Note: This was written in May, and should have been posted some time ago, but finalizing contract issues dragged on and then the actual work getting everything setup drove me to forget to post it. Everything in it is still basically valid. Photography bookings resume in August.

We’ve signed papers on the new studio space.

No, I’m not going to do away with in-home portraiture. This has very little effect on what I see as my primary focus which is bringing in a level of fun while reducing the headaches of going to the portrait studio.

So, if business as usual, what does going from hourly rental to having our own studio mean? Reduced in-studio sitting fees! Lower minimum time requirements! It’s simple math: the current fee schedule includes up to 1 hour travel time each way for in-home sessions and matches the minimum 3 hour studio rental that we have now. A fixed location means lower set-up times, less wear and tear on equipment, etc.

I don’t know how this will affect scheduling yet. Right now when you book a session a 3-4 hour section is blocked out on the calendar. That means I can do 2 or at most 3 sessions per day. As existing clients know we make an effort to keep a number of blocks available each week so that wait times are at most 2-3 days. I will be floating the idea of “studio days” where we’ll block off, say, 8am-6pm on a Saturday and divide that time into 30 minute sessions. That’s not enough time to do a family of 6 or a full maternity set but would be enough to do as part of a series. A newly born child could schedule a full newborn session in studio or at home and then use 30 minute sessions once a month to produce a first year wall collage.