photo studio

Summary

We’ve been thinking a lot about planning ever since the recent Creative Force webinar on editorial production. Specifically how planning differs from editorial to product photography. On the editorial side, you know when you start a project you’ll need photo, video, h/mu, styling etc. for a set number of days. Running an ecomm studio adds an element to that, the idea of carryover. How much product will I have left over at the end of the day, and what does that mean for staffing tomorrow, or next week? All of this thinking about planning reminded us of this conversation with Scott Willson of Patagonia, specifically when he talks about how a well functioning, efficient studio often looks like things are running smoothly and easily. Due in no small part to planning. Let’s flash back to Episode 24, process vs. product with Scott Willson of Patagonia. 

Discount Code

Reminder to use code ECCP to get your first month of PhotoRoom Pro for free! Thanks to the PhotoRoom team for the generous offer. 

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

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Greetings to 'The Truth in This Art' podcast, presented by your host, Rob Lee. Today I chatted with Baltimore-based photographer Willis Aybar, with a wealth of experience shooting diverse events and locations nationwide, founded Studio 87. His multifaceted space emerged from years of photography and studio rentals, evolving into a hub for creativity, collaboration, and support for local families, artists, non-profits, and small businesses. Willis is renowned for his dedication to documenting life and exceptional customer service. A passionate seeker, he constantly ventures into new creative realms, embodying the spirit of 'Do What You Love ❤️'.

In this installment, we:

• Uncover Willis Aybar's early penchant for capturing life, tracing his journey from documentation to professional photography.
• Deep dive into the pivotal role of customer service in the photography industry and how it contributes to business success, as illuminated by Willis's experience.
• Explore the art of problem-solving in photography through Willis's insights into adapting to various scenarios to create captivating images.
• Examine Willis's artistic evolution beyond photography, delving into his ventures into writing and filmmaking to amplify his creative repertoire.
• Engage in a discussion about the metaphysical aspect of Willis's work as he explores the realms of ghosts and energy within his photographic compositions.

Willis turned his passion for documenting life into a successful business. He highlights customer service and problem solving's significance, adapting to diverse situations. Beyond photography, he explores writing, and filmmaking and believes in energy-infused images.

Mentioned in this episode:

Willis Aybar
Baltimore Studio 87

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The Truth In This Art is not just about exploring art, culture, and community—it's a platform that actively engages with them. Whether you're discovering the vibrant arts scene in and around your community or tasting the local flavors at Foraged, you're immersed in the heartbeat of Baltimore. Located in the Station North Arts & Entertainment District, foraged. a hyper-seasonal eatery where Chef Chris Amendola serves farm-fresh seasonal plates alongside beer & wine, all in an atmosphere as warm and inviting as our podcast conversations. The space, adorned with greenery, mirrors the eatery's commitment to local and seasonal ingredients, a philosophy that's deeply rooted in the natural world—just like the authentic stories we explore on the podcast. It's a full-circle community experience, even featuring a signature cocktail named after Rob Lee. With Chef Amendola being a frequent guest on our show, the partnership illuminates the rich intersections of arts, culture, and community that we both celebrate. Discover more at foragedeatery.com.

Summary

In creative production there are many roles and skills that pull together to make the magic happen, and each of those team members have a perspective on how things shake out. One very unique role in creative production is the Hair and Makeup artist. Present on almost every production that requires human talent, the hair and makeup artist sees it all and is impacted directly by every other role. Joining Daniel for this episode is Cathi Singh, Southern California based hair and makeup artist, to talk about how shooting stills and video changes how she approaches her job, and the trends she’s seeing in the types of content being produced. 

Key Takeaways

• When considering how to tackle hair and make up for stills vs. video, there are considerations you need to make to ensure not only continuity between stills and video, but also how the nature of video changes what you can get away with.
• In stills production you can get away with a lot more because of the locked perspective and the fact that nothing moves. You can place hair elements where you need them, and you can use make up to cover things in stills that don't work in video.
• Art direction also should probably move toward more natural and product focused.
• As a hair and make up artist, Cathi must remember that she isn't selling her hair styling skill, but selling the product featured.
• How you approach the shoot for still and video has an impact as well, are you bouncing between stills and video or shooting stills on day 1 and video on day 2.
• Somehow we ended up talking about task switching, as related to stills and video.
• A challenge for campaign shoots in the future: reduce you deliverables per day by 10%, just to see how that impacts the team and quality of the work.
• Many shoots that Cathi is working on are shooting multiple vintage formats on top of digital

Discount Code

Reminder to use code ECCP to get your first month of PhotoRoom Pro for free! Thanks to the PhotoRoom team for the generous offer. 

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

An interesting problem that many creative teams don’t think of as a problem is the static nature of the photograph. By their very nature, photographs are snapshots in time and making changes to that snapshot historically has been inconceivable, impossible. Our guest in this episode is Robert Alhborg, former fashion photographer turned co-founder and chief Product Officer of Looklet, a fashion tech company that challenges the idea that fashion imagery is static by nature, and is working to unlock a new world of capabilities and synergies between creative production and e-commerce teams.

Key Takeaways

• Looklet was founded 10 years, a fashion tech company that has deconstructed the process of fashion photography for big retailers and brands.
• Customers can shoot models and garments separately, even in different parts of the world, and compile those elements into an image that is hard to distinguish from a traditional photo shoot.
• These images become dynamic. You can take an image you love and replace the apparel within the image.
• Roberts background is as a fashion photographer, his experience taught him that scaling fashion photography is very difficult.
• With Looklet, you can maintain a smaller, faster studio and still produce high quality on figure photography.
• In this deconstructed style of photography, you can change out articles that maybe are out of stock or no longer for sale, and not have to reshoot because of these reasons.
• The main thing for Looklet clients is being able to try new things. A/B testing imagery, Personalization, Regionalization, etc.
• Looklet also enables broader options for talent. You no longer have to book the same models everytime you shoot, you can perhaps afford to book a celebrity model and then use those assets for a long time, changing looks as you need them.
• One of the challenges are e-commerce websites that are to rigid to allow for regionalization or personalization.
• There is a big opportunity for a forward thinking creative team to use a platform to its fullest capability.
• Looklet creates a new layer of cross functionality between studio/creative teams and ecomm/web teams.
• Looklets biggest challenge in the near future is balancing their own road map with features that clients want, and finding the right clients to take personalization to the next level. 

Discount Code

Reminder to use code ECCP to get your first month of PhotoRoom Pro for free! Thanks to the PhotoRoom team for the generous offer. 

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

What do you really need to create a functional home studio for photography? In this episode, Christina shares tips on designing your photography workspace to support your creative career. Because the truth is, you don't need a fancy photography studio to become a professional photographer.

Links: Download Christina's free 5-day photography course and learn more about her workshops on www.christinagreve.com. Enroll in The Lifestyle Photography Academy via https://christinagreve.simplero.com/lifestyle-photography-academy.

Follow Christina on Instagram: @christinagreve to enjoy her photography work and words of encouragement. Got a question for Christina? Send an email or a voice message to hello@christinagreve.com

Christina Greve is an International Photography Educator & Mindset Coach. She provides tools, education and inspiration designed to help multi-passionate women, artists and creative souls find direction, push through self-doubt + make a living doing what they LOVE.

Her work has been featured in numerous magazines, blogs and books worldwide. After a decade of working with psychology, Christina’s passion for photography evolved into a full-time photography and coaching business. Today she runs a thriving + fast-growing international empire specializing in professional online training, motivating and engaging female photographers, designers, bloggers, makers and creatives.

She has coached thousands of fabulous women from more than 40+ countries. With her Podcast “The Empowered Creative,” her popular Instagram posts, and quickly sold-out workshops, Christina has become the go-to person for many creatives seeking like-minded sisterhood, real support and heartfelt encouragement.

For more info go to www.christinagreve.com

Summary

Positivity is a powerful tool. Keeping a positive attitude can make or break just about any situation we might find ourselves in. This is equally as true in a photo studio as anywhere else. Cathi Singh is one of the most positive people I know and as a result, is a beloved figure on every crew we've worked together (it also helps to be an extremely talented make up artist). Cathi and I discuss her approach to keeping a positive attitude on set, why its so important to protect our emotional state when creating content, and her go-to methods for keeping calm and carrying on. 

Key Takeaways

• Makeup artists have a special skill, to create a bubble of calm in an otherwise chaotic situation. In a photo studio, this is a valuable resource that should be protected. 
• Positivity isn't always being chipper and upbeat, a big part of developing this skill is to have incredible self-awareness and know how to read the room. 
• Even for the most positive person, a bad day can be really bad. Have tools to help get you through, such as removing yourself momentarily from the situation. 
• Expectation setting can go a long way toward protecting an attitude of positivity. Ask the right questions and feel confident that the answers are clear. 
• Ego is one of the biggest killers of positivity on set. The crew must all work together to achieve their goals, there is no room for ego. 

Resources

Cathi Singh on the Web

Cathi Singh on Instagram

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in e-commerce has been a topic that we’ve wanted to explore on this podcast since almost day one. During and following the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020, many brands and retailers acknowledged the events by posting imagery in support of our friends and neighbors who’d had enough of not being heard. 

When I met my guest for this episode, Photo Art Director Karen Williams, I thought the conversation would focus on that, how diverse and inclusive was the content itself. It quickly become apparent that we needed to talk about the diversity of the crews creating the content. From there, it’s really hard to have the conversation about team diversity if we aren’t talking about opportunity also. Specifically, how we can create more opportunities for a more diverse team that makes our content better. 

Key Takeaways

• DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) are important in all facets of work, but with content creation, its important not to simply consider the diversity or inclusiveness of your model casting, or what appears in the media itself, but the diverse perspectives of the crew as well. 
• This can be a challenge, because people tend to bond on shared experiences and common interests. People tend to want to be around others with those common connections. This can create a challenge when building a diverse team. 
• The crew imparts a lot of itself on the content, and that can in and of itself create perspective issues when creating content. 
• It's hard to talk about diversity without touching on opportunity. Do opportunities exist in your studio for a diverse set of people to excel and succeed? Or even get a shot at trying?
• Building a foundation that creates opportunity can be very difficult, especially at legacy retailers or brands that don't necessarily have DEI baked into their policies. 
• Equipping managers to be effective moderators of conversation can be one way to ensure that diverse perspectives aren't being overlooked. 

Resources

Karen Williams on LinkedIn

How to Become a Diverse and Inclusive E-commerce Brand

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

Phillip Kirst, founder of Spice Media, joins Daniel to talk about efficiency. Everything from starting small to measuring and evaluating, to fostering process improvement from your team. 

Key Takeaways

• Efficiency is ever-evolving. Experience and heuristics helps find efficiencies in your process.
• Low hanging fruit or big wins aren't the only way to get efficient. Small improvements in the aggregate can have huge impacts on overall savings.
• Seconds saved on several thousand pictures has a big return.
• Commercial studios have to balance many factors that dictate how efficient they can be. Client specific needs can change the calculus.
• There isn't ONE thing you need to do to achieve an efficient process. But it does start with selecting the right team. A curious team is a team that creatively solves problems to achieve shared goals.
• You cannot manage you do not measure.
• Getting data isn't only important, but how you collect the data makes a difference.

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

Creative Force senior product specialist James Lewis joins Daniel in this clip show style look back at a few topics from the past year on the podcast. We listen to and discuss clips on KPIs, strategic planning, continuous improvement, and more!

Clip List

• Understanding and Supporting your Creative Teams with Tony Baker of Stitch Fix
• Process vs Product with Scott Willson of Patagonia
• Making the Case for Continuous Improvement with Terence Mahone of Farfetch
• Metrics That Run Your Studio with Todd Schweikert of Rue Gilt Groupe

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

Joining Daniel for this episode is JR Curley, VP of Brand Marketing at Fab Fit Fun. We talk about what Social Media really means to e-commerce in the new era of selling online, how brands can leverage social listening to give their customers what they want, and why your Social Media teams need your support and investment. 

Key Takeaways

• Social Listening through data analysis and customer interactions can provide a lot of insight into what your customers value and what they want. In some cases, it can even replace more traditional methods of forecasting and merchandising. 
• Interacting and having relationships with brands online has been and will continue to grow as the norm for e-commerce.
• The social media manager is a very important role with a lot of inherent risk. We need to shift our thinking away from someone who is younger and more digitally native, to a much more strategic role thats add a lot of value. Invest in this role accordingly.
• Social Media ties directly in to performance for a company.
• The analytics that we can derive from social is valuable and complex.
• In many ways, the social media team are spokespeople for your company.
• The various social media channels are sort of like different types of restaurants. They all serve food, and serve the same function, but there is a distinct tonal different between a high end restaurant and a fast casual eatery. You have to adjust your approach accordingly.
• Synergy amongst the departments that NEED content is critical. Marketing, including social, need to have a productive and collaborative relationship with the studio and creative teams.

Links & Resources

JR on LinkedIn

Fab Fit Fun on LinkedIn

Fab Fit Fun on the Web

The Evolution of Social Media - Maryville University

Social Media is the Current State of the Internet

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

Rick Allen of Hogarth Australia joins the show to talk about the current biggest segment of computational assets in use today, the 360 spin, and we explore some other things the future might bring with regards to AR, VR, GAN Generated Imagery, and we talk a bit about Rozy, Korea's virtual influencer. 

Key Takeaways

• 360 rotational assets seem to stop and start as content that brands want to use, but in some segments, like shoes and appliances, there is a clear benefit. 
• AR will develop into technology that allows us to virtual try on items, perhaps even becoming an instore shopping feature, where we can check out items virtually to decide if we want to try them on physically. 
• LED technology that create large backdrops that are actually screens (like The Mandalorian Soundstage) could come down in price enough to be feasible for an e-comm studio, creating a significantly more sustainable way to capture editorial content. 
• Studios today should be preparing their pipelines for the data and processing needs of AR. We have yet to see what this technology can do for e-comm, but it could be a seismic shift in how we create content. 

Links & Resources

Rick Allen on LinkedIn

Hogarth Australia on LinkedIn

Rozy Oh - Korean Virtual Influencer

GAN Imagery

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

This upcoming weekend is Halloween here in the United States, and while some of our listeners won’t celebrate by going door to door with their kids asking for candy, we thought we’d put together this special episode of the e-commerce content creation podcast that we call Studio Nightmares.

While there aren’t too many spooky stories that take place in a photo studio, there are plenty of embarrassing, funny, and otherwise very cringeworthy stories out there. This episode is a collection of some of these stories from friends, colleagues, and past guests of the podcast. 

Story Guide:

Adam Queen: Don't Sail Away

Jen Bakija - Beware of Fans

Elizabeth Seronko - Hannah and Abigale

Kimmy Snow - I ManneCAN'T

Daniel Jester - Shredded

Summary

Doug Wallstrom of Vera Bradley joins Daniel in this episode to share some stories that highlight the unique ability of the in-house editorial team to overcome the unexpected and get the shots they need to move the business forward. 

Key Takeaways

• Agency relationships are quite important to businesses big and small. Similarly, the in-house team  has it's own strengths that can help a business achieve it's content goals
• The ability to pivot creative, try new things,  test an idea to have something to show the C-Suite, are all things the in-house team can help with. 
• Being able to decentralize a production, specifically spreading out key elements of a production to overcome adverse weather, can help institutionalize some of our industry learnings from the pandemic. 
• Doug plead guilty to the studio crime of changing the playlist mid shoot. Since he changed it to The Clash, he was lightly sentenced to time served. 

Links & Resources

Vera Bradley on LinkedIn

The Clash - London Calling

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Summary

In this episode Daniel discusses some take-aways and ideas following the Henry Stewart Photo Studio Ops Forum event that took place on October 5, 2021.

Key Takeaways

•  Put more focus on hiring the right team, then focus on retention.
• The idea that creative full time roles only stick around for 1-2 years doesn't HAVE to be reality, find ways to keep your team onboard. 
• Employee turnover is waste, and training to backfill doesn't add value
• When it comes to process and workflow, our physical space has an impact. Use something like a spaghetti map to review this. 
• Unnecessary movements are also waste, and physical studio layouts should also employ lean ideas to improve workflow. 
• We need to institutionalize our learnings from COVID. Business interruptions will happen again, whether its another pandemic or increasingly adverse weather due to climate change. 

Links & Resources

Henry Stewart on the web - Many upcoming events, both virtual and live

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

.....part deux! We dig in a little deeper! This is a good one folks! Listen in!

We went into recording this one with the intention of just focusing on headshots, but wound up spending some time discussing James Van Hees journey INTO headshots. 

Many of you know how big the business is, but how did some of us get there. This is a great discussion I think you'll love. This is part one of two. The next one we will get into the nitty gritty! Listen in!

In this episode, Corey shares many insights about his journey of discovering climbing at the early age of 13. He talks about how he has been lucky to be able to combine both of his passions, climbing and photography, to create a fulfilling career. Corey shares a very real look into his journey and how things changed once he had a daughter. He pulls back the curtain and talks about what is involved in pursuing opportunities to shoot stunning visual pictures. 

Corey Rich loves to tell stories. He’s a photographer and a director from South Lake Tahoe who has been documenting adventure sports for over three decades. He’s been taking climbing pictures since he was 13 years old, and over the years his work has helped define the genre of adventure photography in both the editorial and commercial spaces. You’ve seen a lot of his pictures, in magazines, ads, catalogs, and online. You may also be familiar with his work as a director; he has shot commercials for some of the world's biggest companies. But his archive of adventure photography contains many stories that you probably don’t know. He’s written a book called Stories Behind the Images. It’s a book that gives insight into what it means to create a career doing something you love, and how success is all about building great, lasting relationships in business and in life.

He lives with his wife, Marina, daughter, Leila, and dog, Preta, in South Lake Tahoe.

To follow his work and adventures, you can find him here:

Corey's Website

Follow Corey on IG

Follow Candace on Instagram

Candace Dunaway is the Host of the All Things Relatable podcast. Candace practices daily gratitude and believes that this practice is the key to living a joyful life. Candace sees the world through an optimistic lens and looks for the silver linings, even in the most difficult of times. She believes that life is a collection of simple moments of joy that compound to create a happy life.

Follow Candace on Instagram

Use coupon code candace10 to receive 10% off your set of Now by Solu Meditation Speakers

Get your meditation speakers here

Summary

Danny Rickard of Cella pulls from his experience in video production to discuss video strategy with Chief Moneybags of Brand X.  In past episode of this podcast we've discussed standing up video, and the need to have a plan behind it. In this episode Danny helps us understand that strategy doesn't have to be scary, and can leave room for flexibility and experimentation. 

Key Takeaways

• You can think of your video strategy as a tool for not getting lost. It doesn't have to be a map, but a way to get back from a dead end
• Don't be afraid of testing and iterating. Build in a way to learn from the work you're doing
• Identify your audiences, then identify what you want to show them
• Use your  strategy to understand who to hire and when. Not only full time team members, but working with agencies or freelance teams as well
• Honesty about this type of strategy can help ensure you're hiring the right team members

Links & Resources

Danny Rickard on LinkedIn

Cella's Website

Cella on Linkedin

In-House Agency Video’s Transformative Moment by Danny Rickard on the Cella Blog

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com

Big and "strong" is how I would describe Andy Strong's personality. Andy is a photographer based in the San Francisco area. His work embodies the life he lives and the people he surrounds himself with. His work is real, and lively and so is his personality. Andy is just one of those guys who lives to create and I love him for that.

He shares some advice which just hit home for me when I edited this podcast. The advice was from a friend, "You could be 28 with six years of guitar under your belt. OR, you could just be 28." Listen in and hear him discuss this advice!

Summary

David Iscove, Creative Technology Practice Lead at Cella, joins Daniel to take a high level look at how editorial content production fits into the marketing landscape. From our bird's-eye view of editorial content production and it's interface with marketing at large, we talk about the current state of marketing. We touch on how our creative production specific technology should interface with our stakeholders, and what we can unlock when effective communication and technology are in place. 

Key Takeaways

• Cella is a creative production industry consultation firm, specializing in large scale brands and retailers.
• Cella surveys the industry regularly to learn about what challenges large scale brands are encountering with creative production and marketing at large.
• With the increase in need for content across the ever expanding landscape of marketing channels, the need for insight into any one specific content request is greater than ever. Technology to support this for the production teams is an absolute necessity.
• Typical project management tools are generally too broad to be very effective as a studio production management tool. The data objects that go into a studio request explode in several different directions and require very specific tools to ensure effective management.
• To better support our marketing stakeholders, we need to aggregate data from a studio specific management tool to give visibility outside of the studio.
• Using the right tools and building the right communication lines can make it much easier to connect goals from the top level of the org down to individual departments and teams.
• We need to learn to think about the true asset lifecycle. The asset does not begin when the camera clicks or the designer saves the file. The asset begins at the request and ends after analytics around performance are captured and reviewed.
• David will be speaking as part of the Photo Studio Operations Forum 2021. Check the links below for more information. 

Links & Resources

David Iscove on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidiscove/

Cella’s Website: Creative Staffing and Consulting | Cella

Cella on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cella-inc/

Photo Studio Operations Forum by Henry Stewart Events: Events Photo Studio Operations Forum

Glossary
Marcom: Short hand for Marketing Communications

Credits
Produced by: Creative Force - creativeforce.io
Edited by: Calvin Lanz Sound - clsound.net
Hosted by: Daniel Jester - danieltjester.com