Studio Spaces

Does anyone use a studio space that they rent when needed? Anyone rent their studio?

How much does it run, or how much have you paid?

Assume it is a nice place, 14'+ ceilings, etc.

Do you allow them to use your lighting equipment? Cameras/lenses? Additional fees for these?

Depends on where you are & local prices. Commercial studios around here come bare & you pay for everything of theirs you use:
http://www.rentlights.​com/gear/lighting-quartz.htm
http://www.bigstudiore​ntal.com/equipment.htm​l

Anybody else?

Anyone from another market care to chat about their studio business? We are very close to dropping into a real space. We were thinking about involving other photographers either by renting the space or sharing the space and front end with them to appear more professional. (Provided quality imagry was in place!)

J

SF has several some are fully loaded with hi speed cable, internet and mac or pc some only have space. Some rent for 150 per hour some go for as little as 26 per hour. Daily and weekly rentals get a discount.

LBaldwin wrote in post #5838133
SF has several some are fully loaded with hi speed cable, internet and mac or pc some only have space. Some rent for 150 per hour some go for as little as 26 per hour. Daily and weekly rentals get a discount.

Are they in demand?

Are rental studio realistic? Let's assume it is a loft-ish space, more geared towards commerical than portraitist type stuff.

I'm sure St. Louis is very different, but I know I couldn't find much when looking for a studio here in town to rent for my purposes. It is one of the reasons we are thinking about getting one off the ground.

What I'm after is having a space to call home that is self supporting, without me personally having to shoot. This could be a mix of in-house or rental photographers.

Quite a few photographers have done this, we have several here in the San Jose area. Some are very formal with a gree room and snack areas and fully support video as well as stills. Some are spacec only and you are required to bring everything.

Having your studio in the black book or other guides would be a big help, towards having it booked enough each month to support costs. Also there are billing, credit and customer vetting and of course there are serious insurance issues. Commercial had the chance to pay better but don't limit the spaces usage.

If you intend to provide gear for rental you have to keep in mind the liabilities of something goes wrong during a shoot. So blanket releases are a requirement. Also alonjg with this is the capital outlay for primary and backup gear, repairs, wear and tear etc.

LBaldwin wrote in post #5843693
Quite a few photographers have done this, we have several here in the San Jose area. Some are very formal with a gree room and snack areas and fully support video as well as stills. Some are spacec only and you are required to bring everything.

Having your studio in the black book or other guides would be a big help, towards having it booked enough each month to support costs. Also there are billing, credit and customer vetting and of course there are serious insurance issues. Commercial had the chance to pay better but don't limit the spaces usage.

If you intend to provide gear for rental you have to keep in mind the liabilities of something goes wrong during a shoot. So blanket releases are a requirement. Also alonjg with this is the capital outlay for primary and backup gear, repairs, wear and tear etc.

We have a few in town, however not very many and those that exist don't appear to be particularly "quality"

We've been heavily debating gear rental. At this point I was thinking not letting it out that we would be able to do so, and only allowing rental like that with photographers we have an ongoing working relationship with. I can't see us taking on the liability of the shoot not being able to happen in the near term.

Great advice around insurance. While we have an umbrella policy and some other in-place insurance, I suspect the costs of insurance will triple or more with a formal space.

I think all we would be "After" is paying the absolute base rent with rental of the facility for a wide variety of purposes. We do have a photography business that is pretty busy for a little part time endeavor, and think we could spin up considerably more buisness by being able to offload work to another photographer that is quality but doesn't have the buisness means, or sense.

It has been difficult involving others in our business because of our current studio being located in our loft residence. It work very well, and isn't that dissimilar to the space we would lease, but it is hard to relax and also have a full-fledged shoot going on in one's home unless I'm performing it myself. Even then, the wife is tired of a shoot nearly every night!

The black book?

JasonSTL739 wrote in post #5843776
We have a few in town, however not very many and those that exist don't appear to be particularly "quality"

We've been heavily debating gear rental. At this point I was thinking not letting it out that we would be able to do so, and only allowing rental like that with photographers we have an ongoing working relationship with. I can't see us taking on the liability of the shoot not being able to happen in the near term.

Great advice around insurance. While we have an umbrella policy and some other in-place insurance, I suspect the costs of insurance will triple or more with a formal space.

I think all we would be "After" is paying the absolute base rent with rental of the facility for a wide variety of purposes. We do have a photography business that is pretty busy for a little part time endeavor, and think we could spin up considerably more buisness by being able to offload work to another photographer that is quality but doesn't have the buisness means, or sense.

It has been difficult involving others in our business because of our current studio being located in our loft residence. It work very well, and isn't that dissimilar to the space we would lease, but it is hard to relax and also have a full-fledged shoot going on in one's home unless I'm performing it myself. Even then, the wife is tired of a shoot nearly every night!

The black book?

Having rental gear onsite means added income, for shooters from out of town, no need to pay outrageous shipping costs for lighting and BG. Everybody uses Dynalights, norman and Speedotron so getting a few kits used but in good shape is a no brainer. You can even rent your self out as 1st assistant and get some extra cash that way.

You don't know about the black book? Where ya been? www.blackbook.com
Even if your insurance does triple, look into getting project insurance too. It was big in the editorial and wedding biz a few years ago, not sure about now. But essentially they would insure your ability to bring home the shots.

First thing I would send post cards or other notices out to all the Ad agencies within 500 miles of you. Stupid stuff can make quite a bit o' cash.

I have a good friend in the LA area that got a wild hair and bought a dolly truck and two shoot vehicles in an auction. Two new motors and he was in business as an add on for his studio. Last year he logged over 100k miles for each @ 1.25 per mile. The #$(*@ trucks made more cash than the cameras did!!

Yea have it seperate form your living room... No fun with half nekkid models running around when you want to watch Leno...
Good luck

LBaldwin wrote in post #5846892
Having rental gear onsite means added income, for shooters from out of town, no need to pay outrageous shipping costs for lighting and BG. Everybody uses Dynalights, norman and Speedotron so getting a few kits used but in good shape is a no brainer. You can even rent your self out as 1st assistant and get some extra cash that way.

You don't know about the black book? Where ya been? www.blackbook.com
Even if your insurance does triple, look into getting project insurance too. It was big in the editorial and wedding biz a few years ago, not sure about now. But essentially they would insure your ability to bring home the shots.

First thing I would send post cards or other notices out to all the Ad agencies within 500 miles of you. Stupid stuff can make quite a bit o' cash.

I have a good friend in the LA area that got a wild hair and bought a dolly truck and two shoot vehicles in an auction. Two new motors and he was in business as an add on for his studio. Last year he logged over 100k miles for each @ 1.25 per mile. The #$(*@ trucks made more cash than the cameras did!!

Yea have it seperate form your living room... No fun with half nekkid models running around when you want to watch Leno...
Good luck

Thanks! Great advice. I'm a great businessman, but specific photography stuff I'm very very green. You might say I am new to the photography business. For example, I did our first shoot EVER in Feburary of 2007. Needless to say, it has been interesting!