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Announcer: Adorama TV presents "How'd They Do That" where we explore the world of professional
photographers and share their techniques with you. Here's your host, Mark Wallace.
Mark Wallace: Hey everybody, I'm Mark Wallace. Welcome to this week's episode of "How'd They
Do That". This week we're talking to Floyd Bannister. Floyd is the owner of Loft 19 Studios.
It's one of the premier studios in the West Coast. They've had high end photographers
like Marc Baptiste, Dan Winters, Martin Schuler, Cliff Watts. They have all kinds of people
shooting there.
They've got clients like GQ Magazine, Cosmopolitan, People Magazine - clients like Nike Golf,
Petsmart, Blimpie (I love their subs), all kinds of people. The list really goes on and
on. They have celebrities in there all the time. They did some BeyoncÃ© shoots earlier
this year. Tyler Perry has been in there, Brooks & Dunn. Justin Bieber was hanging out
a couple of weeks ago. Danica Patrick is there as well. Again, that list just goes forever.
You can look at their website, loft19.com, for a list of everybody that shoots there.
It's very impressive. Without further ado, here is our interview with Floyd Bannister.
Well Floyd, thank you so much for joining us today. Actually we're joining you. We're
here at Loft 19, which you own. We're actually on this gigantic site. It's 40 feet by 35
feet, I think. Is that right?
Floyd Bannister: Roughly those are the dimensions, sure.
Mark: Tell us how you built this studio.
Floyd: First of all, I started out back in '05 with my son Bryan. He was a cinema major
at USC. He said one day, he called up and said, "Hey Dad, let's build a photography
studio." I said, "Oh really? What kind of photography studio are you thinking about?"
He said, "I'd like this big open spacious area to shoot." Here I'm thinking he wants
a 20 by 20 room that he can control light and whatnot. He goes, "Oh no, no. I want this
huge space where I can have lots of room to move and build all my sets and things of that
nature."
So that's how it started. We started out with a 35 foot psych wall behind us, and it has
progressed into a little bit larger project than I had thought. Initially it was a 30
foot psych wall.
Mark: Just to give you an example of how large this studio is, we actually have a ceiling
of about 20 feet, is that correct?
Floyd: That's correct, with the grid about 18 feet.
Mark: About 18 feet when the grid falls below that. This is studio one. There's studio two
and then there's studio three under construction. Total square footage is...
Floyd: About 12,000 square feet.
Mark: 12,000 square feet. So not something you're going to fit into your bedroom or your
living room. It's gigantic. Whatever happened to Bryan? I don't see him around much except
for on television. He's with the Kansas City Royals?
Floyd: He's with the Kansas City Royals. Actually when we built the studio, he was with the
Mets at the time, but he's been since traded to the Kansas City Royals. He's almost in
his fifth year now playing professionally. I miss him a lot because I always knew that
this was his first love, photography. It was always a challenge for me to try and take
whatever needs he had and really try and help him produce the product that he wanted to
do. Unfortunately he doesn't live here because the seasons are so long, and the off season
takes him away from the stage. But I keep him abreast of what's going on. I've actually
shot him some pictures of our shoot that you're doing here. He thinks that's the coolest thing
going.
Mark: That's awesome. We need to give him that. So he gave up photography to become
a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. [laughs]
Floyd: I think that he felt that, well you have that small window of opportunity with
baseball, I figure I'd better take advantage of it.
Mark: Right. And baseball really plays a part of Loft 19. Even the logo, Loft 19, is a baseball
diamond.
Floyd: It is a little play. 19 was the number that I wore at ASU that's retired, and in
the hall of fame and college hall of fame. That's the number that Bryan wears with the
Royals now.
Mark: That's awesome. And Floyd actually played as the starting pitcher in the Major Leagues
from 1976 to 1992. Is that right?
Floyd: Correct. That's a long time, and believe me, my body feels it.
Mark: I am a baseball nut, so I sort of know more about him than he knows. Anyway, I'm
not stalking you. So we have this studio. Are there any pointers you could give to photographers
that are either new to renting a studio or some things that you've seen as photographers
have walked through the door and they were like, oh I didn't know that I was supposed
to do that.
Floyd: I think that's the biggest thing. Especially the newer photographers that want to use a
studio. They have to have an understanding of not only cost, but the different things
they need to do in progression to actually run a studio. First of all, understanding
what they need - if they need a small studio, a large studio, what their actual venue is
for that day or that shoot. So there's a contract involved, there's insurance involved. There
may be a power issue involved if we're using big lights like we're using here that may
factor in the rental cost.
I think the biggest thing is to have an understanding of what they want to try and accomplish and
start from there. But yeah, there's a progression of things. And also what kind of help they're
going to have. I think the biggest problem that a lot of photographers don't realize
is how long it takes to set things up.
A lot of times, like in this stage for this shoot for instance, we had to pre-light the
day before, because you don't want to take a lot of your time setting up the stage when
you really want to get up and moving, especially if you have a hired hand on. Those are all
things that have to factor into your cost as time. Also, the people that work for you,
or work with you, they need to be knowledgeable on how to use the equipment.
Mark: Right. Back in my theater days, when I used to work in not movie theaters but real
theaters, a lot of times production companies would roll in and they wouldn't have an electrician,
because they didn't realize they actually had a certified electrician to plug into power.
So we constantly had those kind of issues. Do you find things like that in this studio
as well?
Floyd: It's something that has to be addressed, there's no question. Because you bring a lot
of novice people in, and then all of a sudden they'll have a hot light that's fired up on
the wall or in a lunchbox. You'll have a gentleman over there trying to put the light or a globe
or whatever in, and they don't realize, hey, this thing's hot. Those are all issues, you
have to be careful.
Of course that's why you need to have insurance, but you also need to have safety as number
one when you're on stage because there are a lot of people around here. When you have
a lot of electricity involved, things can happen that - not always for the good. Any
kind of error on stage, you want to keep it to a limited time.
Mark: Right. Not only is it a lot of electricity, but a lot of times in a studio like this,
it's in the dark, a lot of electricity.
Floyd: Correct. And you have a lot of stands that are rolling around. It's easy to bump
into things, and you can really cause a lot of expensive happenings that you really don't
want to have happen.
Mark: So a lot of safety training, safety awareness. And I know that we bring up all
the time with our staff and volunteers - close toed shoes, and make sure you have little
flashlights and make sure you know where you're going, those types of things to make sure
that people are safe.
In addition to that, let's talk about what it costs to rent a studio. What are the major
costs involved? Do you rent by the hour? Is there a daily rate? Is there a preflight date?
What are some of the things that people need to know before they run the studio?
Floyd: Basically a studio like this, especially the larger studios, are usually nothing less
than a half day rental to a full day rental to of course over time, if that happens to
be the case. Smaller studios are different. The reason the larger studio usually has a
half day minimum is because it takes so much to cool the studio down. When you've got a
6,000 square foot stage and you need to bring it down to 70-75 degrees, that's a very large
cost. To be able to transfer that into the actual contract, it's not beneficial for me
to go in it hour to hour.
Now, the smaller stages will usually start out with a two to three hour minimum because
I feel that most people, if they're going to try and set up and do a photo shoot, it's
going to take at least an hour. It may even take longer with the models, with the styling,
and with the make-up, and things of that nature. Then for them to get their lighting set up,
it's going to take at least three hours. So those are usually my minimums when I do it
in the small stage.
Mark: And in this studio when you rent for a day that includes not only the stage. The
site includes make-up counters, includes a conference room, a kitchen, bathrooms - it's
a lot of stuff. It's not just a place to take pictures. Is that good?
Floyd: Right, this studio is set up not just as a big box. I've got the nice lobby out
in front for clients to relax. I've got the upstairs lobby that has TV and Cox cable.
It just allows people to have a relaxing environment. It's got the kitchen. It's got a couple of
dressing rooms, three make-up mirrors, a comfortable place in the staging area as well. Also, offstage
there's plenty of room for parking extra equipment, grip lighting, whatever they might need.
Mark: Right. Some of the events that I've done in the past - last year I was on tour
with Pocket Wizard - we had to rent studios specifically, not just for the space, but
for the parking, the restroom facilities. And what do you do with a group of people
that's 100 people or so? Because they have to have a place to park, they have to make
sure they have some food and water, and all that kind of stuff. So those things are very
important when you're looking into a studio as well.
Floyd: They really are, because their amenities are very important. Like you say, you have
to have plenty of parking, and you have to have a lot of egress, ingress with a building
of this size. Those are important issues when you have a large number of people.
Mark: Well, a lot to think about. Thanks for joining us today. We're going to take us out,
and we actually have been shooting here at Loft 19 for the last three days. We're going
to show you some scenes from some of the stuff that we've shot here on the stage and some
behind the scenes stuff. We'll set some music to this, and you can sort of get a feel for
this gigantic studio to understand the magnitude of this place and how much I love it. Well,
thanks again Floyd for joining us.
Floyd: Thank you, Mark. I enjoyed it.
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Mark: That was a lot of fun hanging out with Floyd at Loft 19. Remember, if there's somebody
that you'd like to see on our show, "How'd They Do That", you can send your suggestions
to me at askmark@adorama.com. Thanks for joining us. I'll see you again next week.
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