thinks. So it's very, very interesting. It just further, further proves the fact that nobody's wrong, just find your, your right.
Dawn Richardson: Find your groove and you know, and the, all of these processes, the end result is gonna be the same. We wanna deliver an amazing experience to our clients, right? As long as you are organizing yourself in a way that allows you to do that, it's gonna be really powerful. And that applies to whether you're using a tool to edit.
Dawn Richardson: For me, in my seven years, I had a private editor and that worked well for us. And I mean, that was my secret weapon at the time, was my editor. I'm like, this is Kelly's problem, Kelly, like you're the real mvp. But we did it in a way that was consistent, so it was never chaotic or lost in the process.
What is one thing that you do after a session that has increased business?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Cool. Okay, so let's now move on to the, the sessions done. What is one thing you [00:21:00] do after a session or one thing you would recommend for photographers to do after a a session in order to increase business?
Dawn Richardson: Ooh. So I am of the camp that I blog all sessions and weddings, and it wasn't necessarily to rank or to get more pins on Pinterest, it's just because I wanted my clients to feel that they were worthy of being on the internet. And I think that's really powerful how you treat your clients and how. You know, when you come in you're like, oh my gosh.
Dawn Richardson: Like when I see a client and they are dressed for their engagement session, I am like, I am putting you all over my website. Like, I'm just so excited and that makes them feel good. That makes them excited. Obviously there's people that don't wanna be online and I am, again, of the camp that I wanna respect that and it respect their decisions.
Dawn Richardson: But for me that was a really part, important part of my, my workflow. And if you are somebody that's looking for content, As a photographer and you shoot weddings, y'all, [00:22:00] you have anniversaries. Up the wazoo, like from all the years back. Like those are great content. Those couples love to be told. Happy anniversary on Instagram.
Dawn Richardson: So just taking advantage of those memories and those dates. I mean, if you took all of those wedding anniversaries and put 'em on your calendar right now, I guarantee you you're gonna have a very full content calendar just with anniversary posts. So take advantage of it and. Share, assuming that the client is willing to be shared and just remind them how thankful you are for their process.
Dawn Richardson: So that's big in terms of what I would do. My other segue to that is back up your photos. So yeah, you're just gonna back them up and you're gonna back 'em up again and have them on a cloud-based service and have them in a local, and that's when you said like, when the session's over, I'm like, oh, I backed those up.
Dawn Richardson: Like, that's, that's what happens. So that's, those are my two pieces. Back up your dang photos [00:23:00] and just remind your clients how thankful you are to be part of their day.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Nice. Okay, so this is my favorite part of the show. This is where you get to pick a color.
Dawn Richardson: Oh boy. Oh. Oh, you've given me Slitherin and Hufflepuff. I'm gonna go with Hufflepuff. Let's go yellow. Are you the Harry Potter fan? Scott?
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I do enjoy the Harry Potter movies. I did see that there's a Harry Potter show coming to Max.
Dawn Richardson: Oh yeah. It's not, it's not HBO anymore. It's Max. That's right. I'm really Max.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And,
Dawn Richardson: Max.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: but Daniel Radcliffe said that he's not gonna be a part of it,
Dawn Richardson: I feel like it kind of, well, I guess it's supposed to be like later in time, right? So it wouldn't be weird that he's like not young anymore.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. But you know, he's, he's very unique looking. I feel like it's gonna be not the easiest to find somebody who [00:24:00] looks the same, you know? I don't know, but it's Hollywood.
Dawn Richardson: He will, he will be. Hi Harry Potter forever. It, it just is it is.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Okay, so I'm gonna shuffle through these and you are gonna tell me when to stop.
Dawn Richardson: Stop. Did you start,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yep.
Dawn Richardson: you got that good mic. I couldn't hear the background noise.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: My next question to you is,
Dawn Richardson: Uhoh.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: what? What do you consider is the most important piece of furniture in your house?
Dawn Richardson: Oh,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That had nothing to do with anything, but I love it.
Dawn Richardson: You know, I will tell you as a photographer, as anybody who works from home, having a quality desk chair is where it's at. You know, I, I used like a target chair until maybe, I don't know, six months ago, and then I finally invested and like bit the bullet into like a chair that costs more than my computer and. [00:25:00] Excuse me. And it's been a game changer. I love my chair. I have a Hayworth fern chair and it's like totally ergonomic. But as somebody who sits and is constantly still looking at a computer, having something that's gonna keep my body as healthy as possible when I'm sitting for long amounts of time is a really big deal.
Dawn Richardson: So I'm gonna say my desk chair and ha investing in a very quality desk chair.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Are you a sit only or a standing desk and sitting type? I mean, you're, you're a techie person, so I'm
Dawn Richardson: Yeah. I love the idea of the walking pad, like that's kinda like really popular right now. But I also have a one year old
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: there.
Dawn Richardson: A four year. Oh, see, see, I love the idea, but I have toddlers and little fingers and that scares me. So until they're older, it's not gonna be any walking pads. I tend to sit and I tend to sit with my legs up and crossed like they're all crossed up on.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Interesting.
Dawn Richardson: But that's just for [00:26:00] now. And this season of life maybe someday I'll get a cool standing desk, but right now it's just not that season.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Okay. Okay. Well, when the time comes, I have the best made in the us made in Michigan desk. It's what I currently have.
Dawn Richardson: Huh.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: and yeah, you got, you should, when you're ready.
Dawn Richardson: I'm gonna need those links. I'll, I'll reach out to you and
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I'm, so, I'm the type of person, if, if I could get something that's made in the us I would much rather do it and support a.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Local, local right person, even though it's different state than me. But
Dawn Richardson: sure.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so that's what I did. They actually get some of their parts from Germany. Because some of the parts are not available to be made in the US but like for the most part, the entire thing is made in the us minus a
Dawn Richardson: I love it.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. So it's a, the, the desk, I can shake it like crazy. You will not see the camera move. It's so
Dawn Richardson: Really? Dang. That's cool.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so super sturdy. Okay.
Dawn Richardson: laugh at my [00:27:00] IKEA desk right now. See? It's
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I've, I've done my upgrades over the years cause I've, I've worked from home for, for as long as I can remember, so, and I've, I've always wanted to be a sit stand person, so I've gone through a bunch of different, anyway
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I
Dawn Richardson: love it.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah.
Can you share an outlined breakdown of your workflow from lead to delivery?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So, the next part is something where I ask every guest to look at their business from a 30,000 foot view down and outline the breakdown, do an outline, breakdown of workflows from lead to delivery.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And I'm wondering, can you share what yours have has, you know, historically look like for when you would get a lead for your, for your, for your weddings to the point of delivery? Just a bullet point list.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah, sure. So Dawn Elizabeth Studios was my photography studio. We were very passionate and when I say we, I mean me. I was very passionate about finding the client that was aligned to my brand. My brand was very, I'm here to [00:28:00] celebrate you and have the time of your life on your wedding. I met so many amazing people.
Dawn Richardson: But my ideal client was somebody that was gonna drink too much and then get on that dance floor for the rest of the night like that. Like she waited for this day, her whole life. We are going to celebrate. That was my couple. So that for me is very clear consistent messaging across my website, like.
Dawn Richardson: Like you, me and the camera, like, I'll see you on the dance floor. Like that was like a really big part of my braining. But inquiries come in. Everything was automated at this process. Like they came in. It was very clear, like all I'm very transparent. My pricing was on my website and it said on the contact form, like, I am aware that all pricing information is on my website and I have already read it and I know what I'm getting myself into.
Dawn Richardson: Like, so when people came in through the door, they were pretty warm at that point. They scheduled a consultation through a scheduler. Having that [00:29:00] consultation is a huge part cuz again, I'm gonna be with the bride or the couple more than like their family members are on their wedding day. I wanna make sure they like me, cuz if I'm annoying now I'm gonna be really annoying on their wedding day.
Dawn Richardson: So that was like a big part. So let's get to know each other, make sure we vibe, make sure like we're, we're a good fit. And then I send over quote, all the information ball is in your court. That was what the words I used ball is in your court. I'm letting the system do the job now. Right. That gives them the power and the autonomy to say like, this is it.
Dawn Richardson: I'm moving forward. And then they book from there lots of different automations in the process. And here in Texas, average engagement is, you know, a year to two years. So there's like a long period of time.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That is long. Yeah.
Dawn Richardson: I had stand alone pages for. The sessions so they could just get on my calendar whenever they were ready, regardless if it was a boudoir session or an engagement session or a bridal session, whatever type of session it [00:30:00] was, they could go in and choose their dates and their times.
Dawn Richardson: Different automations would go out to get them ready for those sessions. And then, you know, as the wedding day approached, we, you know, Had questionnaires go out, made sure everything was done. That last week is a little bit more hands-on, making sure that everything is good to know. Like, I got you.
Dawn Richardson: I even found out like, you know, what colors, what colors are you wearing? Because I wanna make sure that I'm wearing a pair of earrings. That matches. Because I cannot tell you how many times that I have taken off my earrings and given them to a bridesmaid that has forgotten. You know, like, I wanna be that honorary bridesmaid.
Dawn Richardson: I wanna be that hype girl. So that was like little things like that were important to me. And then, you know, having the time of their life on their wedding day and celebrating them. And you know, as wedding photographers, I think we get so like desensitized to like weddings. Like it's just kind of like we get an autopilot and we just go, go, go.
Dawn Richardson: But they don't do that every weekend we do. So just making sure that they feel [00:31:00] like it was a very special day for us as well as them. And then I do same day slideshows. So they had photos before they left that venue that night. I airdrop 'em to 'em so they have 'em on their phone. My goal for any session, any wedding is that my photo becomes their profile photo.
Dawn Richardson: Not some random person
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Life
Dawn Richardson: a picture with their phone. I know, right? I want my photo to be their profile photo and the fact that, you know, and even mom like. Y'all. You wanna win over some clients and get some good reviews. Go airdrop, those same day slideshow photos to her mom or to the groom's mom.
Dawn Richardson: They will feel like they just like have a pot of gold in their hands. They're just like, oh my gosh,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: They're already a ball of mush and
Dawn Richardson: They are.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: 'em even mushier.
Dawn Richardson: Exactly. And then they see what we saw, right? And what we see is so different than what a phone sees and things like that. So having that experience, just being there and being part of their family.
Dawn Richardson: And then I deliver fairly quickly. I delivered in about [00:32:00] two to three weeks. And that at the time was with a private editor. So it could even be faster now. But then, Even after the fact, I only shot other sessions like maternity sessions, family sessions, Christmas cards, all of those things for past clients.
Dawn Richardson: You had to be a past client of mine to have access to those. And what I did was I created a webpage that basically gave them a standing calendar that said like, this is when I'm available. If you find out you're pregnant or if you wanna take photos with your dogs for your Christmas card, this is the calendar.
Dawn Richardson: This is all that I have. So get it while you can and just giving them, again, that autonomy to have access to my calendar. But for me, also keeping the boundary of like, this is when I'm doing these things was really powerful and I kept getting those clients back every year over and over and each life event and baby is here and I know we're celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary and all of these different things.
Dawn Richardson: [00:33:00] It was really powerful to be part of their family story. So, Those systems, those processes, those automations just create the experience that you want. And that's what it's about. It's not about, I mean, there's, to an element, it's about getting paid on time. It's about getting those things done, but creating that experience that not only makes life easier for you and lets you keep your boundaries, but also gives the client the au, the autonomy to make decisions and to feel empowered is just gonna make your experience so much more elevated.
Dawn Richardson: So, That was my studio from a bird's eye view.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. And, and even with all this automation, you're still leaving, you know, your personality is still coming through, right? It's not just templates, right? You're, you're, you might be starting from a template for certain things, but you're modifying it so that it's all you. Right? So what your, what your clients see,
Dawn Richardson: and,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah.
Dawn Richardson: Go ahead. Well, so Scott, one thing that I'm really passionate about is transparency. And I would very clearly put at the top of these [00:34:00] emails that this is an automated email. Like not only does that give transparency like. Oh, okay. Like I got this random email like, wow, that was so fast.
Dawn Richardson: Like of course it was fast cause I didn't send it like, but it was also, that also gives you a little bit of protection. So if the system does fail you or if you set up something incorrectly and didn't test it properly, that like if they got a weird email and they see that it was automated, they're less likely to be like, why is Dawn emailing me?
Dawn Richardson: Like, they'll be like, oh, it's an automated email and it's. Probably busted. Like it just kind of puts that like the system is your middle man. And it just kind of puts a little bit of blame on the system, which is really nice, especially to somebody that might be a little intimidated by automations or technology.
Dawn Richardson: It's okay to blame things on the system. You guys
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I have a friend who's now using AI in, in a lot of his automations. And his name is, his name is James, right? And he's calling his, his AI Jimmy.
Dawn Richardson: ah,
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so, so it's his, like, it's his, it's his AI virtual assistants who's doing a lot of these [00:35:00] things. And now people know, you know, it's, it's not James, it's actually his AI named Jimmy, you know, pretending to be James.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So, but like, the funny thing is that he trained it on. His own blog content and his books that he's written and stuff like that. So it's actually, Jimmy is writing like James would.
Dawn Richardson: That's so cool.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah,
Dawn Richardson: That is so cool for so many ways. I mean, having a team you know, I could even create like a wiki of content for my clients. You know, there's, there's a tool out there called Meet Cody. It's an AI tool and it's where you feed it all of your like content and data. If I was in the wedding world still, or if I was still shooting, that's probably something I would do is like, I'm just gonna like locations, like you wanna talk about a location, like I'm gonna give you all of the content and then you can use this little chat bot to like decide where you wanna have your engagement photos, and then we'll go from there.
Dawn Richardson: It's, it's amazing. I love it.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Okay, so, what do I wanna go next?
What does the future of AI in photography look like to you?
---
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Oh, AI. So, we're [00:36:00] gonna get to Imagen right after this question, but AI in general as we're we, we were just talking about. What is the AI, what is the future, I mean, of AI and photography look like to you?
Dawn Richardson: I see it as the transition of film to digital. We are in that phase where digital comes around and all of the film photographers are like, Like, oh no. Like we can't, like are you a real photographer unless you're, you know, developing this in a dark room. And I like, I think there was like this really weird transition, right?
Dawn Richardson: But now the majority is here in the digital space. I, but film photographers are still very relevant. But in a unique way. So I think we're in that kind of very similar transition right now where people are like, oh, this ai, like what is this? I think we're slowly kind of getting into like, oh, this is kinda cool.
Dawn Richardson: Like I might actually be able to use [00:37:00] this. And I think there's gonna be times and places in our processes where AI is not appropriate. Like again, like there's times and places where film photographers are, you know, exceptional and. Oh, like valued much higher than a digital photographer by some people.
Dawn Richardson: So I think we're gonna see that, but I think the industry is evolving and changing whether you want to or not. So as business owners, as photographers, you have to decide if you're going to ride the wave or if you're gonna fight it. It's totally up to you. There's no wrong answer, but just know that you being resistant to it isn't going to prevent the industry from evolving around you.
Dawn Richardson: And. Go take it or leave it. Try it. That's the biggest piece of like advice I can give is try it and if it doesn't work, then move on. But you will never know unless you sit down and give it a try
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. And, and that's for any, anything ai, you know, like Chachi PT for example. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but. There's, you [00:38:00] know, thousands of photographers all over the world that are already using it in their business and having success with it. So
Dawn Richardson: Totally.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I think it goes for anything. I mean, anything with ai, you gotta, you gotta try it and see.
Dawn Richardson: there's so many different categories too. It's not just content like ChatGPT. not just Editing like Imagen one of the most powerful ways that you can use AI tools right now are on meetings. Like, do you do online consultations with your clients? Do you have online album design processes or to IPS with your clients?
Dawn Richardson: There are tools, AI tools, that will jump onto that meeting with you and transcribe the entire meeting and then summarize it so you're not taking notes. You don't have to go back and figure out what they said or how do I keep. You know, track of what this client said versus this client. Just using something like that as if somebody was sitting next to you taking notes is a really powerful way for photographers to introduce that into their businesses.
Dawn Richardson: That doesn't mean anything's writing you a blog post. That doesn't [00:39:00] mean you're Editing with anything. It's just taking something mundane and letting the technology handle it, and that's what's really powerful.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And those tho that tool, like the meeting summarizer for example, there's a ton of paid ones, but there's a free way to do it, which is to use a zoom goo Google meet, whatever you're using, record it. Right When you record, especially with Google Meet, they allow you to transcribe it, right? If you're using Zoom and it doesn't have it or anything, does not transcribe, you can upload it to an unlisted YouTube.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Right now you've got YouTube's gonna generate your free transcription. You can then download that transcription, drop it in a chat sheet, PT, and say, Hey, chat G P T, summarize this meeting for me. Here's the transcript. And then boom, now you got a free Free summary without, without having to pay, pay a service to do it.
Dawn Richardson: That's amazing. I actually use one called Fathom. I really like Fathom. It's free. I haven't paid for it. So I mean, there, there's so many options out there and I think that's also a [00:40:00] really important, like what you brought up, is there's ways to like incorporate this in maybe a way that you're more comfortable with.
Dawn Richardson: Like maybe somebody's not comfortable using a tool like Fathom, but they are comfortable with YouTube and Google Meet. So like, That's kind of like the way that they're introducing themselves into getting into this world. One of my favorite ways is to use a a note on my iPhone and like as I'm like walking, I'm like pushing the wagon with my kids in it.
Dawn Richardson: And I'll be like, let's talk about the difference between backups and storage. And I just kinda like ramble, like what I would want to say in a caption or a blog post. And then I take that horribly transcribed, you know? Like word vomit of like whatever I wanted to say. And then I throw it into chat sheet bt and I say, fix this.
Dawn Richardson: And then it like formats it and like creates it into something that's a lot more presentable, depending on what format. So I'm doing something that makes sense for me in this phase of life, but then I'm using AI to like put the polish on it. So, so many different ways.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: a hundred [00:41:00] percent. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Okay, so, Imagen came into your life. More recently. Right. As you said, you, you already were sort of done with the full-time wedding business. You did get to use it for a, for your encore wedding. I, I'm sure there'll be more coming up at some point, but yeah.
Dawn Richardson: We'll see.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I mean, you know, I
Dawn Richardson: Well, I
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: do weddings, but I still do weddings once a year anyway.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah, I know, right? There's always somebody that manages to sneak onto your calendar. Well, but I, so, you know, a beauty, a beautiful part of not shooting anymore is I'm more willing to have my camera with me. So I'm taking a lot more photos of my kids. You know, we went to a beach trip a couple weeks back and I had my camera and I did not edit those.
Dawn Richardson: Imagend it because why would I Imagen doesn't better than me anyway. And you know, I found that too, is. With, Imagen I was even getting more consistent results. I was getting [00:42:00] edits that I liked better, which I was like, like I would go in, I'll do like a quick edit on my phone in Lightroom and then I'll send it to him, like Imagen the real catalog later.
Dawn Richardson: It came back and I'm like, well, whatever. Like, it's, Imagen knows me better than I do, so it's
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Well, so, so let's, I, my,
How did Imagen impact your life?
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Scott Wyden Kivowitz: my question to you is, is two part one, how did Imagen impact your life? Okay. Since discovering Imagen, but secondly, how do you think it's going to impact all the photographers that you are coaching and mentoring and all these things? How do you, how do you see that impact?
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Going, you know, beyond yourself.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah. So part one to your question I do wanna preface this with saying that I test all the tools. Like it, I have, I have played with all of them out there. For me, Imagen was the one that stopped me in my tracks for a couple of reasons. It stopped me in my tracks. One because it was so user-friendly, it was very easy to [00:43:00] understand.
Dawn Richardson: I didn't have to go to a help docs to figure out what I was doing or how to do it. It was just very easy to navigate. And for me, as somebody that teaches tools to other photographers, that's a really important part. The other thing that I loved about Imagen was your trial. Like I'm not timed in this trial.
Dawn Richardson: I am not. I don't have like 24 hours or just a couple weeks. I have a photo amount. And for me, who was only taking pictures of my kids for a little while, like it took a long time to hit that thousand photos. And it was nice cuz I got to know the tool a little bit better. It's just really powerful. But.
Dawn Richardson: For me where it changed and I actually recorded my first impression using ImagenAI. I need to upload it to YouTube. Summer is here with the kids, so I have not done anything this summer, but I remember sitting there and I sent it a catalog. That I had delivered two years ago. It was not a catalog that was part of my AI profile.
Dawn Richardson: So I know, I Imagen [00:44:00] I'd never seen these photos and not only did they come back looking almost exactly the same as how I delivered them, I literally just sat here and I was just like, what am I doing with my life? Like, did I, I'm, I'm like looking at ways, I'm like, can I start my like tax permit again for the studio?
Dawn Richardson: Like I'm like looking around like. What am I doing? And I just think that's a really powerful, it was just really powerful, a really powerful experience of like that pain point in my life at the time could have been resolved with this tool. And that I think is what is going to change the game for a lot of other photographers because AI tools, automations, technology in general, it all comes back down to time.
Dawn Richardson: We use these tools for time, whether that's giving us time back to maybe do some more advanced edit with these photos and you know, let's go throw it into Photoshop beta and put a [00:45:00] dinosaur in the background. I don't know, do whatever you wanna do what are you gonna do with that time? Are you going to open a new part of your business?
Dawn Richardson: Are you gonna do that project that you've been putting off for years? Or in the case for me? Are you gonna spend more time with your family? I'm a full-time stay-at-home mom right now. Like I could not Imagen being in the thick of wedding season right now with the two little ones at home, but I probably could have done it having a tool like this in my arsenal, and I think that's where things change.
Dawn Richardson: You get the consistency, you get the peace of mind, you're gonna have the peace of mind with backups coming down the line. And those are things that we didn't have before, Imagen. And I just, I think that's so powerful. And that's why any photographer I talk to, whether you shoot, you know, a couple times a month, or if you shoot 30 sessions a month, try it.
Dawn Richardson: Like you will not be disappointed. What's the worst that's gonna happen? You continue to do it the way that you've done it. [00:46:00] That's fine, but until you try it for yourself and see how powerful it is, you won't know. And that's, that's kind of my mission with Tech Savvy is try it. You just, I'm here to encourage you to be your cheerleader.
Dawn Richardson: Like with any AI tool, try it. If it doesn't work, go back to what you were doing and move on. But I think there's gonna be resistance no matter what and. That's, that's to each their own. If, if you wanna be busy and overwhelmed, then more power to you. But I know for me and even Editing photos of the kids from the house, like, I don't wanna do that.
Dawn Richardson: Like, I'll let the tool do it and
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah.
Dawn Richardson: it's. It's amazing. So, I just, I love what Imagen's doing. I think it's really powerful. It's a tool that I use like constantly, even though I'm not shooting anymore. And I think it's gonna be a real game changer. And you see that a lot from photographers that start using that and then they start talking about it cuz it's just so good.
Dawn Richardson: And you see those people that were very resistant [00:47:00] all of a sudden. Being like, wow, I was wrong. Okay, I'm back. Anyway, does
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Little, cough attack. We're good. We're good? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was, that was fantastic. You know, it's I'm, I'm glad that you're still able to use it for your kid photos. I've been doing the same thing actually. Cause, cuz I'm not shooting as much these days, so I, what I've been trying to do these days, besides from just shooting photos on my kids, is actually trying new things.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: New techniques. You know, I'm taking out the prism, which I haven't touched in a billion years, or I now got myself a guitar slide for my guitar, even though I don't play guitar with a guitar slide, but I can now use it in my photography. So, trying new things and then seeing what Imagen does with the edit,
Dawn Richardson: Yeah.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: these experiments.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So anyway, yeah, it's,
Dawn Richardson: know, I even had a photographer come to me and she's like, she asked me for a preset. She's like, do you know of a preset that kind of looks like a little bit more of [00:48:00] the yellow tones, like a little bit moodier. She's like, I shot this session and it just doesn't, the type of session just doesn't fit with my current style.
Dawn Richardson: So I wanted to try some presets. And it was the same week that y'all launched the new
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Profile
Dawn Richardson: talent profile? No, the talent profile. I think it's like natural. Oh gosh.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Natural Studio Light.
Dawn Richardson: Yes. And so it had those like different tones and she was able to go into Imagen and edit her photos using a different talent profile to see if that's kind of the direction she wanted to go.
Dawn Richardson: And that's really powerful. And it's different than just, you know, popping on a preset cuz the preset is not gonna be adaptive to the photo. And that's, that's where the power is and that's where the magic of Imagen is.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Hundred percent. Dawn, thank you so much for, for hopping in, chatting with me. This is, this has been fantastic. It's a very different approach than what we've done for all the, all the previous workflows episodes. So I, I, I'm, I'm so glad that we were able to make this work [00:49:00] and,
Dawn Richardson: Yeah.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: you know, I, I know there's a lot of great takeaways here that everybody's get to.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Gets to learn from where can all listeners learn more about you, connect with you and of course, you know, see what content you're putting out and what education you have and all that fun stuff.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah. So I'm most active on Instagram. I'm tech savvy, creative on Instagram, and you can find
[email protected]. I also have a free AI toolkit for creatives, and that
[email protected] slash ai. So check it out.
Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you very much and we will talk soon.
Dawn Richardson: Yeah.
Thank you so much, Dawn, for sharing your valuable insights with all the imagineers. Your experience is invaluable and I'm so glad you were, you were able to share so much fantastic takeaways with everybody.
[00:50:00]
