Studio in the Works

Hey Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by the latest addition to my website... the 'Blog,' aka 'News and Views.'
This being the first post, I'm going to share a little bit of the history and timeline of what's going on at Mugshotz.

I've been interested in photography since the digital camera was first introduced to the mass markets. My first camera did not have a screen to view the images, so much like film, you had to wait until the image was processed, or in this case, downloaded to see what the photo would look like. No WiFi, no instant gratification. All this and more packed into less than 1 megapixel worth of picture. Pretty grainy, noisy and nasty.  Oh well. It was enough for me to be hooked.

The next camera was 2.1 megapixels, and with a little help from my computer, I used this camera to shoot all the photos in my second book, '101 Bears to Make.'

It wasn't until the powers that be in my 'real' job handed me a Nikon DSLR camera and said.."now go forth and take pictures of crime scenes," that I was formally trained in the art of photography. It's been a constant learning experience ever since. I just can't seem to get enough reading material about all aspects of photography and Photoshop. And, best of all, I'm loving every minute of it.

That was 2005. 7 years later, the more I learn, the less I feel I know. I guess that's a formula for life long learning, and I don't see that as being a bad thing. Regardless, I feel it's time to turn the page and open up the studio professionally.

I've been renting a large classroom at 1315 Crawford Ave, (which used to be Crawford Street School, but is now Hope Christian Reformed Church) for the past 3 years. The fabulous folks at the church were the first in town to buy up an old school, add on a brand new sanctuary and rent the classrooms to artists and business such as myself. I share the floor with a dance studio, a recording studio, a massage therapist and Our Kids Count. It's a rather nice eclectic mix!

My room has served me as a craft/storage area for all my creative endeavors, but it is now officially under renovation. The plan is to have everything in place for September 1st for the grand opening of Mugshotz Photography.

The room itself was originally a 'Youth' lounge. It's been painted some pretty bright colors, and had some really nasty old red rug on the floor. The plan ... white walls, 5 shooting stations, including an infinity wall, storage, kitchenette, 2 salon stations and a change room. In keeping with the 'old school' theme, I've purchased numerous banks of small lockers. These will be painted bright red and will serve as desk tops, coat hangers, and storage of course. I'll post photos of them as they are refurbished and put into place. In fact, I'll be posting updates of the entire renovation process here as it progresses.

Here are a few photos of the initial stages of the renovation:

Here you can see we're working with some pretty intense color. Inside the studio door, the carpet has just been removed and floors still need to be sanded down.

Gary is the carpenter in charge of the renovation. Here he's working on the infinity wall.

A little different perspective of the infinity wall, also known as a cyclorama or cyc wall.  I'll be using Hurley Pro board on the floor of the cyc wall. More about that in another post.  You can also see the many boxes of maple laminate that will be installed everywhere else in the studio in the foreground of this photo.

More to come! Lots of work to be done!