Portrait Studio

[PaulCosmic]

Hi

What size of population would you consider a minimum to feed a portrait studio?

[DougAxford]

I can't answer directly but I believe it more depends upon how many and the type of other photographers there are in the same market region. That includes all the part-timers.

In my own case, years ago there were more than a dozen in 100,000 pop, we're now down to 2 or 3 full time pros in 250,000 - plus add in Walmart, Sears, Lifetouch, etc. and dozens of part-timers who change their status weekly. In other words, 99% of my competition is low end, people have come to think of that as the standard to judge prices by.

[Gary_Evans]

Running a portrait studio isnt down to the size of your catchment area unless you plan on being a low end operation that will only work on a high volume of customers.

Ultimately it is down to who you target and how you market yourself, as some customers will travel many miles to a studio if that studio specialises or offers a good product for example, which sort of negates the question. Another very important point is whether the studio is a high street one or home based?

I would assume that Telford should be a good place for a studio due to the near proximity of Birmingham and Wolverhampton etc with their well paid commuters. A good indicator of the potential market is simply if Venture have a presence there. If you have one within 20 miles there is a market.

How you tap into it is down to you

[David_Buzzard]

It's more about demographics than population catchment. You need to have a lot of families with disposable income who are willing to spend money on portraits. If you have a large population, but it's economically depressed, then they aren't going to spend money on portraits. If you're in a hip urban area, then most of the people will either be single, or have a young family, and that's not a great market either.

Some of the most successful portrait photographers I know are in isolated rural areas, and their clients are willing to travel to them for photos.

David Buzzard's Technical Blog

[PaulCosmic]

Thanks for the feedback. There is a Venture in Wolverhampton and in Shrewsbury which are about 12 miles either side of Telford, but the studio would not be in Telford. Another photographer has approached me to go into partnership with him. There are 2 or 3 small towns that he is considering, one has a population of over 100,000 and only one full time high street studio, the others have no studio but are much smaller, hence the question.

I fully understand that demographics may be more important than geographics, but most of north shropshire is small towns and vilages, with much of it dependant on agriculture. I'm tempted to think that the lack of a studio means lack of interest, but it could also mean a gap in the market. More research needed I guess.

[David_Buzzard]

Why not start out with doing enviromental portraits in those markets, and then see if the market will justify a studio?

In my experience, with an established studio, you make less per shoot, but can do multible shoots in a day. Going the environmental route, you make more per shoot, but are really limited to one or two per day.

David Buzzard's Technical Blog

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