A New Studio
by William Lulow
Today is the day I take possession of my new studio space. After having been on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for eight years, on West 22nd Street in the Photo District for another ten and most recently in Chappaqua, Westchester County for the next twenty years, I am moving to a new location, this time to Livingston, New Jersey. The actual move will take place next Tuesday, October 27th. It is probably a move that should have happened a few years ago, but it’s finally a “fait accompli.” I have done mostly location work during the time I was in Westchester as well as some studio work that ranged from headshots and corporate portraits to product work to exteriors and interiors. So, I have covered it all.
I have continued my teaching of students, usually on a one-to-one basis and have seen many of them really enjoy photography and pick up on the “how-tos” of digital work. We have also conducted several Zoom lessons due to the Covid-19 pandemic. My new space will have some room for continued headshot work as well as some product shots. And, I will continue to do location work at various corporations and businesses wherever they may be.
This is part of our new raw space:
The high ceilings and fairly open space will allow me to work as much as I can. The office, where I do all my post-production work will be upstairs, like it has been for many years. Obviously, I have been shooting everything digitally for about twenty years now, so no darkroom is required. It’s amazing, but having been trained in and being thoroughly experienced in the traditional way photographs were created since the late nineteenth century, I have a much greater understanding of the digital process than many practitioners who have only experienced photography since it went largely digital. It’s also not an aberration that most schools that offer photography classes today usually begin by teaching methods of shooting and developing film. I have long thought that automation in photography is sometimes counter-productive when it comes to learning how to make great images. Most of my students actually begin using their cameras on MANUAL mode. It helps them to understand the relationships between shutter speed, lens aperture and camera sensitivity that produce good exposures. Putting your camera on AUTOMATIC does the opposite. It holds you back from learning the process.
So, I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life as a shooter and a teacher. I think it’s important that as we age, we have new adventures and experiences to look forward to and it’s the anticipation of new things that keep us all actively engaged in the changes in our lives. And make no mistake, changes are happening all around us all the time. All my contact info will remain the same, except for the physical address.
