Wadda ya know... a new post

Ok, so it's been a few months since I wrote here. I've been busy shooting weddings - none of which I've posted! But I've also been doing a bit of 'soul searching' (oh, sounds a bit deep), and some serious thinking about my photographic future.

It all started before Christmas, when I shot my brothers wedding in Christchurch (which I did post). I met a guy who had been running a wedding photography business in Christchurch ('hi Alan'), but was now running a restaurant instead. He mentioned that he had some wedding albums and other gear left over that I might be interested in, if I wanted to take a look.

Didn't think much about it at the time, but early in the new year we were back in Christchurch, and I contacted him to take a look. Long story short - it's probably changed my life!

Turns out he had an entire studio's worth of gear to 'get rid of', as well as dozens of Italian Leather-bound albums of the absolute highest quality. Did I want them? Does a bear *you know what* in the woods!

Once I got all this gear home, however, I needed to sit down and think seriously about what I was going to do with it all. The most obvious thing, of course, was to start my own studio.

Easier said than done though - right? Of course the big issues are where, and how much. No good if you can't find a space, or can't afford any of the spaces that you do find. And then there's the issues of branding, marketing, costing, selling etc,

It's been a couple of months since then, and I think I've got a handle on most of the questions and issues I had at the beginning. I've finally found a space that will work as a studio, with only relatively minor tweaking, and I'm off to the accountant in half an hour to work through the other aspect of that - can I afford it! I must admit that initially I was very pessimistic about the cost of it all, but my accountant seems to be exactly the opposite, and meeting with him initially was the turning point in my decision to really go for it.

I've gone back and forth with the whole 'name' thing, trying to think of something catchy/cool/funny/relevant. But in the end, I keep coming back to Lorimer Photography Studio. Kinda says it all really. And we, as photographers, get to be known on a personal level with our clients as much as anything else. So why try and brand it as something other than what it really is - me running a photography studio.

My plan is to continue on with the Graphic Design working from my current office at the printing firm who are my major contract, and run the studio almost by 'appointment only'. Perhaps doing an 80/20 split of my time between the printing base for design work, and studio space in town for photography. Of course, I hope that eventually 80/20 will become 70/30, then 60/40, and so on and so forth.

In the meantime, I still have to decide whether or not I can afford any of it. So it's off to the accountant... Wish me luck.