Seattle Studio Rental with Dakota & Co Photography

Seattle Studio Rental for Personal Branding Photography Session

This personal branding session was a trade with another photographer Shelly of Dakota & Co. Yes, she is another branding photographer in the Seattle area and she is such a wonderful person. This is all about community over competition! Shelly and I have both been eyeing this space and have wanted to shoot here. She has had it listed as a PeerSpace rental option for clients, but hasn’t had a client in the space yet. I also have ideas for this space, I want to host a mini session here. However, I didn’t like the idea of not having my own photos of the space for advertisement. Not only that I wanted to truly understand and know the space, so I would be able to optimize the space to its fullest. 

What did I learn about this space?

The number one thing is to make sure any sessions are planned around both Lumens Field and T-Mobil park games and events. This space is right off of Occidental, that little road that many food vendors set up on game day, yes it is in that brick building right by a team shop. This area can get crazy on the wrong day!

Parking is crazy! We got there by 11am and I’m glad we did, there was something scheduled at Lumen fields, not a game, but some event. By the time we were leaving the small parking lots were filled. Expect to pay $6+/per hour of parking. Don’t expect to find any of the street parking available. Oh and those paid lots are a little walk too. Plan to park and walk.

Next, don’t schedule on hot days, the windows open up, but with it being on the 3rd floor I wouldn’t open the windows up very wide. That is a long way down! No AC in the space, but a small space fan. I’m not sure what heating is like, so I’d probably rather schedule avoiding the very hot and cold days.

A lot of stairs! This space is up on the 3rd floor, there is a service elevator, but I had no idea how to operate one and I ended up lugging all my camera gear, plus my own props and outfits up the 3 floors. I was very glad I ended up really cutting down my prop items to the bare minimum. Shelly used a rolling suitcase which was smart, but the road isn’t smooth so just be aware of that as well.

Even with all of those precautions I love this space! The diversity within 1200 sq. feet is amazing for doing a personal branding photoshoot in. As you will read below and see all the different options and looks that can be accomplished while in this space. The lighting is amazing, it can be just natural light or sometimes I brought in a flash to just add a little extra light. Probably on those rainy days more light might needs to be added. 

If you were to use this space for a full personal branding photoshoot I would definitely recommend 2-3 hours, 3 would be on the safer side if you want to add more personalization and set up to the space. This is where the planning part comes in if you want to go to another location after this rental, 2 hours might be just perfect. We had a 2 hour rental for the two of us to split, it was tight but we managed and just barely made it out in time.

Now let's view the space and all the potential ideas!

The Couch & Livingroom Space

I didn’t get a full photo of the whole wall and there actually is another taller table to the left of this living room space. The taller table does have that similar look of weathered wood like the kitchen table.



Photo ideas in this space:

Sitting on the couch

Sitting on the carpet

Standing like Shelly

Or even sitting in the window space

What could you do in this space?

Yoga/stretching

Meditation

Reading

Work on the computer or phone

Journaling or any sort of writing

Drinking coffee, tea, wine...

Chairs Towards the Red Brick Wall/Kitchen Space

I love this view into the kitchen area with the brick all in the background. There are 2 chair positions and we can move around the side table and chairs to optimize a specific look to you.

Photo ideas in the space:

On your phone, laptop working

Journaling

Reading

Drinking your favorite drink

The Red Brick Wall and Weathered Table Space

The most obvious part of this space is the natural brick wall and the weathered table. We didn’t use the kitchen table much, I had wanted to get myself on the computer with the wall in the background, but I completely spaced and forgot. So that is still an image idea that I’d love to capture.

Images in the space

Headshots against the brick wall: either standing and/or sitting on the bench

Something in your hands that relates to you or your business

At the table:

Working on a laptop

Journaling

Drinking your favorite drink

Or even using the kitchen space to “cook” or prepare some food

Sitting at the table to eat your food

Sitting on the kitchen butcher block counter

The Window Space

For my photos we did a whole woo-woo set of pulling an oracle card and smoke cleansing. You can see those images of me in this space on my Instagram account. But I loved this corner! It feels very much like the dreamer corner for me. 

How can I customize the space?

You can customize this area by adding a few things to that little golden cart or it can be taken away completely. In the space photo you can see how I decorated the space for my set. I have a pile of books, some crystals in my branding colors, a glass of water and another deck of cards. On the seat area I’ve got another deck, my burning supplies and my journal. Another idea is to bring an on brand pillow or blanket to sit on.

For Shelly’s photos all those items were taken off of the cart because they weren’t on brand for her visuals. 

Dream in this corner! What would you do in this space?

A White Wall Space

I don’t have a space photo of this white wall either. When you walk into the space you probably wouldn’t realize where I took this photo anyways. It is a white wall right in between the stairs (not accessible to renters) and the kitchen. It is probably less than 4 feet wide. To start I brought over that directors chair from by the door, then we went to some standing headshots. Some of the same ideas can be used on the white wall as the brick wall.

Headshots

Standing

Chair

Stool