ShutterLover
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After the financial meltdown I'm hoping to go pro after 15 years of serious amatuer photograph and five years of semi-pro. I'm at the stage where I don't have the energy to meet the demand with a full-time day job and have to turn down interesting projects because people expect daytime availablity, leaving me with weddings and social photography (I love that, but it's more the fashion and fine art material that interests me). Plus, you get the sense that some editorial and fashion clients, even if they like your shots, seem to think it's bizarre you have a day job.
If I take the plunge, I really want to go the whole hog. I wouldn't have enough work to start with from present contacts and exposure levels but would like to open up a studio initially providing consumer portraiture and editorial fashion. I know a couple of other good photogs who seem interested aqlthough as they're a few years younger (I'm 29) they're struggling on a shoe string while I have a few resources but we could still pool and rent a space. If work was slow we could also rent out the studio to amatuers and other photographers by the hour to maximise usage.
By getting a trading estate small unit it could be dirt cheap (almost pocket money split between three or four photographers) as so many are vacant and you get get pretty much any length of lease you want - even very short. However, this would be a drive out of town, no walk-by business, no wow-factor.
Another more expensive option, but still quite cheap, is to get some office space in the city centre. Again, there's a glut of empty space and some office have decently high ceilings and so would be suitable. Plus you could situate above prime locations. Again, very short leases are available.
The third option is get a shopfront location, which would be good for the consumer side but massively, massively more expensive than the other two option.
The forth is to simply try and win work and then rent space as-and-when but I feel that's a bit chicken-and-egg as I want to do some more portfolio-building to start winning more work. Plus, the few studios with in distance tend to be too high-end for where I'm at.
What prompted you guys to take the plunge and if you needed studio space how did you go about it?
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