Case Studies

A day in the life...

Discover what running a studio is like with Sara who is based at our Norwich studio

It’s a dash from the school playground to my studio in Norwich most mornings! On arrival I go into ‘remote control’, working through a checklist of things to do before my first client walks through the door, usually at around 930am by which time my mug of tea has usually gone cold…

I like to familiarise myself with the day’s appointments so I can appear knowledgeable when my clients arrive, greeting them by name and so on. I always have a plan in my head of how the shoot is going to go, depending on the subject, that way I can try to work efficiently.

Things don’t always go to plan of course, like the time a couple of Kelpies, or Australian sheepdogs,  came in for a portrait session and spent the majority of the time howling and dashing around the studio in a frenzy of excitement. Working with babies much of the time also means there is an element of unpredictability: baby is asleep; baby is teething and unhappy; baby is hungry, baby needs changing, and so on and so on. Patience is certainly a virtue!

For babies and young children the session lasts around half an hour, for families it is up to one hour and I allocate 45 minutes for a viewing. I try and fit in five or six sessions between my children’s school hours of 9am to 3pm, and inevitably I then work at home some evenings. I also work a few weekend days every month. Being organised is essential if I want to maximise studio time to full effect.

As a result it is fairly full-on from the moment my first appointment arrives. I have the patter down to something of an art form now – smiling a lot helps to break the ice, as does enthusing about baby – even if it is particularly grumpy! It’s a sociable job; all day I chat away, working surreptitiously to build rapports.  I meet a variety of people from diverse and sometimes fascinating backgrounds.

The rhythm of the day is often broken by a late cancellation or ‘no show’ at which point I get on with the various administrative tasks which need attending to daily. These include ordering, maintaining accounts, notifying people that their orders are ready to collect, responding to messages and the occasional letter asking for raffle prizes.  I also have confirmation letters to personalise and to print out and post to all new bookings, as well as phone calls to make to appointments due in over the next few days. Stationary needs checking and re-ordering and most importantly, every shoot needs downloading and backing–up. I tag each file with a unique ID code and update their status in my diary.

Leads which have been generated online need following up, many of which are wedding enquires and I am constantly reviewing the balance of appointments to viewings.

I try and have a couple of viewings scheduled each day to add some variety and keep my cash flow ticking over.  I enjoy the sales process -  I have had mothers sit and cry through a viewing and usually people are very positive and complimentary. This can be very satisfying (especially if it results in an order) as I have sat and prepared each and every image in Photoshop.

This in itself  is a good opportunity to look in detail at every image I’ve taken which helps me to improve as a photographer. Not every shoot is successful – sometimes I am really pleased with the final set of images and sometimes, things aren’t quite right… This can send me into a minor meltdown at which point chocolate is most definitely required in order to re-establish equilibrium before dicing with the school run once again…