Bye Bye Studio

Bye bye studio….meaning that I am in the process of selling my photo studio. Although I am still in doubt I guess that the likelyhood I will still have my studio in one year time is not very high. Let me explain … and tell you about my doubts, the pros and contras I see of keeping my studio. And maybe some professional photographers can give me new food for thought.

Dreams, dreams and more dreams…..

Some years ago – I guess somewhere in my midlife crisis – I decided that the life of a senior manager was not that fulfilling and I joined a photo academy. Some years later, burning with passion, dreaming of a new future as a fashion and beauty photographer I decided to buy a niece property and transform it into a photo studio. And in my dreams I would do all kinds of high-end shoots there and the pics would end up in nice magazines. With some sense of reality I did understand that I had no portfolio, no clients, no income from photography. Therefore I stopped the management job and switched to a part-time job that made it possible to develop my skills and work on my portfolio. And a few years later it was time to make some decisions.

Working on my portfolio I had learned that I would NOT become a fashion photographer. The fashion scene and I – that was not a fit – and I was not that optimistic about being successful as a fashion photographer. But I really loved beauty photography. And I was far more optimistic about creating some income with that. Until I confronted myself with some realities …beauty photography is a very very small market in Holland, most beauty jobs go to fashion photographers (already doing jobs for the magazines), I was not part of the Amsterdam in-crowd, you will have to be damned and damned good to get a piece of the cake and still better when you want that piece year after year ….need I go further ?

Hmmm…but I really wanted to make that start as a “professional” photographer. In the end I decided to give stock photography a try (not knowing that the prices of stock photos were falling faster than autumn leaves). And I told myself that shooting beauty images for stock would give me a world wide distribution of my beauty images and I would no longer be restricted to the dutch market. Next lesson was that in the world of macro stock photography the typical “fashion” beauty images are not wanted. The stock agencies only want timeless beauty & health images. And …if there is one segment with a real oversupply of images it is ….you have guessed it already – beauty & wellness. As a consequence you can only make some sales with top work. In order to “getting seen” your beauty images have to really stand out of the crowd meaning you have to work with really good beauty models and really good make-up artists. And that will cost you something !!! But even then investments will be very hard to justify from the revenues you will get from those images. In my opinion it is extremely difficult to make some money with beauty stock photography.

So this beauty photography looks like a dead end street. It is very difficult to see how to create some income from assignments (at least being based in Holland) or from stock sales. Time for new dreams

New Dreams

Working with the creative directors of stock agencies I was – I am – stimulated to diversify and to forget that studio. I tried and nowadays I am shooting all kinds of stuff outside that studio. I shoot lifestyle, business, people, concepts, even landscapes and cityscapes. And I love being outdoors. And If I keep my investments low I think I can make some income with stock photography. But only if I really manage the investments !!! After a few years of testing the water I have decided to stop my job and in the near future I will have to live from my income as a photographer. Stock income will give me some income and the rest I still have to find out. I would never never take this decision when I would be a young man with wife and children but I am a 50 plus guy and have little to worry about in the next 10 to 15 years. So I can make that decision to be a (stock) photographer.

And what to do with that damned studio ?

My stock shoots will be indoors and outdoors but very very seldom in the studio. It is very hard to create production value in the studio. So for my stock work I hardly need that studio. Maybe I can get a beauty job now and then but that will hardly justify to keep this studio, will it ? I am not interested in product shots. Portrait work ? I doubt it. Magazines will most of the time prefer location shoots….

When I think of it personal work would be my main reason for keeping this studio. Maybe I will have paid jobs now and then but not enough to justify the costs of a studio. Even when you don’t use it there are considerable costs (tax, insurance, maintenance). Is it really worthwhile – because of personal work – to keep this studio ? I don’t think so.

From an economic point of view I can hardly find any justification for keeping this studio. Looking at it from another way – not having this studio any more (knowing the wonderful weather in Holland from November till March) – it will be a serious loss not having the opportunity any more to do studio shoots (for personal work).

But is that really true ? With a good outdoors outfit you can probably do a lot of shooting outdoors, also in winter. And maybe become a little more creative in using indoor locations ??

What to do, keep this studio or not ?

I guess I already more or less made up my mind. I think I have decided to develop as a location and outdoors photographer, and try to create some income from that kind of photography. I really cannot see my studio as a source of income and although it will be hard to say bye bye to beauty / portrait photography in the studio I think I will.

Or can you give me one or two damned good reasons to keep my studio ?