We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Allan Gonzalez DFW Dance Photography a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Allan Gonzalez, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?
I do photography as a side gig. My main job from Monday to Friday is to be an executive admin. Photography has blessed me with getting to know so many amazing dancers, directors, choreographers, and more. With my regular work and photography in my extra time, it was hard to find time to take vacations. I’ve been blessed to work as a contractor/photographer with a company that travels to Dallas, Orlando, North Carolina, Chicago every year to do dance competitions and conventions, so my wife and I have been planning to book extra days during our visits to be able to tour the cities and be tourists for a few days. Last year while in Orlando, we had planned a surprise for my 4-year-old daughter Zoey to visit Disney World. We had a fantastic time. My wife invited her sister and family, so we all went together and had a great time. They watched our daughter while I was at the event, taking pictures of the dance performances.
Allan Gonzalez, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Allan Gonzalez. I came to the United States from Guatemala in 2015. My wife is from Arlington, TX, so she’s the reason I made a move here. I am a dance photographer in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex. I offer dance photoshoots, audition photoshoots, headshots, live performance pictures, and video. I work with several studios in the area that need costume pictures for their upcoming performances. I got into dance photography while planning a personal photography project. I have a dance background, and when I started photography, I was leaning more towards architecture photography, so in my project, I wanted to include all three elements, photography, architecture, and dance. I reached out to a few ballet dancers in Dallas, and they graciously accepted my invite and liked the concept of my project. We met at Thanksgiving Square in Dallas and took several pictures around the area. I started sharing them on my social media, and people quickly began to notice them, sharing and commenting on them. The pictures started to get more dancers’ attention, and I was asked to help with a new studio that needed pictures, so I accepted to help, and that led to working with another studio and more dancers in the area. I then decided that I had found what I was meant to be doing with photography and founded DFW Dance Photography.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I love that I get to do what I’m passionate about, and that’s dance and photography. I love that I get to meet so many new dancers, some that are soon retiring, but also a lot of dancers that are just getting started. I love that I get to capture their journey, dance strengths, and progress in their dance career.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
For me, Instagram, I’m in the business of photography, so social media is my primary source of new clients. I try to share as much content as possible to keep my followers and future customers engaged. I also like to share behind-the-scenes videos for people to see the creative process and setup that’s needed to create each picture that I take.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://dfwdancephotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dfwdp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dfwdp/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK3a4rBkNuC_QambelGuBVA/featured
Image Credits
Photographer: Allan Gonzalez – DFW Dance Photography Dancers: Nerea Barrondo Kiera Mays Jolie Canales Scarlett Bella Amelia Dodson