Patina Studio
Overview
Patina Photo is one of New Zealand’s most influential wedding photography businesses, operating for over 12 years, garnering numerous industry awards and a reputation for consistent, high-touch service.
Alongside my wife as co-lead photographer, I directed the business operations—developing scalable systems, branding strategy, and streamlined processes. I approached Patina not just as a creative service, but as a design-led business optimised for resilience, clarity, and customer care.
We grew Patina into a respected brand known for its thoughtful experience design, seamless workflows, and strong client relationships. At its peak, our hybrid team handled over 50 weddings per year while maintaining 5-star reviews and timely delivery.
Categories
Operations
Automation
Project Detail
Strategic Planning Driven by Live Metrics
I designed a live dashboard using Airtable to visualise key metrics across sales, delivery, and marketing. This became our single source of truth and informed:
Quarterly and annual strategy planning cycles
Prioritisation of marketing initiatives (e.g. referral campaigns, price testing)
Early detection of issues like delivery delays or seasonal dips
The system allowed us to make decisions based on real data, not gut feeling—improving confidence and outcomes.
Connected Operations Hub Across Tools
I built an operations hub using Airtable as the core source of truth, connected to:
Notion for team task tracking and SOPs
Studio Ninja as our customer portal
Koalendar + Google Calendar for scheduling and availability
Xero for accounting
The hub enabled cross-tool automations like: sending reminders, updating job statuses, and triggering internal workflows. This dramatically reduced admin time and improved consistency across the customer journey.
Turning Conflict Into Loyalty
While most clients were delighted with their galleries, I treated every concern seriously—seeing them as opportunities to strengthen trust. One standout moment: a couple was unhappy with their final edits. After some email back-and-forth, I suggested a video call to better understand the issue. This helped me understand the issue was that sky looked washed out.
I re-edited key images, boosting colour and contrast in a way that stayed true to our style but met their expectations. They were thrilled and later referred a new couple to us.
This shows the power of proactive, human-centred communication that can transform upset couples into fans. And it’s one reason we hold a consistent 5-star review rating on Google.
On-Brand Content with AI Support
To help our admin contractor write in our brand voice, I built a custom AI tool—Patina Writer—trained on our past blog posts, emails, and guides. This tool was especially valuable during busy seasons when we needed quick, on-brand communication without bottlenecking through us.
We also used programmatic SEO to target long-tail keywords. Using Airtable + Make + templating scripts, we generated hundreds of local guides and supplier review pages. As a result, we saw a 100% increase (averaged over 12 months) for New Zealand based organic traffic to our website.
Patina Studio
Overview
Patina Photo is one of New Zealand’s most influential wedding photography businesses, operating for over 12 years, garnering numerous industry awards and a reputation for consistent, high-touch service.
Alongside my wife as co-lead photographer, I directed the business operations—developing scalable systems, branding strategy, and streamlined processes. I approached Patina not just as a creative service, but as a design-led business optimised for resilience, clarity, and customer care.
We grew Patina into a respected brand known for its thoughtful experience design, seamless workflows, and strong client relationships. At its peak, our hybrid team handled over 50 weddings per year while maintaining 5-star reviews and timely delivery.
Categories
Operations
Automation
Project Detail
Strategic Planning Driven by Live Metrics
I designed a live dashboard using Airtable to visualise key metrics across sales, delivery, and marketing. This became our single source of truth and informed:
Quarterly and annual strategy planning cycles
Prioritisation of marketing initiatives (e.g. referral campaigns, price testing)
Early detection of issues like delivery delays or seasonal dips
The system allowed us to make decisions based on real data, not gut feeling—improving confidence and outcomes.
Connected Operations Hub Across Tools
I built an operations hub using Airtable as the core source of truth, connected to:
Notion for team task tracking and SOPs
Studio Ninja as our customer portal
Koalendar + Google Calendar for scheduling and availability
Xero for accounting
The hub enabled cross-tool automations like: sending reminders, updating job statuses, and triggering internal workflows. This dramatically reduced admin time and improved consistency across the customer journey.
Turning Conflict Into Loyalty
While most clients were delighted with their galleries, I treated every concern seriously—seeing them as opportunities to strengthen trust. One standout moment: a couple was unhappy with their final edits. After some email back-and-forth, I suggested a video call to better understand the issue. This helped me understand the issue was that sky looked washed out.
I re-edited key images, boosting colour and contrast in a way that stayed true to our style but met their expectations. They were thrilled and later referred a new couple to us.
This shows the power of proactive, human-centred communication that can transform upset couples into fans. And it’s one reason we hold a consistent 5-star review rating on Google.
On-Brand Content with AI Support
To help our admin contractor write in our brand voice, I built a custom AI tool—Patina Writer—trained on our past blog posts, emails, and guides. This tool was especially valuable during busy seasons when we needed quick, on-brand communication without bottlenecking through us.
We also used programmatic SEO to target long-tail keywords. Using Airtable + Make + templating scripts, we generated hundreds of local guides and supplier review pages. As a result, we saw a 100% increase (averaged over 12 months) for New Zealand based organic traffic to our website.
Patina Studio
Overview
Patina Photo is one of New Zealand’s most influential wedding photography businesses, operating for over 12 years, garnering numerous industry awards and a reputation for consistent, high-touch service.
Alongside my wife as co-lead photographer, I directed the business operations—developing scalable systems, branding strategy, and streamlined processes. I approached Patina not just as a creative service, but as a design-led business optimised for resilience, clarity, and customer care.
We grew Patina into a respected brand known for its thoughtful experience design, seamless workflows, and strong client relationships. At its peak, our hybrid team handled over 50 weddings per year while maintaining 5-star reviews and timely delivery.
Categories
Operations
Automation
Project Detail
Strategic Planning Driven by Live Metrics
I designed a live dashboard using Airtable to visualise key metrics across sales, delivery, and marketing. This became our single source of truth and informed:
Quarterly and annual strategy planning cycles
Prioritisation of marketing initiatives (e.g. referral campaigns, price testing)
Early detection of issues like delivery delays or seasonal dips
The system allowed us to make decisions based on real data, not gut feeling—improving confidence and outcomes.
Connected Operations Hub Across Tools
I built an operations hub using Airtable as the core source of truth, connected to:
Notion for team task tracking and SOPs
Studio Ninja as our customer portal
Koalendar + Google Calendar for scheduling and availability
Xero for accounting
The hub enabled cross-tool automations like: sending reminders, updating job statuses, and triggering internal workflows. This dramatically reduced admin time and improved consistency across the customer journey.
Turning Conflict Into Loyalty
While most clients were delighted with their galleries, I treated every concern seriously—seeing them as opportunities to strengthen trust. One standout moment: a couple was unhappy with their final edits. After some email back-and-forth, I suggested a video call to better understand the issue. This helped me understand the issue was that sky looked washed out.
I re-edited key images, boosting colour and contrast in a way that stayed true to our style but met their expectations. They were thrilled and later referred a new couple to us.
This shows the power of proactive, human-centred communication that can transform upset couples into fans. And it’s one reason we hold a consistent 5-star review rating on Google.
On-Brand Content with AI Support
To help our admin contractor write in our brand voice, I built a custom AI tool—Patina Writer—trained on our past blog posts, emails, and guides. This tool was especially valuable during busy seasons when we needed quick, on-brand communication without bottlenecking through us.
We also used programmatic SEO to target long-tail keywords. Using Airtable + Make + templating scripts, we generated hundreds of local guides and supplier review pages. As a result, we saw a 100% increase (averaged over 12 months) for New Zealand based organic traffic to our website.
