Architecture for Fun and Profit

Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

 In the late '90s and early 2000s new ways of doing things began to nibble away at traditional income sources for commercial photographers. Large studios came into being that streamlined the process of product and catalog photography, making it possible for a client to send his products to the studio and receive back clean, well-lit photographs for a fraction of what it would have cost to hire the local pro studio photographer. And with the emergence of digital technology, clients who would formerly have hired a professional photographer were buying digital cameras and trying to do the photography themselves. Were the results as good? No, not nearly. But they were happy to save a few bucks. As I have long said, "If they can't see the difference, you can't sell them the difference."

In my case, I began to notice a decline in studio business around 1997 or '98. By 2000 I was making most of my income from out-of-studio location work, with work in the studio just barely covering the studio's overhead. A no-brainer! Much as I loved having a studio, it was no longer economically viable, as the bean-counters say. I could do the work that paid the bills by working from home, so I closed my lovely studio in 2000. I miss it still.

Analyzing trends in the photography business, it became obvious to me that I needed to find types of photography that the CEO's brother-in-law with his new Nikon couldn't do -- photography that required special equipment, specialized knowledge, and especially, the ability to use light.

Two types of photography that met those criteria and were readily accessible to me were architectural photography and business portraits. I had done quite a lot of both during my years in business, but had never pursued them more than other types of photography. An art director contacted me with a long list of properties to photograph for a building contractor and I was off and running.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone