Recorded On: 2/28/2011
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studio showcase

Meet Monica Burby of  Photoumbra Studios

Are you ready for a home studio to make you completely and utterly envious? How can you not be —> wait until you see the shooting area!

Swoon.

In Monica’s own words . . .

“I’ve been doing photography for 16 years now, but it wasn’t until 2004 that I started Photoumbra Studios. It was a dream a long time in the making and when my husband and I built our home in 2003, we designed it with a few key features in mind that would not only reflect our love for the arts, but would allow us to run a modest studio out of our home. Of course, there are several things I would have done differently (like putting in a separate entrance into the basement), but we have been determined to make the very best of the space we have and in turn we are able to run a very profitable studio with low overhead.

Our entire home is only 3000 square feet, and our business takes up about 40% of that, which means that it is important for us to maximize every inch of what we have. Our actual shooting space is only about 500 square feet, but we have 9 full sets up and ready to go. We literally use every inch of our studio! We converted the restroom connected to the studio into a dressing room, by making a seat over the tub, putting curtains around it, hooks, props, and wall displays help to also class it up as well.

Our front room functions as our View + Choose room. Due to the huge windows in that area of our home, we are not able to project in that room, so instead we have a 46″ LCD TV that hooks up to our laptop where we present our clients their portraits with preselect. We easily doubled our sales when we went to in-person presentation and ordering about four years ago.”

Running a studio out of your home does present certain challenges and benefits. Some things that we’ve learned over the last 6 years to help deal with the challenges are:

1. Make sure you clearly state that studio visits are by appointment only. Luckily we are in a private gated community, so we don’t have a lot of passer-bys.

2. Try and schedule set days for shooting and/or your selection appointments to minimize constantly having to have your home perfectly clean for clients.

3. Make your home decor as professional as possible. We try to invest in furniture and decor throughout all areas of our home that our clients see that reflect our studio image. (Clean, chic, boutique, colorful)

4. Try and strategically place your wall displays. Images of our clients stay in the entryway, our View + Choose room, and our studio (places that we don’t really hang out in as a family). The other areas of our home that our clients pass through (hallway, family room/kitchen area) are furnished with tons of portraits of our daughter which always get a lot of ooos and awws as they walk through our living space to the studio.

5. The best thing I ever did was convert my old darkroom to an office. I used to have a small desk in our family room that I would work from, but it was always there and a constant reminder of the work to be done. Now my office is in the basement and I love that I can close it off and take a break in the evenings and on weekends.

6. Keeping your home clean, really clean is hard, but so important. Don’t cook fish, eggs, sausage or other “smelly” things on days when clients are supposed to be at your home. I’m way sensitive to smells, so I make sure our home always smells nice, not “foody”! I always laugh to myself when my some of my clients ask me…Do you actually live here? Yes, that is how pristine you should try and keep your home. I figure, if I want to be treated like a professional, I better look the part and that includes my studio.

7. Little things can go along way! When our clients arrive, we make sure we are at the door before they even knock. We have a little chalk board that is surrounded by some fun seasonal decor in our entry way that we put their name on as a welcome. We get a lot of comments on how cute they think that is. We also have drinks and snacks waiting them in our V+C room or the studio. We have waters branded with some custom stickers, that clients love! We also always have a hard copy of our Portrait Boutique Catalog (price list), as well as a View + Choose appointment card reminder that is sitting out with their name on it.

click images to view larger

{ THE ENTRY }

{ THE VIEW + CHOOSE ROOM }


{ THE HALLWAY }

{ THE SHOOTING AREA }

{ THE DRESSING AREA }

{ THE OFFICE }


{ CLIENT GOODIES }

“Most of the things we’ve implemented into our home to make our studio more functional and professional we have done ourselves and we have done it over the course of several years. If updating your home to make it a more functional place for your business seems daunting, just take it slow. Walk through your home as if you were a client. Identify things that work and don’t work. Make a list and maybe choose one thing each month to work on. Wether you have a commercial or residential studio, remember that your space is an extension of your business identity and you don’t have to be big to be very successful!

If you would like to learn more about a few of Photoumbra Studio’s client experience products you can visit this Paperie Boutique post!”

Wow, huh? A fabulous share about a fabulous studio.

I hope you, dear readers, have gained a few ideas from this studio showcase.

I know I have.

A huge thank you to Monica for taking the time to send in the images of her studio, as well as write out all that amazing & helpful info. Thank you!

Have something you’d like to show off on the Soulographer Blog? Click {HERE} to read about what we are lookin’ for.

- Skye, xoxo

P.S. The vintage frame above was purchased from Florabella Collection. Click here to visit Florabella Collection.

Showcase

7 Comments Logged
  1. Maggie Hendrix penned:

    Fabulous Monica!!! Thank you for sharing and for all of the wisdom you offered on running your studio. It looks like you have done an amazing job of melding home and work while keeping it balanced!

  2. Heather Durham penned:

    Love the photo edges you use on your blog! Where did you purchase them and how do you quickly place your photos in them with your logo to post on your blog? Thanks.

  3. Skye Hardwick penned:

    Heather, where the frames are from is linked in the post above – the very last line. Thanks!

  4. Heather Johnson Photography penned:

    This is great, thanks for the tips and the photos!

  5. Sarah penned:

    Wow, fabulous studio. This gives me a lot of ideas. Love the interview it was so helpful.

  6. Jesi B Photography penned:

    WOW! Very inspirational for making the most out of a small space. The photo edges used in the pictures are adorable by the way.

  7. Brenda Hall penned:

    I love this studio. Thank you for sharing

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