What do you expect from a studio?

[Andy_Pearlman]

Do whatever you can. I'm assuming you are going after pros and hobbiests? I don't know if there is a big market in your area for rental studios to professionals (I know there is a big pro photo community in Seattle) but I would make up a promo card (maybe 5"x8") with a small shot or two of the studio, and some basic specs, and post it at every photo lab (custom and one-hour), camera store, appliance store (whereever cameras are sold) and college in your area. Also look to see if ASMP (asmp.org) has a local chapter, or PPA for that matter, and see what's involved in getting an ad in whatever they hand out or email out to members. Some groups raise funds by putting ads in their emails to local members. Also, if any of these groups do seminars and/or workshops, guest speakers, etc, they're often looking for a place to do them. If your space is big enough, offer it to them in exchange for 2 or 3 minutes to plug your rentals and hand out a promo card. In fact, if you think it would work, you could make it available to ANY organization needing a free space for a meeting, just as long as you get your commercial in, and its a group that might actually produce a rental. (A women's reading club might not produce many renters). You could also make it available for art gallery openings.

You could offer classes on photography, or workshops. Are you qualified to teach? Do you know someone who is? Could you bring in someone like Rolando to do a workshop? Aside from getting some revenue from the event itself, some of the attendees might turn out to be customers. If you have a list of available models handy, that would help too (be sure to include that item on your promo card - the local hobbiests will like that).

Finally, you could try advertising in the local paper, or college papers. Put a sign in the window of your car and park it near a shopping mall on Saturday or Sunday! Do whatever you can. That's all I can think of for the moment.

Regards,
Andy Pearlman
Andy Pearlman Studio

[Scott_Young]

I’m hoping the studio will be attractive to pros, amateurs, and students alike. The actual location will be in Snohomish County just south of Everett, between Everett and Lynnwood. The area is a suburb on the north side of Seattle and the location has easy freeway access so I don’t foresee any problems attracting the Seattle Pro Community.

A bit about the building itself, It’s 2000 sq ft. (25’x80’) with a 20’ ceiling (25’ in the middle). The rollup door is 12’x14’ so I will be able to bring in just about any size vehicle to shoot. I will be building a 20’x 20’x15’ Cyclorama with infinity corner toward the back of the building and the way it’s laid out there will be a 70’ straight shot from the rollup door to the back of the cyclorama. A loft will sit over the office/dressing room area offering a great down angle to the cyclorama. The loft will also contain a kitchenette meeting table and couch, chairs, and TV.

On the left side between the rollup door and the edge of the cyclorama is enough space to setup several portable shooting areas sideways as needed. The thing about it that I like is it will be very versatile.

If all goes well it should open for business the beginning of January, 2005.

I also plan to offer a discount on any time booked by any Garage Glamour Member and if Rolando is reading this and it sounds like a facility he would be interested in running one of his workshops in I’ll let him have the time free. Just let me know. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]