After the day’s training with Damien Lovegrove (see our previous post) we took a very hard look at our studio and client suite facilities at High Wood Barn, and very quickly came to the conclusion that they were in need of a complete refurbishment.

The studio was showing signs of wear, and given the new insights gained from the training session was simply not up to the new lighting techniques I wanted to try, and the client room needed up dating to include better and more comfortable viewing facilities, not to mention an improved heating system for cold winter evenings.

Start of the end for the current studio

October is usually a quiet month for portrait work, so it was a good time to make the improvements. We started by stripping out all the old “tat” that had accumulated over the years, including the lighting fixtures, background holders and some of the props that were no longer used. The walls were straightened, new lighting circuits installed to give more flexibility, but also to improve safety by removing most of the flying leads for the strobes – always a great worry especially when we have children in the studio – and the whole area was redecorated, changing wall colour from white to mainly dark grey.

Almost finished

The final change was the addition of a ceiling track system to carry the main flash units, giving both more space on the floor but also removing another source of hazard – heavy flash heads on flimsy lighting stand tripods. This was something of a gamble, as although the surface area is more than adequate, the height of the studio is limited, and there was the risk that the track would simply be too low.

However, this quickly proved to be not the case, and the first trial sessions proved what a major improvement in workflow we had brought about.

The client area was redecorated a much warmer colour, lighting improved, complete with remote dimming, new window blinds, electric fast response heating and, shortly, a new carpet, so clients can feel more comfortable whilst viewing and choosing their prints. This has also been made easier by installing a projection system instead of the old TV we have been using, this giving much larger and clearer images.

None of this comes cheap, so it has to be covered by a good return on the sessions, but so far the improvements have made the photography easier, not to mention more flexible, so we can give our clients a wider choice of images, work quicker, so kids don’t get fed up, and then offer the client a much more agreeable environment in which to make their choices.

We are now flat out with portrait work for Christmas presents, but once this subsides, we really want to expand the different possibilities the studio now allows, so early in the New Year we will be offering the possibility of a free portrait session with a choice of images taken during it, to anyone willing to come along and be a “victim” or model for an hour or so, allowing us the chance to try out some new ideas. The only condition being that we are then able to use the images in promotion and web work.

We will publish more details after Christmas, so if you are interested, give us a call on 01729 840041or email us through the contact page