I have been thinking about my studio space the past few months as my five year lease in my current location is going to expire in exactly one year and four days from today. Currently I am located in a very nice professional tower, in a very nice part of Houston, and I have a fantastic view. However there is one very large fundamental problem with this space in that it gets no walk by traffic.
Prior to this time, I have never been really interested in walk by traffic as this is not really necessary for a wedding photographer. No one is going to walk by my studio, look at my photography and decide to get married. Only in my dreams is my artwork this powerful a thing. 
A wedding photographer’s primary source of business is through referrals and advertising, and currently I am not paying for advertising at all.
I have photographed so many weddings now that I want to start to really dive into the world of family portraiture. I have a huge amount of training in this area and I want to help as many families as I can with my photography. I think the best way to do this will be to find a new location.
This new location needs to have a good amount of glass in the front of the shop to present my artwork to people walking by. And this brings up another point. The location I see in my head must have foot traffic, and not cars racing by at 35mph. The location needs to be next to a place that has a large amount of family foot traffic.
I can imagine the studio being outside of a movie theater, where every thirty minutes 100 people walk out of the theater and the first thing they see is my studio. Or perhaps in between a family restaurant and a dry cleaners, which are two locations that Mom and Dad constantly visit.
With the right location, I can see my business doubling.
I also think that I need a place that will allow me to have a great sign out front. In this day and age we have so many things to block out advertising; junk email filters, Tivo, satellite radio, etc. I think one of the best forms of advertising is going to be a great location with a great sign out front! A sign worthy of the Vegas strip!
These are big changes I am thinking of, and I have a year to make them happen, which at the very least should provide me with an unlimited source of blog entries between now and then.
Aric C. Hoek BFA, CPPProfessional Photographer
2012 President PPGH
