As some of you might know, after working for other photographers for a few years part time, i started out on my own in Sept last year in a lovely shop and studio in a South Wales Valleys town called Blaina. It was a massive step to go from owning a post office to running my own photography business but something i have always wanted to do.
So Treasured Photography was born. We spent the first few weeks getting the shop fitted, laying laminat flooring on the HORRIBLE 40 year old red tiles that were on the floor and smoothing and painting the walls which hadnt seen any attention since the tiles were put down, and spent 2 days cleaning the windows as they were covered in paint and tape.
Once this was sorted, we simply put up a studio 3 holder roller system so i could have my black and white backdrops up to shoot straight away. After initially using white paper, i moved onto vinyl at xmas as the paper was being distroyed being used daily. This was far better, but i noticed last month this was really starting to look faded in images and i was having to increase my processessing on every image which wasnt ideal. So i started to look into a fixed studio wall. With the shape of the studio not being square, it made it a challange but what myself and my brother in law came up with works fantasticly well.
Here is the frame working going in for the false wall. Before i had been given by a good friend a massive theater black to stop the light from these beautiful windows coming in.
1.
photo2 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
next, we fitted 3mm hardboard from our local stockist, all in all the timber and hardboard, screws and filler came to £121.50, almost the same price as one roll of vinyl!
2.
photo4 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
i have read in a few places NOT to use cheap white paint as it leaves a white powder on clothing so i went for crown premium matt white, which was on special offer in B&Q for just £15 for a massive tub. we started by giving the hardboard a light coating so we could then fill and rub down any areas that needed it. i had over ordered on the hardboard so if left some extra for the door and right hand side wall which we had planned on filling by hand. Because of the unusual shape of the shop, and the limited space we had, i didnt want to "waste" valuable space on a full cyclorama wall, so this is our solution, curving the wall towards the back wall, but not side to side. i think this photo shows it up best.
3.
photo3 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
4.
photo1 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
So Treasured Photography was born. We spent the first few weeks getting the shop fitted, laying laminat flooring on the HORRIBLE 40 year old red tiles that were on the floor and smoothing and painting the walls which hadnt seen any attention since the tiles were put down, and spent 2 days cleaning the windows as they were covered in paint and tape.
Once this was sorted, we simply put up a studio 3 holder roller system so i could have my black and white backdrops up to shoot straight away. After initially using white paper, i moved onto vinyl at xmas as the paper was being distroyed being used daily. This was far better, but i noticed last month this was really starting to look faded in images and i was having to increase my processessing on every image which wasnt ideal. So i started to look into a fixed studio wall. With the shape of the studio not being square, it made it a challange but what myself and my brother in law came up with works fantasticly well.
Here is the frame working going in for the false wall. Before i had been given by a good friend a massive theater black to stop the light from these beautiful windows coming in.
1.
photo2 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
next, we fitted 3mm hardboard from our local stockist, all in all the timber and hardboard, screws and filler came to £121.50, almost the same price as one roll of vinyl!
2.
photo4 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
i have read in a few places NOT to use cheap white paint as it leaves a white powder on clothing so i went for crown premium matt white, which was on special offer in B&Q for just £15 for a massive tub. we started by giving the hardboard a light coating so we could then fill and rub down any areas that needed it. i had over ordered on the hardboard so if left some extra for the door and right hand side wall which we had planned on filling by hand. Because of the unusual shape of the shop, and the limited space we had, i didnt want to "waste" valuable space on a full cyclorama wall, so this is our solution, curving the wall towards the back wall, but not side to side. i think this photo shows it up best.
3.
photo3 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
4.
photo1 by treasuredphotography, on Flickr
(Yep, it's Phil from the E place!)