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Services & Information
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| Roush Studios Jeff Roush / photographer Jackson / Memphis / Nashville 731 676.1520 |
- Corporate / Annual Reports - Interiors / Architecture - Product / Catalog - Corporate Portrait |
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Studio Services ~ Complete Commercial Advertising Photo Services. "Full Service Digital Photography Studio". We mainly use all Nikon Professional Cameras and Lenses. One of the nice features of using our facility is that we have a lot of gear, enough to run a few different setups at one time if need be. We also offer Photoshop Services such as digital retouching, color corrections, layered files, and clipping paths. Commercial Advertising includes Catalogs, Annual Reports, Sales Sheets, Brochures, Websites, Newspaper/Magazine Advertising, For a complete view of our samples please visit our Portfolio Gallery. For a brief history of our company, please scroll down. |
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The "Roush Studios" Story ~ Information / History
The "Roush Studios" Story
Photography has been my life. From my humble beginnings in Toledo, Ohio, to my studios here in West Tennessee, it has been an incredible journey, and an experience similar to none. While now retired, I still spend a lot of time teaching and coaching young photographers looking to make their mark in this industry.
Starting out as many photographers do, shooting retail portraits, weddings, and model portfolios, my beginning was humble, and that is where I began in the late1970s I never had a clue that one day I would be entertaining the types of clients I have worked with over the years regularly.
My photographic years in Toledo brought customers like Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Champion Spark Plug, Monroe Shock Absorbers, Libby Glass, and Libby Owens Ford. I worked for many advertising agencies in the Toledo market over the years. Groups like Paco, Mitchell, Hansen, and Comer, MCG, Lesniewicz and Navarre, The Academy Group, and Wiedershine-Strandburg, just to name a few. Along with this client list came an invitation from the University of Toledo to participate in their photography programs as an instructor. With all of this "hoop-la" going on my photographs were now being seen everywhere, including the Toledo Blade Newspaper, one of the largest publications in the Midwest at that time, I also was seen on some of the local television stations. Keep in mind that this was long before the digital age we now know; long before Photoshop, digital cameras, and the internet. Being published back then was a very big deal. Being seen in the right places is priceless to someone like me.
As my career blossomed, my work got better and better because I was my "own worst critic". My classes at the University became very popular among hobbyists and amateur photographers, along with a few pros in the area. They became so popular in fact that a local NBC Affiliate television station in Toledo did a "human interest" story on me and on the photographic classes and workshops I continued to provide as part of my curriculum at the University of Toledo. The story which aired on the local affiliate television station earned a Crystal Award in the Advertising Awards Show in the Midwest that year. Life as a photography instructor has continued through the years as I've found myself in different markets around the USA. In the early 2000's I published an online photography course program that I still offer today. It can be found at www.roushphotoeducation.com. At any given time I have a number of students enrolled in the program.
As I sought out new photography customers and armed with a stronger portfolio I began to travel more to different parts of the country. I also realized that I was totally unimpressed with the Midwest weather and decided to move my business to the Southwest. At first, I was very skeptical to relocate my business and basically start over. I was told that my strong portfolio and client list would get me work just about anywhere. After a ten-year stitch in the desert southwest, working throughout California and Arizona it seemed a better idea to be more centrally located in the United States; thus my move to my present location in W. Tennessee. Until recently, since I retired, I continued to travel to all corners of the U.S. doing work for clients who refused to use anyone else for their photographic assignments. I also would get UPS shipments regularly from just about everywhere in the country of products to photograph for catalog or magazine advertisements. I was lucky to have such a loyal client base.
Many years ago I added a new addition to our ability to do "location" photography in other parts of the country. Doing location work, especially catalog/product work, "on location" is every photographer's nightmare. Most of us fly and carry "what we can" to the assignment. And then, unfortunately, we do the "best" job we can without having ALL of the necessary "bells and whistles" we might have in our studios. So, historically, location work usually suffers somewhat and doesn't have the "zing" of a high-level studio photograph. Well, as you might guess, this wasn't good enough for me. A 35' motor home soon solved that dilemma. Back then I traveled cheaply, and with ALL of my "photo bells & whistles & tricks" to my customers' locations. My product photography at their facility is equal to the photography I would do for them in my studio.
Plus, it's so easy for the client to have you there, at their place. This has become a popular element of our business, and we have the luxury of traveling a lot now to shoot. After all, this was the millennium; it was the age of cell phones and email. I was never out of touch anywhere in the world.
The Move to Los Angeles -
Back in 1989 and 90 is when I made my move to Los Angeles. And, I did it very meticulously. Step one was to familiarize myself with the “lay of the land” and try to formulate a way to completely start over as a commercial photographer.
On my second trip out there from Toledo I found a loft space in downtown LA that I thought I could afford … it was 2500/month (in 1989). Loft spaces offered not only photographic shooting space but also living space. So, although that seems like a lot it’s really not, considering. This space was on Traction Ave in the 3rd Street Arts District, very close to Korea Town and Olvera Street in Downtown LA. Both of these are Landmarks to the locals who have been there a while.
On my third trip, I started doing some marketing. Back in those days you could actually hire a “photo rep” that would sell for you, and help you find clients. I searched through reps in the LA411 book, which was a movie, film, and photography directory, and found a rep. During our first photo call she was fairly brash with me as she got MANY phone calls from photographers wanting and needing a rep desperately. She told me that unless my portfolio was simply “outstanding” not to bother her. I talked her into meeting with me and two days later was sitting in her office in Hollywood as she perused through my portfolio and sample pieces. She slowly closed it, looked up at me, and said. “I’m in, your stuff is awesome!” Needless to say, I was thrilled. She mentioned to me that it would be a good idea for me to also market myself and share leads with her because LA was a cesspool of photographers (some good and bad) and marketing was extremely challenging.
I found out fairly soon that LA had about 7000 very talented commercial photographers and that this would be an uphill battle for me to find clients in this giant market. However, if you know me, those challenges only motivate me to work harder and smarter. This was LONG before any internet, email, Facebook, Instagram, or any electronic advertising was possible. We had to do it the old-fashioned way – photo calls / cold calls/client visits / over and over, and over. I collected 50 phone books from around the area. These phonebooks had the phone numbers of all the advertising agencies and all of the corporate manufacturing companies, and this was my future client base. Imagine searching through these thousands of pages and then cold calling a possible client, begging for an appointment, and showing them your work in hopes they might hire you. Keep in mind, when one of these clients did hire me they were firing another photographer. It was tiring and tedious work. However, this is where you started back then when you moved to a new market.
I moved into my new loft on my forth trip. I carried in my van (which I drove from Toledo) my clothes, a few necessities, my cameras, my dog, a coffee pot, and a few other things to sustain myself until all of my studio gear arrived via moving company. My camera gear consisted of a 35mm bag with 14 lenses, 2-4.5 View cameras with 3 lenses, and an 8x10 view camera with 2 lenses – all film cameras. I also shipped my ’72 XKE Jaguar and it arrived 4 weeks later.
Within 2 months I had work in the studio. I had managed to create a client base that became a loyal and dependable money source for my small company Roush Studios. Eventually, I moved to a larger commercial space, leaving the loft behind for a more enjoyable existence and a much bigger space.
My new studio in North Hollywood was 5000 square feet with a drive-in garage door. I photographed many cars and built many room sets in this space. At that time, oddly, I didn’t feel like I had “made it”, but as I look back now I can see that I had “made it.”
The challenges of all of this were tremendous and overwhelming, but I’m a living example that if you have the motivation to win, learn your craft, and push to excel in you “nitch” market you can make it. I became a specialist in studio illustration, catalog photography, and photographing “bright and shiny” reflective products – chrome, brass, nickel, metals, mirrors, etc. The difficult part, which I have told every student I’ve ever worked with is that it is not sufficient to be “as good as the competition”, you HAVE to be better.
I’ve had the pleasure of not only working in just about every state in the continental USA but also in South America, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. It’s been quite a ride, for sure.
Years ago, while still in Toledo, I was asked to be a guest on a live tv show called "Local Artists, What Makes Them Tick”. This was a very exciting event for me. Near the end of the interview, after showing a lot of sample images I was asked by the commentator this question:
"Jeff, tell us, what do you think is your secret to your success?" I answered without a pause.
"It's a simple very recipe to success in this business. Do great work, create outstanding images,
do it for the dollars you said you would get it done when you said you could, and make it easy and painless for your customer."
So, good old-fashioned business practices still work, after all these years.
My sincere thanks to all my loyal customers throughout the years.
Jeff Roush
Roush Studios
USA