When we first arrived at the studio Adrian gave us a guided tour showing us the main studio used for building room settings, the wet room and the paint shop used for the painting of materials for room settings. There is a store of equipment used for room setting from walls beading and fireplaces. Also on the ground floor is a kitchen which is useful for the long hours that are quite often worked in the photography business.
Also on the ground floor is a smaller studio used for smaller products like jewellery and pack shots which leads into a changing room for models. Adrian explained that the changing room was the dark room which he plans to convert back with the recent interest in black and white photography.
The stairs are steep and Adrain ensured that we held the hand rail for health and safety considerations. Upstairs is a very comfortable office which is also needed for the sometimes long hours spent in the studio. Opposite the office space is a large prop room that is full of various props, cushions, lamps, fabric and props used for outside photography.
At the end of the tour Adrain explained the fire drill, advising us that there is fire exits in all four corners of the building, showed us the fire alarm and explained where the meeting point is in the event of a fire.
During the visit Adrian explained what is actually involved in running the studio. At one time the studio employed seven people and now it is just Adrian and Kieran, and all other help is provided by outside companies. This works better for him as employment law over the last decade and the law for providing employees with a contract of employment can prove difficult for small businesses. There is not many live studios left compared to recent years. The digital era means that many companies are using agencies and more people can work from home cutting overheads thus leading to undercutting competition. The Image Depot has retained its capability of doing large room set work that the competition working from home cannot achieve.
Once Adrain has a brief for a client he has an initial meeting to find out what the client wants he devises a plan and puts together a quote. The right questions have to be asked during the meeting and all angles covered, everything has to be noted on the brief including if the shots are to be landscape or portrait. Planning is a really important process and you have to ensure that once the work is finished there are no misunderstandings or errors as if there is this can result in a reduction in the final invoice and thus a reduction in profit.
He often has to improvise on ideas to cut costs and explains that lighting is the key to obtaining great shots. The idea behind the business plan is to turn the work around fast for the right price. Whilst working on the plan he constantly researches magazines, books and the internet for ideas and to keep up with the latest trends. The Image Depot keep all there research work as styles and trends always come around and back in fashion. When dealing with a company he likes to deal with the people who can make the decisions as when companies send the marketing assistant the whole project is more difficult.
Adrain talked about the legal implications and permission of copyright. He said that it is hard to retain the copyright on images when you are photographing other peoples products and offers a free use for ten years. He talks about ethical considerations and explained that it is not right to make profit from other peoples grief. Also the considerations of photographing women and explained that he will not photograph anyone under the age of eighteen without a parent present and he will not photograph any women without someone else also being in the studio. When photographing children for safety he only works on a 1-3 ratio.
Finally we had a quick demonstration by Kieran who was working on a prototype pack shot for a client. He explained how he always uses gloves to handle any products he is photographing as this eliminates fingerprints from the image. He explained that the sample would have no charge to the client and was used to show the client what kind of work they could expect. He then showed us how files are stored and some visuals which had been used from a stock library.
Once Adrain has a brief for a client he has an initial meeting to find out what the client wants he devises a plan and puts together a quote. The right questions have to be asked during the meeting and all angles covered, everything has to be noted on the brief including if the shots are to be landscape or portrait. Planning is a really important process and you have to ensure that once the work is finished there are no misunderstandings or errors as if there is this can result in a reduction in the final invoice and thus a reduction in profit.
He often has to improvise on ideas to cut costs and explains that lighting is the key to obtaining great shots. The idea behind the business plan is to turn the work around fast for the right price. Whilst working on the plan he constantly researches magazines, books and the internet for ideas and to keep up with the latest trends. The Image Depot keep all there research work as styles and trends always come around and back in fashion. When dealing with a company he likes to deal with the people who can make the decisions as when companies send the marketing assistant the whole project is more difficult.
Adrain talked about the legal implications and permission of copyright. He said that it is hard to retain the copyright on images when you are photographing other peoples products and offers a free use for ten years. He talks about ethical considerations and explained that it is not right to make profit from other peoples grief. Also the considerations of photographing women and explained that he will not photograph anyone under the age of eighteen without a parent present and he will not photograph any women without someone else also being in the studio. When photographing children for safety he only works on a 1-3 ratio.
Finally we had a quick demonstration by Kieran who was working on a prototype pack shot for a client. He explained how he always uses gloves to handle any products he is photographing as this eliminates fingerprints from the image. He explained that the sample would have no charge to the client and was used to show the client what kind of work they could expect. He then showed us how files are stored and some visuals which had been used from a stock library.
