All in the Family

When Keith Thompson, one of the United Kingdom’s leading wedding photographers, says Studio Rouge is a family affair he’s not kidding. In fact, all five staffers are members of the immediate family so everything from preliminary planning of shooting sessions through to final delivery of prints and albums is definitely family business.

Keith, a multiple award winner at regional, national and international level is Studio Rouge’s principal photographer—and the fact that he’s been the Britain’s photographer of the year 11 times has certainly enhanced the studio’s reputation. Still, Keith would be the first to admit that a key to the studio’s success is great teamwork. His wife, Debbie, is studio and office manager and stylist (and a Photoshop expert); the two older children, Lynsey and Jamie, are both photographers who also handle postproduction and album plans and sales; and Charlotte, the youngest, is a professional hair and makeup artist. Talk about covering all the bases!
Founded as Keith Thompson Photography in 1988 and rebranded in 2006, Studio Rouge is based in Reading, some 35 miles west of London with the majority of their work done within a 35-mile radius of home. However, Keith occasionally shoots weddings outside that area; at times within other regions of the U.K. but also in Europe including Italy, France, Cyprus and Greece. But generally there is enough wedding work—they handle about 50 weddings annually, the majority between April and October—and portraits and makeovers to keep them more than busy in their home locale year-round. To ensure that its business is spread throughout the year, Studio Rouge books most makeover, glamour, portfolio and nude sessions, which are photographed mainly in the studio, during November through March.

Keith’s introduction to photography was on his ninth birthday when his father, a keen amateur photographer, gave him a Kodak Box Brownie. It was the start of a long and fruitful relationship with cameras. Keith went on to become an enthusiastic and accomplished amateur photographer, and in 1980 entered professional photography with a full-time job as an in-house studio photographer. He capitalized on that opportunity to master not only the technical aspects of the profession but also learned to run a successful business.

From the outset, Keith—both as an amateur member of camera clubs and later as a professional—appreciated the immense value of being involved with groups and trade associations, attending seminars and workshops and participating in print competitions. He developed his creativity by entering competitions, learning from the critiques handed out by judging panels, and always striving for perfection. And on the way he learned through the school of hard knocks and firsthand experience how to run a business.

That he was successful in prestige competitions such as the Fujifilm Wedding and Portrait Awards, the Kodak Gold Awards, and the numerous highly competitive events run by the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) speaks volumes for his craftsmanship. One does not become Photographer of the Year 11 times by chance! In 2000 he achieved one of his proudest accomplishments, winning both the Fujifilm and Kodak awards as Wedding Photographer of the Year. He considered the Kodak Gold Award as the most difficult in the industry to win—and he claimed it twice. Keith also advanced through BIPP’s professional qualification structure—as a Licentiate in 1986; Associate in 1990; and Fellow in 1991. Today he is active with the BIPP, the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP), Master Photographers Association (MPA) and WPPI.

As satisfying and as creditable as industry awards and credentials are, the people of Studio Rouge know that much more is required to make a studio successful and to stay ahead of the competition. “We believe that listening to what our clients want, paying close attention to every detail, being very self critical and ensuring our postproduction is of the highest standard may be partly responsible for setting us apart from our competition. And we have been driving ourselves hard for years to get where we are today,” says Keith.

A master of lighting and composition Keith has developed a style that is best described as a combination of many styles—photojournalistic, modern traditional, contemporary and fun. In essence he adapts his style to suit the occasion and the customer’s personality and needs, a versatility that appeals to clients. To ensure that clients get a wide range of images, Keith always has an assistant at weddings (usually his son, Jamie). Thus he is able to cover all the traditional bases and also offer something extra, such as the “trash the dress” sessions that really appeal to many brides.

“We always ask what is important to the client and we get to know them well before the wedding, with an engagement session and a pre-wedding meeting,” says Keith. And, as Debbie points out, in addition to his photographic talent, Keith’s all-round people skills are great assets at weddings—he’s a master at getting people to relax and have fun. “He often can be seen putting button holes on, making the bride’s dress look just right and helping grannies get in or out of the church. He often becomes ‘one of the lads’ and this down-to-earth approach helps to get the clients and their guests to work with him. He is seen as being a ‘really nice guy’ so everyone seems to be more willing and open when he suggests different shots. Clients often say you can see in the pictures how much people are enjoying themselves,” she says.

Typical of this willingness to try something different are the “trash the dress” shoots, invariably in locations ranging from castles to disused industrial sites and against unusual backgrounds (such as graffiti-covered walls) that have become increasingly popular with adventurous brides. “Many of this season’s brides have booked a ‘trash session’ after seeing the few we have done. And we expect to be shooting later this year in a castle, a farm, a forest, on a mountain and a derelict industrial area in London. Our brides don’t necessarily want to destroy their precious dresses but they do enjoy it when we shoot more contemporary fashion images after the wedding itself. Usually there just isn’t time at the wedding for these photographs and on the day many brides stick to a more traditional look to keep their mothers happy!” says Keith.

As with many consumers, today’s brides are often influenced by what they see in general media—magazines, television, films, the Internet—and consequently want wedding photography that reflects contemporary trends. The people at Studio Rouge try to keep abreast of such things—and Debbie emphasizes the value of having a young team working with her and Keith to make sure their photography meets expectations. Also, Keith admits he has been influenced by photographers in other countries ever since a potential client walked into the studio in 1994, put an Australian wedding magazine on the desk and asked for “pictures that looked like these.” Keith and Debbie said they had never before seen pictures quite like the ones in that magazine but made a vow to match or better the quality. Since then, they have never looked back. At the top of Keith’s “most admired” list of international photographers is Yervant of Melbourne, Australia, whose seminar he attended in Santorini in 2007.

Keith is adamant that lighting is the key to great photography, so mastery of technique and the skill to harness light—ambient and artificial—can never be over-emphasized. As he does with most technical things, Keith favors the simple approach. For example his camera equipment comprises of Canon EOS 5D bodies, zoom lenses ranging from 24–70mm, 70–200mm and 16–35mm, and a 15mm. Shooting in RAW mode and using auto white balance, he prefers to work with ambient light, especially window light, and often uses subtractive or negative light from building walls. When ambient light needs supplementing, one of Keith’s most often used tools is his own invention—the Light Stick (soon to be launched). [Note: the Light Stick is a pole-mounted portable light used to add catchlights or for selective lighting. It’s used handheld, much like a video light is used in still photography.]

Over the years Keith has become very familiar with many of the most popular local wedding venues and is thus able to have a lighting plan in mind ahead of time. But on those occasions when he is shooting at a venue for the first time, he formulates a basic lighting “recipe” which can be modified without too much anguish. And he always has the Light Stick to handle what the ambient light cannot. With an approximate 50-50 split between location and studio work, considerable time is spent shooting in a controlled lighting environment where a small softbox, triflector and honeycomb grid are principal tools.

Marketing Efforts
Studio Rouge has adopted a multi-faceted approach to marketing. Wedding photography services are advertised nationally with full-page ads in bridal magazines; hyperlinks from venues’ websites complement their own website which is listed with Google (and they have a blog); and then there is the most effective advertising of all—word-of-mouth. Studio Rouge gets 50 percent of new work from referrals.

Portrait sittings and the cancer-awareness fundraising “Face” concept (a portion of fees benefits a cancer charity) are promoted through a voucher referral system and local newspapers. The “Face” makeover promotion usually brings in 40 sessions per campaign and at the same time raises funds for breast cancer programs—a win-win result for everyone involved.

Studio Rouge strives to keep its website current by posting news, latest competition successes (Keith, Lynsey and Jamie), links to venues, testimonials from clients and a wide variety of photography and related services that emphasize craftsmanship and professionalism. Having progressed through the numerous evolutionary stages of professional photography from 1980, Keith is a firm believer in the traditional rules of lighting and composition but has no qualms about breaking them to get the right look. “But you have to know what you are doing before you break the rules,” he says.

Great venues are in plentiful supply in Keith’s immediate working region—castles, country estates and gardens and magnificent churches—and Debbie says they are continually trying to foster reciprocal support from the venues. “We try to encourage the growth of our relationships with the venues by offering reciprocal hyperlinks and photography of staff to promote them and us. Other photographers are also doing this, so the competition is tough. Nonetheless we keep trying and we now have several venues that recommend us, so the effort is paying off,” says Debbie.
While a plethora of schools and colleges teach photography, not all teach the skills to be what Keith calls “social photographers” who really know how to work with people. Young photographers are often adept at the theoretical aspects of business, and fluent in the language of Internet marketing and branding with slick-looking websites and blogs, but they often lack the ability to deliver a professional product. “This might be why some clients are fooled when new businesses or even amateurs promote themselves to look a lot better than they really are,” says Keith. “I really think young people need to learn the basics and work with an established photographer, because you need to develop such a great variety of skills—from all the photographic ones through to networking, marketing, bookkeeping and finance, negotiating advertising space rates, and the important people skills including simple courtesy and etiquette. Much of this might sound very simplistic, but there are many skills needed in running a professional studio and they can take time and experience to develop.”

Professionalism, from initial meeting to the final product, is integral to Studio Rouge’s service. Wedding clients receive a book of about 600 images created with the My Publisher program. At the same time they get an album plan proof of Studio Rouge’s design for an album. Many of the albums contain 100 sides, printed and bound with either GraphiStudio or Jorgensen albums. All printing is done in-house on an HPZ3100 printer. To ensure highest quality, every image in an album is retouched by hand.

Given England’s reputation for indifferent weather—albeit a reputation that’s not always entirely deserved—it has to be asked: How does Keith cope with shooting in less than ideal weather? “Yes, it’s true that English weather is unreliable to say the least, but whenever possible I really prefer to shoot outside even if it means getting a bit wet—as long as I can keep the bride dry. And when there’s cloud cover, the light can be truly amazing,” he says. He recalls one very memorable, and certainly very wet, wedding day. “The rain was so heavy the roads became rivers and, because they were closed to regular vehicles, the bride had to be carried into the church by a team of firemen,” he says. The wedding party and the heroic firemen will never forget an entrance like that.

To see more of Keith Thompson’s work visit www.studiorouge.co.uk.

Freelance writer/photographer and author Peter Skinner, who relocated to his native Australia in 2003 after living for 23 years in the U.S., has more than 25 years experience in the photo industry in public relations, media liaison, corporate communications, and workshop production and coordination. His magazine articles and photography have been published internationally and he has co-authored or edited numerous publications and books including the 5th and 6th editions of the authoritative ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography (Allworth Press). His latest book is Sports Photography: How to Capture Action and Emotion (Allworth Press). He can be reached at: [email protected].