We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Julia Daniel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Julia below.

Julia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I feel like I conduct my photography session differently than other due to two factors. First, I’m an engineer fulltime at the worlds largest marble mine. Everyday I look a processes and find ways to make them more efficient. Work smarter not harder. I also ensure that the software that are used are working for us not against us. I take this approach to my photography business. I have made sure that I have software’s in place like CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) to make sure my clients have an easy process to book and the process leading up to their session is as easy as it can be. Secondly, I am neurodivergent . My spouse and kids are as well. This means my sessions are a bit a different than others. I don’t like sitting or standing still. Talk and laughing and playing are my comfort zones. This overflows into my sessions. This has lead to sessions that people but especially kids, that are neurodivergent, flourish in. They get to be themselves and this leads to photos that everyone can’t help but smile at. What does this look like specifically? Well let’s say a kid likes being outside especially around water. They also LOVE dragons. I will plan a session at a creek or a lake where we can actually get in the water or throw rocks in the water. If I want to capture their face showing their genuine smile we will start talking dragons and I’ll snap away as they tell me about their favorite dragon and where it lives and on and on. We will also play games through out the session so they feel like we just played the whole time instead of being asked to ” stand still and say cheese”. I’ve discovered that most people stress about photos because they think photos are all about standing and smiling but that doesn’t have to be the case. I love nothing more than hearing at the end “wow that was fun!”. That means I’ve done my job well.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Julia Daniel and I own Julia Daniel Photography. I have been taking photos my whole Iife. I have photos of my barbies and stuffed animals I posed and photographed when I was 5 years old. I recently moved to Birmingham, Alabama from Atlanta, Georgia. We are loving Birmingham! We moved to Birmingham for my new job opportunity as an Industrial Engineer at a marble mine. I am married to an amazing person who supports all my crazy ideas. I have two fun and crazy boys who always keep me laughing. We also have one dog ,three cats and a fish. Our ideal Saturday look like sitting around in our pajamas, eating cinnamon rolls and then shopping in the afternoon. I am a loud laugher and do so often. I laugh at the stupidest things! I consider myself a weirdo and quite proud of it. Also my hair changes often. Typically there is blue in there somewhere though.

I love binge watching TV shows! I’m usually watching crime dramas, think Law and Order SVU, or cooking shows like the cookie challenges on Food Network. If we were listening to my playlist it would play Panic! at the Disco then The Fray and then move onto Ying Yang twins OR true crime podcasts. I’m a little all over the place but I enjoy it that way.
I have photographed a little of everything. I absolutely love intimate weddings, boudoir and family sessions. Maternity and newborns hold a special place as well. Who doesn’t love a sweet squishy baby! I love capturing pure, natural moments that go unnoticed by most. I have never met a child that doesn’t open up to me allowing me to capture their unique personality. A session with me produces photos that capture the purity of the setting along with raw and joyous moments that happen during our time together. You will leave your session having laughed, played and looking forward to your next session.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting has been a theme of my life. I used to think of pivoting as a bad thing. I think most people around my age (31) grew up getting asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. I often panicked because I didn’t know. I wanted to do a lot of things. I felt I had to pick one. Turns out you don’t! I started college doing middle grades education. When we got married we had to move away from my college and the closest college said I had to start over. I knew teaching wasn’t for me and that’s when I learned about Industrial Engineering. About that time I got my first camera. My kids quickly became tired of being my only models so I started down the photography business path. We have moved many times in the last 11 years including to a new state which means I’ve had to start over with clients numerous times. Pivoting has become the normal functioning of my life! I’ve also learned that the answer to “what do you want to be when you grow up?” can be “Any and everything! ”

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

For me I think there is two main sources. The first is Facebook mom groups and other Facebook groups. This comes in especially when you move to a new city. People are always looking for recommendations so adding your name to the list gets your name in front of many people. The second way is word of mouth. That is my best source of new clients. It’s also my favorite way because then that lets me know how much my current clients enjoyed their time working for me. That’s the best compliment!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.julidanielphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliadanielphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliadanielphotography1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-daniel-8462a4114/

Image Credits
All taken by me