warehouse space for photography in DC/MD/VA?

[kubelik]

so I've recently been asked by a good friend who is in the process of starting a woodworking/furniture studio to take some pictures for his prototypes. these aren't for publication or anything, but he wants some creative shots that he can bring along when he meets potential clients or fabricators.

while we plan on renting some studio space so we can do the standard white-background shots, we also talked about doing something a little more environmental, perhaps in an old factory-looking space if possible. we're both living in the Washington, DC area, and traveling to a nearby city (Baltimore, Richmond, Annapolis) would all be viable options. I know there's tons of good looking warehouses around, but as I'm a hobbyist, I have no idea how you'd go around arranging something like this. I've looked for rental studios that are in warehouses but there's surprisingly little info online (this one seems promising, we'll probably check it out http://www.baltimorephotostudios.com/#!studio-411)

anyone from the MarVa region have any suggestions of locations to shoot? we don't have a specific budget, probably a few hundred bucks at most to rent the location. thanks in advance for any replies!

oh, also, I have my own camera gear (5D Mark II, 24-70 f2.8 L, 70-200 f2.8 L II, 100 f2.8 L Macro) and while I have some speedlites we'll probably rent/buy a flashkit, I'm thinking two heads should be sufficient. any gear/lighting recommendations are also welcome.

 

[RLPhoto]

so I've recently been asked by a good friend who is in the process of starting a woodworking/furniture studio to take some pictures for his prototypes. these aren't for publication or anything, but he wants some creative shots that he can bring along when he meets potential clients or fabricators.

while we plan on renting some studio space so we can do the standard white-background shots, we also talked about doing something a little more environmental, perhaps in an old factory-looking space if possible. we're both living in the Washington, DC area, and traveling to a nearby city (Baltimore, Richmond, Annapolis) would all be viable options. I know there's tons of good looking warehouses around, but as I'm a hobbyist, I have no idea how you'd go around arranging something like this. I've looked for rental studios that are in warehouses but there's surprisingly little info online (this one seems promising, we'll probably check it out http://www.baltimorephotostudios.com/#!studio-411)

anyone from the MarVa region have any suggestions of locations to shoot? we don't have a specific budget, probably a few hundred bucks at most to rent the location. thanks in advance for any replies!

oh, also, I have my own camera gear (5D Mark II, 24-70 f2.8 L, 70-200 f2.8 L II, 100 f2.8 L Macro) and while I have some speedlites we'll probably rent/buy a flashkit, I'm thinking two heads should be sufficient. any gear/lighting recommendations are also welcome.

A set of Monolights for the environmental stuff would be best. They put out alot of light to shoot at Iso 100.

Smaller apertures will get the sharpest details and take your time lighting. Its the most important thing you need to do.

 

[bchernicoff]

I just found this thread. Did you ever find a place? I'm about to start working with a guy in Alexandria on something similar. We are looking at using his workshop space for the shoots.

 

[kubelik]

we actually just ended up doing it in a studio with a small cyclorama in rockville, to keep things simple. given that it was my first shooting ever with studio lights, and his first time getting serious photographs taken of his furniture, we both decided that minimizing variables would be best.

the studio we used was Studio Arto (http://studioarto.com/rental/), owned and run by this fellow Sergey who was really friendly.

there was this location that had the exact look that we were originally going to go for, but a bit on the pricey side for rentals: http://www.dcstudiorental.com/

good luck with your own shoot, bchernicoff!

 

[bchernicoff]

good luck with your own shoot, bchernicoff!

Thanks. When I got there we ended spending most of our time talking about what he wants to do long term. He's interested in portraits as well as shooting his work and wants to convert one of the rooms in his workshop into a small photography studio. The room is large enough and has a high, matte-black ceiling, so it's perfect. We're going to work to get it setup over the next couple of weeks. I'll let you know how it goes. I did mention that there were probably other people in the area that would pay to use it, so we'll see what he thinks.