At last, I have managed to get a studio set up in the Humphries Complex on Dayrells Road. It has been a while in coming but it is a lot better than shooting at home. For home shoots it would take an hour and a half to set up, moving the furniture off the patio. I would then do the shoot and once complete, move the furniture back and put away the lighting equipment - another hour and a half. And of course, that does not include the inconvenience to my wife who makes herself invisible whilst the shoot is going on. The other challenges of shooting on my home patio were the heat and the wind. Many times I had things falling down, props, v-flats, and a couple of times light stands all due to gusts of wind coming through. Then the sweat - I sweat quite a bit and it is very hot even when the wind is blowing so a cloth had to be on hand to wipe away the sweat.
With this studio, I don’t have to worry about the wind or about the heat - it’s nicely air-conditioned and there is a good amount of space in which to have a great photoshoot. My setup time is minimal - switch on the air conditioning, make sure my batteries are good and just move the lights depending on the type of shoot that I will be doing. Even better, once the shoot is done I can leave everything as is, and just charge up the batteries for the next photo shoot.
In the studio, I have potentially four shooting areas. I have a very small wall section, next to a window which has some great natural light opportunities. I then have potentially three backdrops - my hand-made black/grey canvas backdrop, my hand-made off-pink canvas backdrop, and a white wall. Mind you the props and lights have to be moved around depending on which backdrop is going to be used. I prefer using a black background but sometimes it’s nice to change things up so the studio gives me an opportunity to do so.
I will still shoot on location for those clients who wish to do that, but the studio provides a more controlled environment, where I don’t have to worry about the weather, the heat, the wind, or other external factors.
I am really happy and pleased that I now have this space and I am looking forward to using it more and more.
Thanks for reading. Please be in touch to learn more about my work and to book a portrait or personal branding session with me.
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