My first Pop-Up Portrait Studio in central Ipswich
So what happens when you try to put together a one-day pop-up creative portrait studio in your local high street?
I recently had the good fortune to collaborate with the local Chip Community Hub, a creative enterprise based in Ipswich.
They had secured access to one of the empty shops in central Ipswich and had turned it into a creative hub for the community. I was approached and asked if I might like to put together something creative in the shop for one day. My first thought was to either put together a workshop, a talk, or something else; I wasn't quite sure.
But after some thought, I came across the idea of how cool it would be to have a Pop-Up portrait studio. Being handed an opportunity to run an exclusive one-day Pop-Up portrait studio was just too good to pass up. As you may or not know, Portraiture is my favourite photographic genre, and if I get a chance to photograph someone, I'll jump at the chance.
So I visited the shop and worked out the best lighting scenario for what I wanted to do. This was also a perfect opportunity to experiment with some lighting techniques and various new lenses and cameras I have in my camera bag but are not usually used. I recently brought a Fujifilm XPro 3 and an impressive 50mm F1.0, which is such a fantastic combination, a beautiful bit of equipment and such a lovely feel and look to the images.
But in the end, I decided to use my Nikon D850 camera and my new Lensbaby 45mm SOL lens, which has a tilt function that allows parts of the subject to come in and out of focus...I just love this lens. I recently used it on an assignment in Belgium for a charity I'm working with, and they were blown away by the effect.
It's something that I intend to use more often, but not too much just in case it becomes too predictable, but it is terrific.
I started researching how one goes about organising an event like this. Little did I realise the enormous amount of work needed to get the idea off the ground and running as a successful event.
I knew that close friends would all say yes, that this was such a great idea and that they would definitely turn up on the day. But to actually make this work in doing something like this, I knew I couldn't really rely on just friends turning up. So this meant I had to do some serious marketing and promotional activities if I wanted this to be a successful event, and I was right.
I'd read somewhere that for something like this work, one has to keep marketing the event on every platform you use. So basically, you have to keep your event in front of mind for everyone until they get so bored with seeing your ad. Then, you have to be oversubscribed to really make it work and profitable.
The first person I recruited was the lovely Lucy Warroll, who helped me design a flyer for social media, which looked wicked, and described the event's who, what, where and when. In my mind, I needed 20 people to make the event work for me, which doesn't sound like much, but actually, getting 20 people to sign up took a lot longer than I anticipated. Even though there was no obligation for any of the sitters to buy their shots, if they liked them, they could buy as many as they wanted.
Well, I'll undoubtedly learn a lot from this experience; as they say, it's always a good thing to push one's self outside of their comfort zones.
It's definitely one of the best ways to learn. Honestly, I have to say, I've learnt so much and more from putting this event together.
There was no financial pressure on me, but there was a certain amount of pride and professional integrity; Obviously, I didn't want it to be a flop.
But I suppose I put a lot of unconscious self-induced pressure and doubt in my mind.
But I didn't need to worry; the day was a resounding success; from 10am until 5pm, the shop was a hive of activity, people coming and going, staying for a chat, and people deciding to have their portraits taken on the spot, and then calling their friends to come down. It was great!
All the booked sitters had priority when they arrived; I even had to have my lunch in-between the shoots! And eventually, I had around 30 people who would sit for me during the day.
I've a few more stories which I'll tell you all about in another post. But in the meantime, here are some of the portraits from my event.
All-in-all, it was a great success and a wonderful day and as definitely left me feeling energised and looking forward to a bigger and better Pop-Up Studio later this year.
Photography John Ferguson
Venue: Chip - Community Hub, Ipswich
Ist Assistant Dave Loney
2nd Assistant. Nia Kirk
Marketing Lucy Worrall
Cheif Liaising. Clare Lucas
With thanks to Ed Ngi and Lish for their help in pulling this together.
