Our brand new studio!

Mar 24

Natural Escape Photography | Spearfish Photography Studio

2020 was a weird year, as I know it was for everyone. I started the year a little slower with my partial maternity leave, and then covid happened. March – June were the slowest months we’ve ever seen in our business. We had so many cancellations and we started to worry about how the rest of the year would look. Having a little extra unwanted time off, Tom and I started to cut any costs we could to try and save as much money as possible, so we started looking for a more affordable studio space. If you know Spearfish, then you know the real estate and leasing market is INSANE here. The prices just continue to increase, and we had so many doors close in our face before we stumbled upon our new studio space. The first time I saw inside the space, I was a little unsure. It had been many businesses before us: an office space, a car dealership, even a sporting goods store… I had a tough time envisioning it as a photography studio, but our landlord was a sweetheart and I decided it was too good of a spot to pass up. We signed our lease in June, and the work began in July.

We still had our old studio space through October of 2020, so that gave us some time to make the adjustments we wanted before completely switching spaces. Little did we know that our business would then see the BUSIEST 6 months we’ve ever had. And while I am SO very thankful that our business survived the pandemic (thanks to our truly wonderful, amazing clients), that meant we were utilizing every waking minute of every day to keep our heads above water. Aside from teaching and coaching and taking care of our little one, Tom spent just about every free evening and free weekend hour at the new studio. He took out the old wood paneling that was falling apart and covered the old carpet with beautiful flooring. (We’ve had so many compliments on this floor! The actual name is even Seaside Chestnut – how perfect is that for a marine biologist/photographer??) He painted all of the walls in our main space, painted the trim, removed the electrical poles and tied those into the ceiling, finished my beautiful desk, completely added a wall and door to separate our prop room from our shooting space, created a coffee bar, and put up all of my curtains, shelves, and outlets in. I knew he was handy before, but I am absolutely blown away by his hard work to make this new studio my dream space. I never imagined it would look SO good, but I’m in love with it.

Of course, we didn’t quite know how the new space would look, so our before pictures aren’t quite the same angles, and it helps to make the space look even more dated when you have crappy cell phone photos to compare to. But it’s so cool to see the before & after photos that transformed this space into a beautiful natural light photography studio at the base of Spearfish Canyon. I hope you enjoy this quick blog post but if you want to see the studio for yourself, feel free to come on by for a cup of coffee and a tour. I’d love to see you!

Although Tom did most of the actual hard work, Marina was quite the design assistant and the studio has definitely become her “second home”. She feels right at ease and knows where all of my props are at. I love that this has been a family affair from the beginning, and I can’t wait for many more years of photographing families & milestone sessions here!

Here are a few more pretties of our new space. My hope is that when you’re at the studio, you’ll feel relaxed, comfortable, and stress-free. I have a stocked fridge of beverages, snacks & goodies, and lots of comfy chairs and couches. I also have a selection of curated studio dresses that our clients can wear for their sessions as well as sitter & milestone outfits, headbands, hats, and more. We offer over 60 different backdrops and hundreds of props to help make your session unique. Make yourself at home and let me do the rest. I’m so honored to be a part of so many family memories!