S2 Ep23: CLIX North Atlanta Photography with David Kapper

Can a former attorney find fulfillment behind the lens? David Kapper's inspiring journey from legal briefs to capturing life's precious moments will leave you believing in the power of unexpected career twists. On this episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast, David, co-owner of Clix North Atlanta Photography, opens up about his transition from the courtroom to the dynamic world of photography. Discover how he, alongside his late partner Darren Kaplan, built a thriving business focused on schools, youth sports, and corporate events across Metro Atlanta.

Join our conversation as David recounts the pivotal moments that shaped Clix, including the heartbreaking loss of Darren and the resilience of their dedicated team. We explore the unique niches Clix serves, from preschools and private schools to local rec leagues and corporate headshots. David's story isn't just about business; it's about passion, community, and the art of preserving memories. Tune in for an episode brimming with entrepreneurial insights and heartfelt reflections on the pursuit of a dream.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:05

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Stacey Poehler.

Speaker 2 0:18

Hey everybody, I'm excited to be chatting with David Kapper of Clix North Atlanta. Welcome, David.

Speaker 3 0:23

Hi Stacey, how are you?

Speaker 2 0:26

Good, good, thanks for jumping on. So why don't you start off by telling us about Clix?

Speaker 3 0:29

Sure Clix North Atlanta Photography. We're a local photography studio based in the East Cobb area of Marietta, and we work all over the Metro Atlanta area. Our main sources of business are schools, youth sports and corporate events, and when I talk about schools, what I really mean is preschools and private schools and elementary schools. That's what we focus on. The bigger gigantic public schools is really not in our wheelhouse. There are bigger companies out there that are more suited for those schools. So we're focused mostly on the younger children, but we also work with a lot of private schools. And then the youth sports. It's primarily the local rec leagues and feeder programs all different sports from you name it. We've taken photos of it. It's from hockey to fencing to the obvious ones soccer, basketball, baseball, football and and then corporate events, and those can range anything from corporate association parties to hedge business headshots, golf outings and things of that nature. So we've been in business 14 years.

Speaker 3 1:48

We started before I bought the business with my business partner as just a photography studio. It was part of a franchise called Clicks Portrait Studios and we were in the East Cobb Avenue shops. But when 2009 came along and there was the real estate bust in the market, the company itself was having some difficulty and they decided to pivot and start the schools and youth sports division to try to help out the local franchisees in keeping their businesses going. So I was brought in to help build that side of the business. The franchise the local franchise eventually went out of business and my partner and myself just moved it, you know, bought a franchise, moved around the corner and just continued going. Instead of being a studio for babies and families which we still do and we have a full studio and we do babies, families, maternity pictures, business headshots in our studio Our main focus is outside of our studio, working with those youth organizations, whether it's schools or sports, and then also, as I said, business organizations.

Speaker 2 3:06

Got it, got it, and are you a photographer yourself? What's your background and kind of? How did you end up in this business?

Speaker 3 3:14

Well, that's a question I get all the time. I am actually a reformed attorney. I stopped practicing law in 2000. That was my last case and from there I went into executive recruiting for nine years almost 10 years which I loved. It was a great business again until 2009. So I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and very little income. So that's how I got into this.

Speaker 3 3:42

When we started, my partner and I, darren Kaplan. He was an incredible photographer, and not just photography, but it's the post editing portion of it that is a real big part of this business, especially in a digital age. So I handled all the business side, from the business development to the marketing, to the hiring, the firing, the payroll, all the administrative functions of the business. And Darren handled the photography technical side of the business functions of the business. And Darren handled the photography technical side of the business.

Speaker 3 4:19

Unfortunately, we lost Darren about almost three years ago to kidney cancer at a very young age, 49. He was like a brother to me, a younger brother. We had lunch almost every day together for 10, 11 years, but thank goodness I had an incredible staff and they were able to step up and we've been able to keep the business going in Darren's absence. And we are in, I guess, our 14th year now, or going into our 15th year. We started the summer of 2010. And I usually tell our clients if you see me with a camera in my hand then you're probably in trouble. But after 14 years, I do know how to take a picture and I was an amateur photographer before that. I'm just trained as a professional and all of our photographers that we have are trained professional photographers. They're not just kids with cameras Um, they're, they're. They're very, very well trained before they come to us and then they go through our training and and and they do an incredible job and I wouldn't be here without any of them, that's great.

Speaker 2 5:33

I was going to ask you about some of the challenges you faced. Obviously, you know, losing Darren must have been a challenge, anything else that you've had to kind of overcome and work your way through in this business.

Speaker 3 5:46

Well, I mean, that was our biggest challenge, just because he ran the technical side of the business. Some of the other challenges we have is the changing technology. Obviously, some of our major competition is just people with their own smartphones and these great cameras now, and also the lower cost of the professional cameras. We do find we meet a lot of people on the sidelines of sports games with cameras that cost three times what we use and they just have it set on auto, so they're not really using it to its maximum capacity. As I said, we have very good equipment, top of the line equipment, not necessarily the most expensive, but what does the work for us? And uh, and all of our photographers are trained to use it properly, depending what the lighting is, um, but technology in general is always a challenge because it's just getting better and faster and and just trying to keep up with it all, uh, and our other biggest challenge is mother nature.

Speaker 3 6:50

If we have an outside photo shoot, we can't control the wind and the rain. We do know that. You know, most young men or I should say young boys tend to squint. If there's any hint of any light out in the air, they'll squint their eyes. Girls that have long hair, the wind blows it around and it wisps all over. So we try to shoot as much indoor as possible when we can control those things. But we can set up a background that looks like they're outdoors. So those are some of the challenges we have.

Speaker 2 7:24

And are you guys doing mostly like the team photos and stage things, or do you do any like sports action photography?

Speaker 3 7:33

Well, we do both. We do the team and individual photos, especially for our schools that need them for their yearbook. We do everything for the private schools we work with to be able to fill up their yearbook. But we're also, as part of our contract with these schools, as we go out for one action night for each sport, as well as like a senior night, and, as I said, we have a couple of dedicated sports action photographers that have worked, you know, as high as like the professional level, professional leads. Uh, these people are amazing. So, uh, we're able to capture some, just some great images.

Speaker 2 8:11

That's great. Any myths or misperceptions out there about photography that you want to clear up?

Speaker 3 8:20

Probably one of the biggest misconceptions that I hear all the time is when we have a beautiful sunny day, a parent will say oh what a great day for pictures.

Speaker 3 8:31

But if you talk to most photographers they'll tell you that's, I don't want to say, the worst day for pictures, but it's not the best day because when you have a bright sunlight then you have a lot. You have to deal with a lot of shadows and squinting again and glare that pops into photos. So it's usually great when we can have a nice cloudy day, no rain, but a good gray, overcast day, because we can then use our light to create the light that we need to make an excellent picture.

Speaker 2 9:04

Got it. Anything else that you want to share about clicks that you haven't had a chance to say?

Speaker 3 9:09

Yeah, I'll just bring up one quick thing. A lot of what we do we like to give back to our community, and when I say our community is the preschool community, the sports community. We donate a lot of time, in-kind donations, to the sports areas. We donate a lot of money to various schools. We are a sponsor of the Georgia Child Care Association. I'm actually going this afternoon for tomorrow for their big conference, their big fall conference, and so we're a sponsor of that. We donate a lot of prizes for their gift baskets and their silent auctions and we do the same at various golf tournaments for all these different charity organizations. So giving back to the community is a very big part of what Clicks is all about. We like to partner with all of our clients and not just be a vendor and their photographer, but we want to be their partners. We want to be there and watch the kids grow, and it's been great to have those relationships over the years.

Speaker 2 10:09

That's great, and can you share your contact info so folks can find you Sure?

Speaker 3 10:15

So it's wwwclix and that's C is 770-977-7800. And our email address is info at clicksnorthatlantacom. Please check out our website, go see all the sample pictures we have out there. We also have a Facebook page and Instagram page, all under the Clicks North Atlanta logo banner. And, yeah, if anyone has any questions, please call. Come in, we'd love to take some pictures with you, create some memories.

Speaker 2 11:03

Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining us today, David.

Speaker 3 11:06

You're welcome. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 11:08

Yeah, thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Milton More. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPMiltoncom. That's GNPMiltoncom, or call 470-664-4930.