Rental Studios in NYC Closing

One of the many spaces at The Alchemical. The light and price point was perfect. Sad to see it go.

Back in August, one of my favorite studio spaces in NYC, the Alchemical, shuttered its doors for the second time. Second time.

For a brief description, the Alchemical was an affordable studio rental space in Manhattan with beautiful natural light and friendly staff. In 2021-22 they closed their original location since the building was sold. It was unfortunate since the only other studio that offered similar amenities and price point was in Brooklyn. Since I live in Manhattan, making the commute to Brooklyn with gear was the less desirable option. So I was pleasantly surprised when they announced the opening of a new location just a few blocks away from their original location.

From a portrait session with the wonderful Katya, taken at the Alchemical Studios in 2023.
I really loved the light the studio had.

In 2023, I started shooting there again whenever I needed bigger space for certain projects. To my dismay, in August of this year they were forced to close again. I got an email about the impending closure as well as an auction they were holding to sell off much of the studio’s furniture and miscellaneous items. I’m not their bookkeeper and can’t speak to the intricate financial details of the studio, but whenever I booked I always noticed I was practically the only booking for the day. Compared to previous years where the spaces they have were booked up consistently.

Perhaps there just wasn’t any demand? Maybe people didn’t know about their new location? Probably a combination of the two.

What this highlights for me, is a continued decline in demand for rental studios. A part of me laments this and a part of me is indifferent. For some context, I remember when rental studios used to be ridiculously priced. The demand was high back in say, 2010, so a photo studio would want to charge you $1000 for a 4-hour rental! Over the past decade, less and less people are signing up to be photographers, more people are renting out alternative spaces via apps such as Airbnb or Peerspace. Or people are just foregoing studios altogether and shooting on location. Who needs to pay exorbitant fees for a white box studio space with restrictive booking policies? It’s cost prohibitive for most individuals. Brands/companies don’t care because they have a much bigger budget than individuals usually.

Because of these changes, many rental studios have closed their doors in NYC. Especially the bigger ones. It costs a lot of money to keep staff and pay the lease on these places. And when artists don’t have the budgets to pay $1,000 for full-day rentals on a consistent basis or even brands are looking at more affordable options, it will be hard to keep the lights on.

But creatives do need spaces to create, so a loss of a studio like the Alchemical will do more harm than good. I wish they would have been able to thrive on their second go around, but the photo business is changing rapidly. Coming out of the Covid era, a lot of businesses are playing catchup or returning and finding the market dramatically different to the pre-Covid era. As in all business, you either make some adjustments or you will get left behind.

They mention on their website that they’re looking for a new location, so there’s hope. Maybe they’ll return better than ever! Third time’s a charm eh?!

Adieu for now Alchemical. You’ll be missed.

Are you ever ready?

You can either bleat or you can make a decision. What will you do?
- King Alfred, The Last Kingdom

During my yearly rewatch of my favorite show, The Last Kingdom, I came across an amazing, pivotal scene in the third season. The ailing King Alfred leads his men into battle with his son, Prince Edward the heir, by his side. Prince Edward has promised to bring reinforcements to Uthred, a man the king doesn’t like nor wishes to aid. But Prince Edward has given his word, although it wasn’t his place to do so.

As they arrive on the battlefield, King Alfred refuses to engage and enter the battle. Using the opportunity as a chance to teach his son a lesson about bravery, seizing the moment, and making the hard decisions of a king. While his group holds their position, Uthred and his men are being attacked on all sides, losing people as the seconds pass. Instead of issuing the command to charge and enter the battle, King Alfred wisely lets Prince Edward squirm in his seat fearing the battle could be lost if he does not act. The tension and anxiety is palpable. Should he charge into battle against his father’s wishes? Is it the right decision? Will he be embarrassed in front of the King? What if they lose? Is he worthy of taking the mantle from such a great man? Is he ready? It’s an amazing scene full of emotion and a coming of age moment for the young prince.

Which made me think of the topic for today’s blog post.

Are you ever ready?

Opportunities often come when we least expect them or when we don’t feel the most prepared for them.

You get a great job offer or client opportunity and it feels way beyond your ability at that current stage in your development. A part of you says, “I don’t think my skills are quite up to the task as of yet.” That voice is both rooted in logic (your skills probably aren’t quite there) and fear (you fear a less than stellar outcome, embarassing yourself and disappointing clients in the process). But as history has shown us, many people seize those rare opportunities and the skill is developed in the midst of the fire. They rise to the occasion despite their perceived limitations and fears.

Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston by Neil Leifer
© Neil Leifer. All rights reserved.

I’m a huge fan of boxing and I’ve seen countless scenarios where contenders, young and old, get thrown into the fire with an opportunity to face the champion. Pundits and boxing vets alike are all chiming in saying the fighter isn’t ready for such an opportunity. Everyone braces for the worst, that the underdog fighter will get clobbered. But, despite the gap in experience/accomplishment, the fighter rises to the occasion pushing the champ like never before and in many scenarios, winning. Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston comes to mind. Or Rocky Balboa vs. Apollo Creed in the fictional Rocky film.

The stress and expectation of projects outside of your skill level forces you to focus like never before. To sweat the details. To refine areas you’d normally skim over. It’s like being “in the zone” and tapping into another level of your brain. You have to be “on”. Some will wilt at the pressure. Pressure bursts pipes as they say. Yet, in my opinion, if you really want it, you’ll steel your resolve and push through.

Are you ever ready? Sometimes.

There are times where your skills will be at such a level you’re like “Bring it on!”, whatever the challenge. You’re at the peak of your power. Battle tested. And there will be times when you’re not feeling your best or quite there yet and an opportunity falls in your lap.

What will you do? Take it and seize the moment? Show the world what you’re made of? Or shirk away from the opportunity?

You’re probably not ready, but if you pass on the opportunity, you’ll never know if you are. Fate favors the bold.

My advice, take it. Damn being prepared. The moment may not come again.

Till next time.

On Being Happy and Living the Dream

After a full summer away from the blog, I will never dismiss the importance of breaks for one’s motivation, their inspiration, their sanity even. The time away was definitely needed.

Today I want to talk about being happy and living the dream.

Like many things in life it’s a very subjective topic, so I only state how it applies to me and perhaps you can gleam a sense of perspective in your own life.

A few months ago, I was in Versailles surrounded by groups of jostling tourists all trying to take photos on their phones and the sheer splendor of the location (I consider the Palace of Versailles the most beautiful man made location on the planet) when I had an epiphany.

I’m living my dream. And I’m happy.

When I first set out to become a photographer I envisioned a career of cool projects, working with esteemed brands, shooting models, going to beautiful locations, working on the beach, meeting interesting people, traveling the world, and building something for myself that I could be proud of. I remember sitting in my humid, Florida apartment thinking all of that may be way too much to ask. Like it would never happen.

As I overlooked the garden of Versailles, I let my mind ruminate over the thought. Here I was in France, enjoying my weekend, doing a bit of sightseeing after a week of shoots in Paris. Then it dawned on me, you’re already there you idiot! You’re already living your dream! You did it. Be proud! All the setbacks. The failures. The doubts. The sacrifices. You endured all of it, you worked hard, and now look where you are!

Like the Grinch’s heart growing several sizes larger in the Dr. Seuss classic, I felt overwhelmed at this realization. The truth of it all. I am living my dream. I make my own schedule. I have clients. I make good money. I’m not rich, but money isn’t the only measure of success(nor should it be). I travel. I’m making connections with people the world over. And even people outside of the United States are appreciating my work. Last month, a model came all the way from Japan to shoot with me. Me?! Of all people! That’s both incredibly awesome and humbling.

As an artist I do feel like there’s several more levels to go before I consider myself truly great. A master if you will. I may be 60 when it happens, but for now I’m very happy to be doing work that motivates and excites me. And work that people seem to really connect with.

Routinely taking stock of your life, checking your progress at different points, can really put into perspective how far you’ve come. We tend to think of our dreams as far off destinations. Some unknown place far into the future. But you might be in the midst of it while you’re on your way and not even realize it. As they say, enjoy the journey. These may be the most memorable moments of your life. Appreciate them.

I can admit, it hasn’t always been enjoyable. Frustrating would probably be the most apt description. But you have to take the good with the bad. The two are intricately linked. The rainy days make you appreciate the sunny ones. I know this part sounds a bit vague and waffly, but I’m speaking honestly. It’s been a see-saw of a ride. You’re up some times and down others. But stay on, it gets better.

Now for the happy part of this post. Happiness can certainly be derived from accomplishment. You win a gold medal, hell yeah you’re happy. Get a big raise? Hell yeah! But for me, it’s knowing that I’m working on something meaningful. Something deeply personal that truly matters to me. Emphasis on “to me”. Work that becomes a part of who I am and what motivates me to get up in the morning. Something that connects to my soul on a spiritual level. It doesn’t matter what others think. Their opinions. Their judgements. Their lack of understanding. It’s most important that it matters “to me”. Having that sense of purpose feels like the wind beneath your wings. It may not make me rich, but it sure as hell makes me happy. And that’s something. Priceless even.

I hope you too find your purpose. That thing, place, or even person that brings you joy. Not everyone in life finds that. Understanding the rarity of it is what gets me emotional. All the people out there, chasing their dreams. Wanting some semblance of happiness in their short lives. I wish everyone the best in this beautiful madness we call life. These thoughts remind me of the plastic bag scene from American Beauty.

I’m not crying, it’s just my allergies! Pfft.

Anyway, I’m currently in Paris and headed out the door to go explore the city.

Hope you follow your dream and enjoy the ride. Or at the least, go be happy! You owe it to yourself.

Au revoir.

Going Into Creative Isolation: Some Parting Thoughts

I look out on a vast landscape of boundless opportunity.
To take a single step in any direction will cause ripples across the ocean of time with results I can not fathom.
Dare I ask, “Which step should I take?”

This will be the last blog post for a while as I’ll be taking a much needed break to focus on other creative endeavors. I think as artists it’s important to step away so you can assess your current direction and make any necessary and/or desired changes. I’ve been so busy with client work as of late, I haven’t had adequate free time to catch up on things I’ve been putting off. Things that will improve my work, grow my business, and leave me with more free time for whatever opportunities interest me. I’ve decided to be deliberate about a break and have blocked off the time on my calendar for the next few months.

So no more posts till end of summer.

I will update my portfolio periodically as well as post occasionally on Instagram, but this summer, I’ll be mostly off the grid. It’s time to focus on the work.

But before I go, here are some parting thoughts I’d like to share:

Gear Talk

• Panasonic Announces the GH7

  • Panasonic announced the upcoming release of their GH7, micro four thirds camera. From the specs it is a tour de force of video features. Probably the most interesting of it’s features is ARRI LogC3 which gives Panasonic users the ability to record in the ARRI Log profile to better match their footage with cinema cameras such as the ARRI ALEXA Mini. Outside of that it’s usual video related fair. Faster frame rates, 32-bit float audio, ProRes Internal RAW. At $2,197 it’s decently priced for what it offers, but why would anyone buy this? Today, I mean. If you’re already invested in micro four thirds sure. But there’s nothing about this release that will spur new customers to invest when the other manufacturers have a bevy of full-frame options that are similarly priced. It’s an incremental release, not a “WOW take my money!” release. And Panasonic needs that. From the abysmal Panasonic S9 reveal and now this, the company is currently circling the drain.

• Giving Sony Its Flowers

  • I was on a job the other day with a client who had some very spontaneous ideas. They wanted a few different set ups for portraits, but in a small window of time and in various areas around their building. I know Sony gets a lot of praise by its rabid fanboys, but many of them are just hobbyists. For a working professional like myself, I must say it’s been one of the best systems to work with in my entire career. It just handles any situation I throw at it with aplomb. The confidence I have when going into unpredictable situations like the aforementioned job is amazing. I never have a doubt that the tools at my disaposal will be up for the task. And it does it all with an ease and smoothness that makes jobs fun. The combination of size, speed, image quality, and versatility make it probably the best system on the market today for the professional photographer. It just does it all and then some. My A7RV has paid for itself 10x over by now and it’s as fun to use today as it was the first time. Kudos to you Sony, take a bow. Your cameras and entire ecosystem is so good, I highly doubt I’ll ever switch to anything else. It doesn’t get better than this.

Appreciate Your Good Clients

I’ve had an interesting past few months working with clients. At the beginning of the year, I admittedly was a feeling a bit drained. Unappreciated even. Having a difficult client here and there is normal business fair, but for a while there it seemed unrelenting. Recent events have been a breath of fresh air with clients being positive, friendly, eager to collaborate, fun, and just pleasant to be around. And the feedback from them has been heart warming and really motivates me to keep doing what I do. A client said to me yesterday, “Man these are the best photos I’ve ever had of myself. Thank you so much. I mean that. Thank you!” That sort of response is always great to hear. You’re in the service business to serve and anyone who takes pride in their work will appreciate a response like that. You want to feel the work you’re doing is being valued and appreciated while at the same time clients are genuinely happy because they got what they wanted. The standup creative wants to “earn” their money. They don’t feel entitled to it. They want to do a great job for their clients and hope that clients are satisfied. That’s what it’s about. Making clients happy with your service. I’ll take their positive feedback over any random comment about my work on social media any day.

It’s Easier to Destroy than Create

I’ve been thinking of this popular axiom a lot recently. There’s so much apathy surrounding films and the entertainment industry that it can just turn you off to the entire thing. But I would also like to add to the quote.

“It’s easier to destroy than create. And easier still to critique.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe critique is good. Healthy even. Especially when it comes to creative work. However, I didn’t sign up to become a critic. You know, the person sitting on the sidelines watching the players and making judgements. “I would have done it this way.” “If it were me….” I’m not interested in that. I’m actually in the arena not on the sidelines. And if you want to see better work out there, the best thing you can do is create it.

With that in mind, I want to spend more of my free time creating, hence my need for my upcoming retreat of sorts. My focus now is more on making things, more experimenting, more study, more shooting, less blah blah blah as one of my mentors used to say.

That’s all for now.

Au revoir.

Mini Musings: May 29, 2024

“I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.”
- Ayrton Senna

Just a collection of topics I found interesting over the past few days and quick thoughts on them.

• Panasonic continues to embarrass themselves. After the abysmal announcement of the Panasonic S9, Panasonic’s been caught using stock photos in their S9 product images. Not only were the images not originals, but they were taken with a Nikon camera. Just fire the whole marketing department.

• Gerald Undone put out a video about reviews needing to change. As I mentioned in my Fall of Panasonic post, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these camera companies are greasing the palms of influencers in order to secure a favorable review. I actually know that to be the case. This problem isn’t just affecting the camera industry. You see it in entertainment, gaming, beauty, fashion, and tech as well. While Gerald makes some great points in the video, he’s a fence sitter. He voices his opinions, but never strongly. It’s all “safe”, PG-13 fair. He’s not going to really say what needs to be said. That his peers lack integrity and have sold their soul to their corporate overlords in exchange for access, money, and trips to cool events. They’re just in it for clicks, views, likes, and commissions. They don’t care about the consumers they push products on that they’ve barely tested or would never purchase. They don’t care that they’re lying through their teeth about the functions of a product or that they’re omitting talking about notable flaws in the product. They just want the gravy train to keep rolling. I think it’s very disingenuous and very irresponsible. I expect more influencers to weigh in on the topic as a way of showing how much they care. Don’t fall for it. It will just be fake posturing to seem concerned as they go right back to doing the same thing they’ve always done. Shilling for companies.

The year of the “Flopbuster” continues.

• Furiosa flopped. Still haven’t seen it and I’m not really interested. Entertainment news outlets are all up in arms about Furiosa flopping over the Memorial Day Weekend. They seem to be genuinely surprised. I’m not. The film didn’t look interesting whenever I would see the trailer. Greenscreen everywhere, over-the-top action sequences for no reason. It comes off as very try hard and desperate to be edgy. And the billboards marketing the film have the tagline “By Mastermind George Miller”. Ugh. Not to mention Mad Max: Fury Road was 9 years ago, so it’s a little late to be doing a prequel to a film many people have never seen or have forgotten about. I’m sure it’s good, but you’re asking for an audience to care about yet another prequel/sequel/remake of something that’s already been done. And Mad Max’s not even in it. I think this year may be one of the worst for the box office. Expect a slew of movie theaters to close their doors, because the outlook for the rest of the year is abysmal.

Ayrton Senna exhibition in Italy? Hell yeah I’m there.

• Ayrton Senna exhibition in Turin. I mentioned previously I plan to travel more this year, but I didn’t have Italy on my list. Not because I don’t like Italy, I just didn’t have a reason that inspired me. Today, however, I discovered The Mauto is holding an exhibition for my favorite race car driver of all-time, Ayrton Senna. Here I was thinking I would have to go to Brazil to see some of the exhibits in his honor, but this looks amazing. They’ll have all of his cars, racing suits, helmets, along with rare photographs, memorabilia and more. I see Netflix is doing a live-action movie on him, which looks like…Netflix (not a compliment). The 2010 documentary is still one of the best features on, in my opinion, the greatest driver in F1 history. Can’t wait to see his McLaren MP4/4 in person.

Senna (2010). Full documentary.
Give it a watch. Still makes me tear up every time I see it. Senna Forever.

All for now.