We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gavin Peterson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Gavin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the toughest parts of scaling a business is maintaining quality as you grow. How have you managed to maintain quality? Any stories or advice?

A reality of digital photography that I was unprepared for was the amount of time it takes after the shoot to edit the final images. Products like Lightroom and Photoshop are great tools that can sometimes save a bad photo or make a good photo great. However, I found that especially with large shoots, I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to select the best photos and edit them to the quality I envisioned. To grow the business effectively, I would either need to hire more people or figure out a more efficient process.

The solution was more education. I found some excellent online courses on photography, and I attended workshops in areas that I felt would improve my skill behind the camera, therefore, relying less on my skill (and time) in front of a computer.

Every photo session gains us more experience, and with more experience comes better photos straight out of the camera. From better composition to effective off-camera lighting techniques, our skill continues to improve from session to session, and the amount of time spent editing is decreasing. It’s a continuous challenge keep learning and improve our efficiency as we take on more and more clients.

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?

We’re a relatively young photography business based out of San Antonio, specializing in portraiture and event photography. My wife, Taryn and I started Grunt Peterson Studios a few months before we retired from a 22-year career as a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. Taryn has built and run companies in the home healthcare industry, and her expertise in scheduling, marketing and customer relations leaves me plenty of time to focus on photography education, practice, experimentation and the creative process. We’re a true family business, as both of our boys help with lighting and additional cameras whenever they can.

Most of my background revolves around aviation and the military, however, I had an early interest in fine art in high school and college. A need to create with my hands has led me to such hobbies as drawing, painting, graphic design, wood working and even building off-road vehicles. A military career, however, proved too time consuming to turn any of these endeavors into something profitable.

I discovered photography rather by chance. Our squadron was in need of an aerial photographer to commemorate a new paint scheme on one of our aircraft. I owned a camera, but had very little experience and certainly not much of an education. Surprisingly, the pictures came out, but there was a lot to improve on. Since then, I’ve honed my skills behind a camera, both in the air and on the ground, learned about the art and science of photography, and began to develop a style.

Taryn runs most of the business behind the scenes, but she is also a constant presence at our shoots. Her modeling experience is especially useful in helping inexperienced and unsure clients find comfortable and flattering poses, all the while paying attention to the little details that end up making remarkable photographs.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Creating is a necessity for me. Whether it’s capturing a captivating photograph for a client, painting a mural or building a truck that performs well off-road, the internal drive to create fills a void. I view it as a balance to my consumption – watching a movie, reading a book, eating a dinner at my favorite restaurant. Creating is active, while consuming is more passive.

Creating doesn’t have to be art in the traditional sense – it could be something as simple as modifying an existing recipe when cooking a meal or starting a home repair that’s been on your to-do list for too long. The important thing for me is to use my excess creative energy in a way that makes an improvement, no matter how small.

In due time, our goal at Grunt Peterson Studios is to expand our creative portfolio to include other services such as graphic design, web-site creation and even fine art.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

The quality of our work needs to be high, as this is our final product. No one wants to pay for something that is ultimately disappointing. Similarly, the photography experience is important – from the initial booking and consultation, to the session itself and finally the selection and delivery of the edited images. Our client’s willingness to work with us again, or recommend their friends and relatives, is based on their satisfaction with the service and products were deliver. We take great pride in our preparation, the quality of our equipment, and the skill in both taking and editing each photograph. But there are plenty of good photographers that take good pictures. The approach we take when composing a photograph is a little different than most, and in our opinion, makes for a unique product.

The quality of our finished product tends to be high because we approach a photo session as an opportunity to create art. A camera is a tool that captures exactly what is in front of it, whether it’s helpful to telling a story or not. As an artist, we are able to control what is in the frame and what is left out, how the light and shadows interact with the scene, and from which vantage point best captures the moment. In the end, the photographs don’t just capture a moment in time, it tells a visual story in a creative way. This is the “wow factor” that has become our unique style.

The quality of the experience can be just as important to many clients. We start the process by introducing our family, whether through Taryn scheduling the session or me discussing the details in a consultation. We continue this warm family atmosphere at the session itself, with our boys even getting in on the action. Time and time again we get compliments about how well we work together as a team and how easy it makes it for a hesitant or shy client to open up and really start to enjoy the process. For us, a photography contract is a service in which we provide a product, and one without the other is unacceptable.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.gruntpetersonstudios.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gruntpetersonstudios
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gruntpetersonstudios
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/grunt-peterson-studios-schertz

Image Credits
All photographs by Gavin Peterson of Grunt Peterson Studios.