Do you remember studying for a really hard, important test when you were younger? You’d study and study to learn the information and when that test score comes back showing that all you worked paid off, it’s a feeling like no other. Suzanne and I were fortunate enough to get that feeling once more while we were at SYNC Seniors in St. Pete’s Beach, Florida last week.
To kick off the 2012 convention, SYNC put on a competition that would showcase the nations best photography studio lobbies, indoor shooting areas and outdoor shooting areas. We entered our newly renovated studio into both the Best Lobby and Best Indoor Area with our fingers crossed. (For anyone who had been in or seen our previous studio, you know what we came from!) Over the past few years, we’ve put so much work into the new studio and we were so excited to finally share it with people outside of our clients. The opening program started and Darty (the SYNC president) jumped right into the finalists of the Best Lobby category. Much to our surprise, we were the first ones called on stage. I was shocked for a few moments. Was this a joke?
I made my way to the stage to talk about the process we took of building our lobby. I’d love to tell you what all I said while under those stages lights but it happened so fast, I’m not sure what rambled about! I was in absolute shock. The judges had some wonderfully nice comments about the color choices in the studio as well as the nice use of negative space. It was truly an honor to even be considered a finalist!
The remainder of the Best Lobby finalists were called and after seeing their lobbies, I knew we were done for but miraculously, when the winner was announced, our name was shown! As I mentioned earlier, it was an honor to even be considered a finalist but to actually win was an incredible feeling! If that was the end of the night, I could sleep happily.
The next 2 awards, Best Indoor Shooting Area and Best Outdoor Shooting Area, went to incredibly well deserving photographers. Mac Brown Photographers won Best Outdoor Shooting Area and Walt Steinmetz won Best Indoor Shooting Area. Both of their spaces are absolutely incredible and put my areas to shame. To have our studio in the same categories as their was an amazing distinction. After the initial 3 winners took their prizes, Darty informed everyone that it wasn’t over just yet. The top 3 studios were then put head-to-head to determine the Top Studio Design Star. After several minutes of palm-sweating angst, Darty finally announced the winner…
Are you serious?! I was absolutely floored to be named SYNC’s 2012 Studio Design Star! Because we built a complete package, great lobby and indoor shooting area, we were able to walk away with the grand prize of a $1500 lab credit from H&H Color Lab. (You better believe we’re going to have some photos of Ava hanging up now!) On top of the title and lab credit, we received this sweet looking trophy pictured above. We’re truly excited and honored to hold this title for a year and it gives us new appreciation for our space. Take a look at the photos below to see some images of both our lobby and indoor shooting area.
From the very start, we like to show clients what our brand is all about. The lobby is the first place that clients get the sense that we have a high end brand but still very obtainable and approachable. Simplistic was the main thought process for the lobby. We didn’t want to crowd up the walls with tons of prints so we opted to hang larger single prints to create nice relaxing negative space for visitors eyes.
The shooting area in the back is packed with roughly 20 different custom built sets with numerous props and furniture pieces. These different bays allow us to capture a variety of looks for each client ranging from grungy old doors to elegant chandeliers.We are so proud of our space and we feel that it gives each and every one of our clients a photography experience that is hard to forget. Thank you again to SYNC for awarding us with such an awesome award! We are truly honored! Now, we’ve heard from SYNC. We want to hear from you now. What’s your favorite part of our studio? Leave your comments below and be sure to tweet this post out to friends and Like it on Facebook!
by Blair Phillips
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