After spending the better part of nearly two decades living and working in Glenwood, in May of this year I uprooted myself and my business to a charming residential complex in central Westville. The biggest drawcard to selecting this space to live and work from is the central nature of Westville, as well as the fact that I now have a massive downstairs area from the townhouse that has become my photography studio. It’s pretty big as far as home studios go, with the main room comprising some 51m², plus a 12m² adjoining room that I use for a second office and gear storage area. And there’s a wonderful patio and deck right outside too where I have spotted kingfishers and woodpeckers making themselves cozy in the fever trees that surround me. Love the trees, hate the leaves they drop!
The primary focus for me now having this additional space is to re-sink myself into the commercial photography world, specifically in the form of churning out pack shot photography for eCommerce entrepreneurs. In my previous space I didn’t really have room for large products, but here in this new space I would be quite comfortable shooting full length fashion on a seamless white (or black) background, plus small furnishings. I could probably do up to 3 seater sofas in here, but logistically this might be difficult as there are some stairs to contend with and then of course limited space to keep these items when they are not being photographed. So let me just say that if you have chairs and small tables to shoot I can accommodate you easily. Most of my work though will probably still be centred around tabletop sized items.
These shots shows the main shooting area with the table, overhead lighting for tabletop products and of course my editing desk. The black backdrop to the left of the frame can be shifted back a further 3m or so if need be, but for now behind there is a cozy little lounge area with a TV and lots of photography books for clients to enjoy while I am busy with their photo shoots (assuming they aren’t supervising what I do).
I shoot everything tethered to this little trolley seen on the left. Images are then “flown” across the network into the main editing computer at the desk and imported into Lightroom where I can do initial edits, or show my clients exactly what their shot is going to look like, if they are in studio with me, or monitoring the shoot remotely (yes, I can do this quite easily by setting up a live session with Google Meet and using OBS to show either screen or a live view of the set). Ain’t technology wonderful?
I really love this space and while I am off to a bit of a slow start after the move (amazing how quickly people forget you), I have entirely re-thought how I want to offer this service to my clients, so if you are one of them be sure to look out for my infrequent newsletters for special deals I offer.