Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Townsend. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?

As with many industries, a general practice is to make sure you specialize in one thing and do only that one thing, creating a niche market demand for you product or service. There’s truth to this and there are many, many photographers who are very successful at doing just that. However I am not on of them!

My wife and I own our photo business together, and have been photographing together for 20 years. We’ve had our stretches of specialization, focusing on Weddings for more than 10 years as our main source of income. However, there were years where doing too many weddings a year would cause burnout & fatigue, which can affect every part of how we run our business and throw off the all important work/life balance. We both come from different photo backgrounds: I started shooting nature & landscape photography, and Lynn came from a journalism background. As a creative, I’ve never been comfortable doing the same thing over and over, however enjoyable the work may be.

What’s more, so many of our clients become “life clients”, who use us for engagement photos, then wedding photos, then family photos, then fine art photography for their home, and on and on. That is invaluable to us, and keeps things always fresh, never stagnant, and gives more flexibility to achieve the work/life balance we always strive for.

Now, we’ve found the right combination of genres to focus on, and we’ve been able to pick and choose those areas of photography that really feed our souls, both individually and as business owners.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in Maryland, but have called Colorado home for the past 30 years, moving here for the love of the mountains. Having always had a camera in hand, I quickly began photographing the great outdoors, and it was 4 years later that I became a full time photographer at a Denver portrait studio and never looked back. I met my wife, Lynn Townsend, at a gallery show where we both had photos entered in a juried show. We started dating 6 months later, then got married and started our business together both in 2006

My love of travel and the outdoors has taken me to destinations all over the US, and a handful of countries on a list that keeps growing: Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Jamaica, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Italy, France, South Africa, Botswana, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.

As David Lynn Photography, we have a broad skillset – from weddings, portraits, professional branding, real estate, and teaching classes and workshops. I’ve also amassed a collection of gorgeous fine art photography from all over Colorado and the West, and places abroad. In this digital world of fleeting visuals, its my goal to have photos printed on walls whereever possible – the bigger the better!

We’ve always been comfortable with any scope of photo project, and we have an uncanny knack for making people feel at ease when we’re working with them. Its always one of the greatest compliments we get is to know that whatever apprehension our clients may have before a shoot, immediately disappears once we start the session. That natural easy way with people translates to great images and great experience for our clients.

I’ve been so fortunate to have been in this industry for so long, to even have a hands-on, front row seat to experience the entire evolution of digital photography. That amount of experience is rare and goes a long way to providing a singular standout experience for those we work with. We love what we do, and it absolutely shows in our work!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As entrepreneurs, we are always having to evolve with growing and changing trends in the world of photography. It’s a big part of what we do as small business owners. But nothing could have prepared us for the 2020 pandemic. It literally put a stop to the wedding & event industry, and person-to-person photography as a whole. And the stop lasted longer than any other industry. The fact that we had already chosen to diversify our photographic talents into other genres other than just weddings, gave us a stronger foothold to start moving in those directions when we needed to the most. We kept our business running, and used our wide array of offerings to stay in business for the long haul.

We also took over ownership of a wedding studio/coop workspace, StudioWed Denver, right at the beginning of the pandemic. So we found ourselves climbing the uphill battle of keep two business running through the pandemic and the tough years that followed.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

One of the best parts of being creatives, is always having a new revenue stream or creative path to pursue when we’re ready to do so. I started in photography in 1995 with nature and landscapes, my first love in photography! I’ve continued to photograph the great outdoors during my travels ever since then, and over these recent years I’ve poured more energy back into that genre that never gets old for me. My goal is get digital images into print, bringing the outside in, energizing an indoor space through nature & fine art photography. I want my work to be inspiring, relaxing, energizing…essentially using art therapy to ease anxiety and stress.

In addition to David Lynn Photography and the variety of photography services we provide, we also own StudioWed Denver, a wedding co-op workspace in central Denver. It has served as a home studio for our photo business, and a source of supplemental income from our community of StudioWed member wedding professionals. Wedding and event pros pay a monthly membership for full access to the studio space for their businesses, and access to a built in network of like-minded creatives that help each other grow and thrive in the industry. It was long wait since the pandemic for in-person meetings to come back, and it’s been so inspiring to see more and more entrepreneurs ready to get back to meeting with their clients and connecting in real time again.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.davidlynnphoto.com, www.davidlynnfineart.com
• Instagram: @davidlynnphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidLynnPhotography

Image Credits
David Townsend/David Lynn Photography