Douglas N. Burns

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

I’m Douglas N. Burns. I’m a commercial photographer and the owner of DNB Productions here in Houston. I was actually born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but my dad was in the oil and gas industry and moved our family to Houston in the ’70s, so Houston is really where I grew up. I always joke that I may have left Louisiana, but my stomach stayed in the bayou.

Other than leaving for a few years to go to school and get my degree, I’ve pretty much been here ever since. I came back to Houston after college, built my career here, and eventually built my business here. I’ve been fortunate over the years to work with a pretty wide range of companies and people, but at the end of the day what I do is pretty simple: I use photography to help businesses tell people who they are and what they do.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now?

Houston is a great business town. It may have been built on oil and gas, and it’s still very much an industry town, but there’s a tremendous amount of opportunity here. It’s also one of the most culturally diverse cities in the country, and I think that adds a lot to its character. And the food scene is unbelievable. You can find almost anything you want somewhere in Houston.

Of course, we built the city in the middle of a swamp, the streets are always under construction, and Houston is an hour away from Houston because we’re so ridiculously spread out. But I’ve been here most of my life. It’s home.

Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?

DNB Productions actually goes all the way back to college. I used my initials because I had it in my head that if you turned the lowercase letters “dnb” on their side, they kind of looked like an old-school 16mm film camera. At the time, I thought I was going to be the next Steven Spielberg. That obviously never happened, but I’ve been using DNB as my moniker ever since.

I originally built my career around broadcasting and video production, trying to work at the highest levels I could without having to move to L.A. Over the years, what I do has just kind of morphed. These days I’m based in Houston and concentrate primarily on commercial and corporate still photography, although I still do video production for a handful of clients in the broadcast space. Most of my work is in Texas, but I’m happy to travel wherever a client needs me. Have camera, will travel.

Regardless of whether I’m photographing a CEO, photographing a manufacturing facility or working on a video production, I see my job pretty simply. My job is to make whoever is in front of my camera look good, help tell their story and help them communicate whatever it is they need to communicate to their audience.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

Don’t go to school to learn how to run a business. There’s a lot to learn about running one, and most of what they teach you in school isn’t going to prepare you for actually doing it. If I were starting over, I’d go work for somebody else in the industry for a few years and learn it from the ground up while somebody else is paying me.

I’d also find people in my industry, or even adjacent industries, who are where I want to be and talk to them. Invite them to lunch. Buy them a cup of coffee. Pick their brains and learn from the mistakes they’ve already made.

Starting a business is not for the faint of heart. I’ve been self-employed virtually my entire career, to the point where I’m probably unemployable in the traditional sense. I don’t really know another way to live my life. I’ve always said an entrepreneur is somebody willing to work 80 hours a week for themselves because they’re unwilling to work 40 hours a week for somebody else.

But there has to be a reason behind it. You need to know why you’re getting up every morning and doing this. What is it about owning a business that drives you? Figure that out, because I think you’ll be better off than most people who decide they want to become entrepreneurs.

Where do you see your company in the future?

DNB Productions has always been a lifestyle business for me. At the end of the day, I’m a photographer and a storyteller. That’s what I am, that’s who I am and that’s what I enjoy doing. I still get a kick out of creating a really cool image and playing with lights and cameras to figure out how to make something work.

I’m not looking to build some monster company or turn DNB Productions into a huge agency. I want to keep doing interesting commercial and corporate photography, work with good clients, make a good living and still enjoy what I do. As long as I can keep doing that, I’m pretty happy with where the company is headed.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I show up somewhere and somebody looks at my camera and says, “Wow, that camera takes really great pictures.” No. The camera is a tool. It’s a black box with a piece of glass in front of it. The photographer makes the picture.

I’m pretty particular about that language, too. I talk about making or creating photographs. I don’t “capture” what’s in front of me. I create what’s in front of me and then use the camera to record it. There’s a lot that happens before I ever push the shutter button: understanding what the client is trying to communicate, figuring out the composition, controlling the light, choosing the angle and deciding what needs to be in the frame and what doesn’t.

Cell phone cameras today are incredibly good. I take a ton of pictures with mine. But whether I’m using a phone, a DSLR or an old 4x5 view camera, those are all just tools. Being a photographer is knowing how to use those tools to create the image you intended to make.

Who was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

I’ve always been a traditional country music fan. Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton were favorites when I was growing up, and Alabama was probably one of my all-time favorite bands. I’m still a country music fan, although I’ll admit I’m not particularly impressed with a lot of what passes for country music on the radio these days.

As for athletes, I’ve got nothing. I’ve never really followed sports.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

The best place to learn more about me and DNB Productions is my website at dnbproductions.com. You can see more of my commercial photography, corporate and team headshots, and some of the other work I do there.

I’m also pretty active on LinkedIn, where I talk about photography, running a creative business and some of the projects I’m working on.

Website: https://dnbproductions.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-n-burns-a20ba313

DNB Productions on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dnb-productions/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnb_productions_photography/