Last month one of our Coffee Breaks featured rockstar photograher Amber Holritz.  Today we will put the pieces together and introduce the other half of the Holritz team: Nathan.  Many people don’t realize that Nathan is also a photographer, and together they make up the Holritz Photography team.

I’m thrilled to have Nathan on our Coffee Break today, and I think you’ll appreciate his business insights — and look for information about his free Lightroom webinar!   My favorite quote from this interview is: “This business is ultimately not about the pictures, but the experience you create for your clients”.   Well spoken, Nathan.  Grab your cup and read.

Nathan Holritz grew up in a foreign country, surrounded by a completely different language and culture.  He had to learn to adapt, to communicate easily and be aware of the needs of others.  His Japanese is still fluent (if you need an interpreter, he’s your guy).

Nathan and Amber decided to begin a business built around photographing weddings in Chattanooga, TN in early 2002.  Over the next 18 months they photographed 15 weddings.  The skills Nathan learned overseas in adaptability and communication came in very handy and they more than doubled that number the following year.  At that point, Nathan threw himself into research and industry networking, and propelled Holritz Photography to the top of the local industry, while simultaneously making a name for himself and Amber within the photographic industry on an international scale. Since that time, he has spoken often within the industry, and is considered an authority on the topics of organization and post-processing.

As Nathan worked with photographers to assist with their post-processing, he began to notice a genuine need in the industry.  Photographers were spending incredible amounts of time processing their own images after a wedding or portrait session, taking them away from those activities that were truly proactive and would grow their business.  Nathan thought to himself, “What if there was a company that would allow photographers to get rid of the ‘busy work’ of processing their own images?  Even better, what if there was a company that could offer those services easily and affordably?” And so Photographer’s Edit was born in 2008.

Photographer’s Edit has grown into a successful company that strives to make life easier for photographers so that they can spend time doing more of what they love –and what is good for their business– shooting and marketing!

Splitting duties between Holritz Photography and Photographer’s Edit has not been easy. Nathan plans on continuing to photograph 8-10 weddings a year while investing in the growth of  Photographer’s Edit. Nathan lives by the quote  “Life is what you make of it,” and he certainly has made quite a bit for himself!

Nathan is a gentle soul, and immediately likeable, just like his adorable wife. I love the Holritz family… love the way they raise their children, and how unassuming they are as people, how they just open themselves up to friendship. Here he is with his take on Learn, Grow, Share.

LEARN: What’s something that you feel like you’d like to learn more about, something you are continually learning?

A:  This is a HUGE topic, but my friend Kevin Swan, owner of KISS Wedding Books, has inspired me to continue to learn more about the general topic of marketing, and more specifically positioning/branding. It’s an ongoing study for sure!

What is something that you wish someone would have told you before you had to learn it the hard way?

A: I wish that I had been more aware of what it means to manage the financial side of my business from the start. Having a good accountant and/or financial consultant on board from the very start to help you manage the numbers, a budget, and set appropriate goals would have been so nice!  It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of photography and not think about the business management side of things.

GROW: How have you grown in the past five years in your business, in your own personal quest for growth, in your awareness of the world around you?

A: Wow!  So much has happened in the last 5 years!  How have I grown?

Business-wise: The most significant things I’ve learned has been about the fact that  this business is ultimately not about the pictures, but the experience you create for your clients.  It seems simplistic, but so many photographers think it’s about the pictures and miss out on how profitable their business can really be.

SHARE: How do you feel that you contribute to the industry? What is something you would like to share with your follow colleagues?

A: I’m not presumptuous enough to think that people gain a lot from my existence in the industry, but for the last few months, I’ve been offering a free webinar through Photographer’s Edit dealing with Lightroom workflow.  Thanks to an informal partnership with Adobe, we actually had 750 people sign up for the last webinar!  I’m passionate about the Lightroom software, and I love the idea of sharing it, along with a simple workflow for processing portrait sessions, with photographers in our industry.  This workflow will allow the photographers to process their small jobs fast, and then we want them to send their weddings and larger events to Photographer’s Edit!

Also, in the theme of sharing, as the company grows, we’re going to be partnering with one or two charities/non-profits to process their images in association with projects they are working on overseas and stateside.

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Thank you Nathan! I really enjoy hearing all of the different takes on these questions.  I always leave with something new.  If you have not checked out Photographer’s Edit before, I would encourage you to — every photographer owes it to themselves to experiment with outsourcing.  It is the next step towards growing your business.  Tell Nathan that Jules Cafe sent you!

This month, participate in Jules Cafe’s contest to win a set of Lightroom presets designed by Nathan! This is a set of Warm B&W, Neutral B&W, and Color Lightroom Presets to get both your RAW and JPEG images looking fantastic in no time.

Nathan sent me some images from his last wedding in St. Lucia, and these are really fantastic.  As much as Nathan is the strong business side of Holritz Photography, he certainly has his own eye for catching a brilliant moment.  Check it out for yourself: