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having a studio vs "work from home"
Light_prod
Registered Users Posts: 127 Major grins
Hi guys,
I just wanted to get the general numbers on wedding photographers (Pro full time) that have studios vs not.
What are the benefits from both sides? Especially for those who shoot overseas.
Thanks in advance.
Lara Luz
www.laraluz.com
I just wanted to get the general numbers on wedding photographers (Pro full time) that have studios vs not.
What are the benefits from both sides? Especially for those who shoot overseas.
Thanks in advance.
Lara Luz
www.laraluz.com
0
Comments
Not a full-time pro but pros for a studio-
Physical presence.
Ability to show off huge prints to clients coming in.
Place to separate business from home.
Can have loads more fun.
Cons.-
Overhead. Lots of it.
Harder to be able travel very freely
www.tednghiem.com
If I have to have a studio like shot (mostly babies, which are fairly easy in a small space anyway) I just set it up in my living room, works out great with all the natural light coming trough my windows + I don't have to worry about rushing my clients, we can hang out until the baby sleeps and I think they feel more comfortable in my home rather than in the "cold" studio space that I would be able to afford.
Matt
Bodies: Canon 5d mkII, 5d, 40d
Lenses: 24-70 f2.8L, 70-200 f4.0L, 135 f2L, 85 f1.8, 50 1.8, 100 f2.8 macro, Tamron 28-105 f2.8
Flash: 2x 580 exII, Canon ST-E2, 2x Pocket Wizard flexTT5, and some lower end studio strobes
By the time you can afford one the world will be dead. hehe <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/rolleyes1.gif" border="0" alt="" >
I'm currently in the process of getting a studio (My goal is to have retail space by the beginning of 2011). I guess you could say I'm "full time" because all I do is photography, but I would not say that I'm a pro. Most of my income is from portrait sessions seeing as I've only shot 2 weddings.
Like everyone has said, its really nice to be able to separate business from home. You can have your work everywhere. It makes you look legit. You can have comfy couches, cookies, coffee, wine, etc.. You can meet clients on your turf instead of at Starbucks. A place to get away from your family. To sum it up: cookies, get away from family, deal <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/deal.gif" border="0" alt="" >
On the downside.. Overhead. Cut Profits. Lame.
If you were to have clients meet you in your home, it better be immaculately clean. Another option is to meet your clients in THEIR home. It allows you to see how much wall space they have, and you can make suggestions while you're there. "oh, a 30x40 framed print would look gorgeous hanging over your fireplace" <- <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/mwink.gif" border="0" alt="" > and theres $300-$1000 in the bank right there (depending on your prices). People buy what you recommend 9 times out of 10.
Cookies. Get away from family. Do it.
Or if I had a really sweet loft, I would definitely be inviting them over to my place to meet.
www.tednghiem.com
http://gizmodo.com/5667423/this-inflatable-photo-studio-could-also-make-for-a-cheap-mobile-home-for-hungry-photogs
My Gear
My Websites - Personal www.ericsmemories.com |"Professional" www.vividphotography.org
My Favorite Photos - Chicago, NYC, DC, London, Prague, Alaska, Yellowstone, Glacier NP, Vermont, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands NP, The Appalachian Trail
you had me at cookies.
I'd rather have a space I can bring clients too, maybe a little office on a property I already live or something.
There are so many articles out there on wedding blogs warning people how to pick photographers, them having a studio being one of the points. As if to say that photographers without a studio somehow aren't talented or legit.
Thanks for the replies guys.
Lara Luz
www.laraluz.com
w. www.laraluz.com
s. about.me/laraluz
The place I am living in now is a home that i bought specifically as a studio.
I looked at shopfront places and decided it was cheaper and more beneficial tax wise just to go get another mortgage and pay into an asset than pay dead money.
the other thing with a hose was I got sooo much more space to work with. Multiple rooms, a backyard with a pool and areas i stylized for glam shoots, heaps of parking.... it worked great.
Someone came along and made me an offer on the house I was living in which was too good to refuse so i didn't and moved in here. Wasn't going to be for long but I haven't been able to decide where else I want to go so I'm still here. Just a couple of nights ago an agent came knocking at my door wanting to know if I want to sell because the properties either side of me want to get out and as such I hold the key to a large potential development site.
I paid 200K for the place when I bought it which was above market value but I wanted it. To get me out they are going to have to come up with a figure better than 800K. Had I rented a place I'd be a couple of hundred K in the hole now and had nothing to show for it when I left in capital gains.
In my other house I had like a granny flat on the back. It was attached but totally separate from the house. I had to get in the same way the clients did. It worked great.
The magazines and photo associations always try to create FUD that justifies the exorbitant membership fees they are paid but at the end of the day people book shooters on the work and personality of the person regardless of what association they do or don't belong to.
In working from a home studio, if ever questioned about it i would always say that not having the high overhead of a studio meant I could produce the same quality work at a lower cost to the client, that was just basic business. I would also say that the main advantage of a studio was that it was an advertisement in itself from people seeing it. As I got so many referrals from previous clients, I didn't need to do that level of advertising so a shopfront was of little use to me.
For glamour work there was a benefit i didn't think of at first.
Clients loved the fact they could park at the front door and had 10 ft to lug all their stuff in ( which I helped them with anyway) rather than have to drag it all through a shopping center and then risk being seen by someone and having to explain what they were doing particularly if it were a surprise for their other half.
When i first moved into the studio, my kids were toddlers and I was freaking that having them in the place looked unprofessional.
the comments i got from clients was how nice it was and how secure it made them feel seeing my wife and kids around. I'm sure the kids were a help in booking wedding clients because they were something the brides remembered about me.
I initially had a studio ( Photo taking area) here and 2 consultation rooms which allowed me to handle 2 lots of people at a time when I was busy. And i did do that heaps of times. When I moved in, one showing room became the studio as well and i had to move furniture around. Not ideal but totally workable.
In over 20 years of shooting weddings I have brought clients back to the studio twice. Not nearly enough reason to have a shooting space.
All you really need is a showing area set up that can double as your lounge room otherwise providing it looks like a showing area and you live in that rather than try to do showings in your lounge room if you follow what I mean. the place has to be a business area first and foremost beyond all else and all sighns of domestic living have to be removed.
No stacks of Movie DVD's next to the TV, no family photos or nick nacks about on the shelves, no kids running through the place or your wife having a phone conversation in the corner, Purely and utterly business.
It should be a surprise to the people that this isn't your office, you do in fact live there.
The beauty of a home studio/ showing/ interview room is when things are quiet, your still not getting hit up for rent. You get less advertising with a home location but you can always put what you save on commercial rent into advertising and the monthly value of rent buys you a far better saturation and wider reaching audience than a shopfront does anyway.
I do recall a couple of clients put off by the fact that I worked from home or a home but I recall dozens that thought it was a great idea and even commented that they liked the idea of paying for their Photos rather than a flashy shop front when they thought my work was as good as any they had seen in a shopfront studio anyway.
I set my consultation area up with a lounge along a wall, a coffee table in front f it to put albums etc on and I put my chair in a corner at a 45o angle to the clients. To me sitting across from a table or facing the clients straight on is not the most comfortable thing for them and is in fact confrontational in its setting. Being at an angle allows you to hold the peoples attention, show them what you want to and gives room for everyone to really relax. I also gives the clients a clear view of the pics on the wall in front of them or the TV if you do slide show presentations which are far better than display albums.
One thing I'd add is that by working and living in the same space is you don't have commute time. But you'll likely make up for that by having to clean before clients arrive!
Portland, Oregon Photographer Pete Springer
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We don't have any young kids and just one cat so it is easy to keep the meeting room clean all the time. Keeping costs down and quality up is a key when the market is soft.
Gotta get one of those.... hmmm.... could I get a horse inside?
http://www.imagesbyceci.com
http://www.facebook.com/ImagesByCeci
Picadilly, NB, Canada
You might need a horse inside the thing to stop it blowing away in any sort of a breeze!
Would be great for doing school formals and the like. You could set up your shots inside and you wouldn't have to worry about people trying to take pics over your shoulder.
The weird look of the thing would probably be a bit of a sales promotion in itself.... especially if you were covering a Star Trek or Sci -Fi convention.
I do have a small studio 850 square feet. The office and showroom are at the front. I have a 400 sq ft shooting space I use for portraits and headshots and boudoir photography since most of the boudoir shooters rent hotel rooms. i am located across the patio dining area of a popular restaurant and I have had walk in clients. I just got a 20 person corporate headshot job because of having studio space.
The thing about a studio isn't always that you have overhead (utilities, and maintenance and rent, it's also that you have to change up the shooting space, you have a huge expense for samples for printing and framing and canvas and albums.
For me, there is a big advantage to having the space. My home is not where I want unknown people coming.
Flash Frozen Photography, Inc.
http://flashfrozenphotography.com