Our “SLR Lounge Awards Artist Feature” articles highlight SLR Lounge Awards winners, some of the very best wedding photographers around the globe. This article features SLR Lounge Apex Award Winner Dee Robinson of Dee & Kris Photography (Sacramento, CA, USA), which he owns and operates with his wife Kris. The Robinsons are well known for their amazing client experience, dialed in branding, and being some of the best humans you’ll ever meet! Read on as Dee talks to us about life, photography, and their recent journey of opening a studio space and revamping their website.

[Related: “Five Tips for Mastering Light, with Jason Vinson”]

Dee! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us; we know you and Kris are exceptionally busy … We really appreciate it! Tell us about how you got into the photography business.

Of course! Kris started with film photography in college and always had a desire to create. I was an avid learner of photography before Kris and I met. I didn’t get serious until Kris’ brother, Matt (Rewind Photography, Santa Barbara, CA, USA), came to visit us in Northern California in the early 2000s. He had recently purchased a Canon EOS 20D, which was amazing at the time. He told me to try it out, and I was hooked. The next day I headed down to Mike’s Camera in Sacramento and purchased my first Canon camera, and I never looked back.

I originally started out taking photographs of our first born, and it grew from there. Our friends found out I had a camera and asked me to take photographs for them. At one point, Matt was hired to photograph a wedding in Northern California and asked me If I wanted to help out. I said sure, and all of a sudden I was hooked again! Once I got a few weddings under my belt as a second photographer, I ventured out on my own. Then Kristina joined me a few years later. We grew the business together, and now we both been photographing weddings for over 12 years.

And you recently opened a studio space and have added a lot of portrait work to your business, correct? What has that journey been like?

Absolutely! For years we had a small space in our home where we would meet clients and host small photography group meetings. Eventually, we realized that we needed to separate the business from our home.

So, we began to look for a space  where we could meet with clients, photograph clients, and host design appointments for our clients. It was a long journey trying to find a place that would fit our needs, and not break the bank. We ended up finding a great studio space in Midtown Sacramento, right next to See’s Candies. We instantly fell in love with the space.

And in addition to expanding your business, with a studio space and more and more portrait work, you also recently did a revamp of your entire website. Talk to us about that (it looks amazing, by the way)!

This has been Kris’ brainchild. We had many, many design meetings to decide what we wanted our website to look like. We’ve been with Showit since it began. Showit is a future-forward website design company that offers great design elements, as well as a great support staff. For years we hired out for custom work for our website, but this time around, Kristina decided to take a stab at it to keep costs down and to give us full control over all the design elements. Overall, we wanted our website to reflect our personalities and also be visually appealing to our clients when they visit the site. It has taken some time to get to this point, but we feel that we now have a website that is easy to use and has some kick-ass photography as well!

What would you suggest to other photographers looking to update/revamp their websites?

Real simply, I think there are five things to keep in mind:

  1. Have a realistic price point. Definitely have a budget in mind and then do your homework to see how much customization you want, and can afford.
  2. Figure out the type of clients you want to attract. Build your website around those clients.
  3. Make sure everything flows with your branding.
  4. Color palette is key. Make certain the colors are consistent, and also flow with your branding.
  5. Only show the best content. Show your very best work. After all, this is what will draw in your clients and keep them looking around your website.

Finally, how about a quote?

Our mantra at Dee & Kris Photography is ‘stay humble and enjoy what you do, and always lend a hand to anyone entering the business.’ There is plenty of business out there for everybody.

You can check out more of Dee & Kris’ work on their website. Also, give them a like on Facebook. And while you’re at it, give them a follow on Instagram as well!

Check out the latest SLR Lounge Award Winners here. Don’t forget to submit by the March 31 deadline to be considered for SLR Lounge’s March 2019 awards competition. Finally, remember that anyone can sign up for an SLR Lounge account for free and submit, but Premium Members are able to submit up to three photographs each month!