Studio requirements

AHarvey · 15 Oct 2014 at 21:47

Hi all,

My local town has several photographers, some good, some bad and only a few have studio space.

I'm fed up of my current job and after speaking to a local tog I was wondering if it would be beneficial to finally set myself a studio up and also rent it out, offer teaching, camera cleaning etc. Obviously, I'm not jumping in to this with out looking into it properly.

So, my question is, if you were looking at renting a studio space for photos, what services/equipment would you require as standard, and is there anything you would like to see offered as extras?

Anyone currently rent a studio space? what are you offered and how much are you paying?

Phate · 16 Oct 2014 at 12:20

Hmmm good question. I've toyed with this idea many times but the numbers are pretty staggering really! If you find the right area with the right clientale and decent marketing it would work tremendously well!

If not...well...yeah.

Anyway, when I looked into it, equipment wise I'd want:

Full studio lighting with at least 2 fronts, 2 smaller backs and an additional smaller for background lighting, softboxes/attachments for each of them - Eventually I'd want to upgrade to a rail system for better flexibility.

Gels, lots of gels!

A roller system for black and white backdrops + different coloured backdrops on request.

Private changing facilities

Props, so boxes to stand/sit on, tables to use, etc.

A list of models on demand is also a good shout.

englishpremier · 16 Oct 2014 at 14:43

If you've got a modelling agency in the same town you might be able to link up with them.

D.P. · 16 Oct 2014 at 15:33

Have you done much market research and financial analysis?

I don't shoot studio at all so my thoughts are likely completely biased so take this with a pinch of salt. However, I don't believe there is a big market for people wanting to use a studio and hire models, it is pretty niche. People commonly pick up a camera to photograph their children, pets, friends and holidays and nature, in mostly a casual manner. If they get more serious then they will tend towards wedding/event, more serious wildlife or landscape, street, still life, architecture or portraiture, but portraiture of their children etc. in a fairly natural setting, the local park etc. At least it is my perception people don't frequently decide they want to shoot models in a rented studio.

Of course maybe I misunderstood your main aim of the studio, and that was to take photos of the public. This seems more viable but you already mention your town has several photographers so you are already in competition. Can the town support more? How much do the others charge? Will the public pay more or less for your work? You claim your work is better, and is most likely is, but the public's perception may be different or they have a hard time putting a price on the difference. In business having the best product is rarely sufficient for success unless it is truly exceptional AND a load of other factors come together (marketing, word of mouth, people able to afford the premium, convenience). If the other togs have been there long then it is likely they have some loyal customer base which you will have a hard time convincing.

For teaching, are you accredited in anyway? Not that I think it matters in the slightest but the public might see it differently and want some official recognition of your teaching or photography capabilities. Furthermore, do you know what you will teach, when you will teach, how much you would charge, how many people in the area would want? Most people are only available evenings and weekends so do you want to give up your personal time to teach? Will you only teach studio related portraiture or will this be general photography? As above, more people are interested in nature/architecture/children/pets than models under studio lights. If you do a lot of the latter you might not need a studio at all and could save rent.

Camera cleaning I have no idea about but at a guess I would dive people in to 2 groups: don't care enough about photography to notice or care, or care a lot and are capable of cleaning themselves. I think the set of people who care a lot but don't want to do it themselves is relatively small, and those people are likely to send the camera back to Nikon/Canon service or to one of the bigger name repair places. Then there are things like insurance and handling customer errors. If you do get a reasonable amount of business it is inevitable you will break something (when tired trip and drop the camera, or battery was messed up and the mirror slaps back down on the swab etc.). you will also have people that will claim you broke their camera, even although it was a preexisting condition that you simply didn't check (auto focus, LCD screen etc.).

I actually think that teaching is one of the best ideas to commercialize a hobby. I love nature photography but it is pretty much impossible to ever become a professional in it because the market is saturated (and I would have to move to the middle of no where screwing my wife's career, and travel for many months of the year without seeing my family). But there is a big market for taking people on photography expeditions . I spoke to a pro in yellowstone and he said he makes around 10x the profit from teaching people and taking them out in the wild than he does selling his work (and his work was stunning). best of all, when taking the classes and tourists out on trips he does pretty much the exact same thing as if he was shooting for himself. He takes all his gear and leaves the HQ at 5am, searches for the best wildlife, shoots for a few hours while his students get the opportunity and then heads home for a class evaluation.
Since he takes everyone on a minibus from destination o destination and acts as a guide he can charge far more than if he was sat in a studio. Furthermore, he has a huge lens collection and then rents out some of the big lenses to students at ow prices, so helping to justify owning every Nikon exotic!
Anyway, i'm rambling about my photography business dream, just to say I think teahcing has a lot of potential but needs some analysis

Im not trying to put a downer on the idea. I've done loads of entrepreneurial courses, I work for a tech start up, almost of my fiends work for tech start-ups or founded their own, and I am looking at starting my own businessmen as well. It is critical to know the market, know the customers, profit margins, business model and strategy, fall back plans, real operating costs.

mr tommo · 16 Oct 2014 at 18:17

We get around 2-3 calls per month from people wanting to hire our studio out. Never have done though but it'd be interesting to see how much people pay for this.

Nexus · 16 Oct 2014 at 19:45

It's definitely something you want to research fully as others have already pointed out.

In major cities like London, if you can afford to buy or rent out a large space that is not much more than Zone 1, then you could easily make a viable business because there will be a demand for it. The problem though is that it's going to be expensive to buy.

From what I've witnessed of studios in smaller towns, they seem like they are always in a business drive of marketing baby shoots, portraits and boudoir shoots, along with workshops on how to use a camera, to more advanced work. It's likely this is going to be the real bread and butter work, rather than bookings by other photographers or for commercial purposes.

I've got no experience myself of what I'm saying, but I think its certainly a business that is going to always having you driving to get business in, rather than it just coming to you.

D.P. · 16 Oct 2014 at 20:31

mr tommo said:
We get around 2-3 calls per month from people wanting to hire our studio out. Never have done though but it'd be interesting to see how much people pay for this.

I imagine you can charge quite a lot but eh number of customers owuld be limited.

there will be some commercial interest and they would pay way more but demand more and higher end equipment, and be more likely to take a day time weekday slot. The amateurs are happy with the basics, will pay less and want a few hours in the evening or weekend.

the problem then comes if you are trying to teach classes in the evenings/weekends then you can't rent it out then. If you are doing baby/pet/granny/couple shoots in the daytime then you either have to close up shop for the day when renting out or ignore commercial renters.

either way the weekends would be the busiest times I imagine. People want to get a photo of their long lost aunt with poodle, do a teaching class, rent the studio, get their equipment cleaned, ask if you can photograph their sons wedding for free because he can't afford it but would change the il in your car in exchange. Weekdays could be fair quite unless you are in big city which is always busy.

Again, i am just tying to point out some possible bad scenarios. You need to think how realistic the bad scenarios are, what the real market is, the profit that could be made by renting vs teaching if you had to choose.

AHarvey · 17 Oct 2014 at 03:06

Well, lots of comments and i'll try to address them

This is a typical market town and this would be easier if I was in Stoke, Shrewsbury or Telford. There are 2 studio's in town currently, both are small, limited room and results are substandard but cheap so they are busy, but don't get the amount of repeat business that they should. We are talking blurry, badly lit and some awful PP in some cases. Oh, and shouting at customers in polish in case and threatening to throw them out because they asked to buy a cd of watermark free images... There is definetly a space for someone to come along and take over as a primary company here.

I shoot weddings mostly, it fits around my current day job and I do enjoy it but I do not actively advertise in any way, its all facebook and word of mouth. I get a few requests for portraits but I refuse to do them in house as there is never enough room and I can't stand giving poor quality results. I know if I was to push it that I would be able to generate leads, and not just for portraits/families/pets etc. I also take product shots for a couple of local companies, small items such as the ebay company selling cycling parts, on top of that, some editing for a couple of London clothes shops.

Equipment wise, I have some Lencarta lights, Nikon stobes, cloth backgrounds etc but would probably look at Vinyl in a full time studio. I definitely need to invest in props, more lights, triggers and modifiers.

I'd love a space large enough for cars or that can be split into 2 shooting areas, viewing rooms + editing space/office for myself. finding that space in town for a decent amount is the issue so would probably be calling on local contacts for a venue on the edge of town.

I work 24 hours a day with current shift pattern as well so no problems having to work any time of the day or night, week days or weekends.

The main aim would be to run it as my own studio, my name, my work on show, but have that offer to rent space out if needed. I don't think the majority of money would come in via others, but due to the current pricing of property around here and the willingness of the out of the country owners to let them stand empty instead of renting them out cheaper I think it would be attractive to others in the same boat as myself.

Regarding the teaching I have no qualifications in it and I would definitely look at developing course material and teaching plans before I even attempted it. I do have a couple of close friends at the local secondary school enquiring for me as they do photography there, but no experienced photographers.

The main reason for posting here was really to get advice and any feedback which you guys have really helped with. This is in the very early stages of planning and with a 2nd child on the way its not something I'll be jumping in to lightly.

john_s · 17 Oct 2014 at 08:41

I'd go paper background rather than vinyl; you'd be forever cleaning it. With paper, just cut off the dirty bit and you're good to go again.

If you have a studio big enough to take cars, I believe that can bring quite a bit of rental in. Then you're more looking at an industrial unit than somewhere in town though.

A friend is a full time pro who mostly does weddings. He has a studio for (mostly) family work and rents it out to other photographers when he's not using it. He probably rents it out at too low a rate (IMO) but he views it as an overhead that already pays for itself in terms of his business, so any extra rental is just a bonus.

He does tuition too. I don't think that so much needs any kind of accreditation as being personable and able to pass the knowledge across.

He also runs model nights, where he gets a model in and charges 6-8 photographers to shoot over 2-3 hours. They seem to work really well (as another pro photographer friend put it, rather bluntly but accurately, "t**s and a** sells") and they give the evening quite a social feel to it.

Baron C · 18 Oct 2014 at 21:51

AHarvey said:
Well, lots of comments and i'll try to address them

This is a typical market town and this would be easier if I was in Stoke, Shrewsbury or Telford. There are 2 studio's in town currently, both are small, limited room and results are substandard but cheap so they are busy, but don't get the amount of repeat business that they should. We are talking blurry, badly lit and some awful PP in some cases. Oh, and shouting at customers in polish in case and threatening to throw them out because they asked to buy a cd of watermark free images... There is definetly a space for someone to come along and take over as a primary company here.
From a business owner perspective, it sounds like you can compete, although you would need to portray the better level of competency and make it marketable as D.P said above

I shoot weddings mostly, it fits around my current day job and I do enjoy it but I do not actively advertise in any way, its all facebook and word of mouth. I get a few requests for portraits but I refuse to do them in house as there is never enough room and I can't stand giving poor quality results. I know if I was to push it that I would be able to generate leads, and not just for portraits/families/pets etc. I also take product shots for a couple of local companies, small items such as the ebay company selling cycling parts, on top of that, some editing for a couple of London clothes shops.

Does this mean that with a studio in your back pocket you could charge higher rates for your current client list? Where do you currently shoot for your clients?

Equipment wise, I have some Lencarta lights, Nikon stobes, cloth backgrounds etc but would probably look at Vinyl in a full time studio. I definitely need to invest in props, more lights, triggers and modifiers.
I bet if you hunt around finding used from failed other businesses

I'd love a space large enough for cars or that can be split into 2 shooting areas, viewing rooms + editing space/office for myself. finding that space in town for a decent amount is the issue so would probably be calling on local contacts for a venue on the edge of town.

I work 24 hours a day with current shift pattern as well so no problems having to work any time of the day or night, week days or weekends.
Great mentality

The main aim would be to run it as my own studio, my name, my work on show, but have that offer to rent space out if needed. I don't think the majority of money would come in via others, but due to the current pricing of property around here and the willingness of the out of the country owners to let them stand empty instead of renting them out cheaper I think it would be attractive to others in the same boat as myself.

Regarding the teaching I have no qualifications in it and I would definitely look at developing course material and teaching plans before I even attempted it. I do have a couple of close friends at the local secondary school enquiring for me as they do photography there, but no experienced photographers.

The main reason for posting here was really to get advice and any feedback which you guys have really helped with. This is in the very early stages of planning and with a 2nd child on the way its not something I'll be jumping in to lightly.

I find that researching an enterprise is an affirming activity, do as much as you can. It's those first 3 years which are the kicker to be honest. You will have Naysayers, take heed of what they say if its constructive. If its not constructive, ignore them. A Lot of people try to project their own fears and insecurities.

Most important, make sure that your other half is fully prepared and committed as you. I have had partners who couldn't stay the course as the didn't appreciate what is required.

Good luck, be brave and do it