I'm saying goodbye to my industrial-textured, brilliant daylight, perpetually dusty photo studio this month. While I am not closing my business I need to move out of this space after several years. The company that I sub-lease the space from is downsizing their footprint and giving back the entire floor of a building back to the landlord who wants to rent the floor to a single company and more than double the rent.
My photo studio has been located in an 1850s factory building that features riveted columns (made from Carnegie Steel) and oversized windows (some facing due west) which afford streaming daylight virtually overlooking Newark Airport with a distant view of Manhattan/NYC looking the other direction. I originally set up this studio when I was shooting the catalog and advertising photos for the apparel company located on 5 floors (about 100,000 sq ft) of the section of the over 1 million sq ft building. This company has recently sent their sewing production overseas and no longer needs all 5 floors, thus I'm out.
It hasn't been an entire bed of roses. The is no convenient public transportation to NYC, few nearby delis/convenience stores, access requires passing through the larger company via a temperamental freight elevator. And it is virtually impossible to keep clean.
But then there is the light... This is one of the last shoots that I will do in the space. It features the UK model Amber Karis Bassick and was included on the cover of the December 2024 edition of Boudoir Inspirations. It gives a long view of the open space and bright windows. This all natural light capture features the ambient glow of light bouncing around the room and illuminating the model and the raw direct light filling the windows and projecting on the floor with just a hint of the raw light hitting her feet and shoes. As with virtually all of my work, this was a RAW capture in which I manipulated the dynamic range in Capture One Pro.
In addition to my many editorial and catalog fashion shoots, it has hosted a fashion shoot by Oscar de la Renta, numerous music videos and photography workshops.
Even though I have fully equipped my studio with extensive Profoto strobes, I have most often valued working with the abundant natural light the west facing windows provide. However over time I found that some of the logistic challenges of the studio limited the number of occasions I could stage shoots there. Not the least of which was choosing to relocate to north of NYC in the Catskill Mountains. Those factors make this parting much easier. And it's not like I haven't shot virtually every angle of the space over the several years I was there.
