Wade Studios
When it’s time to close the book.
On August 26, 1999 wadestudio.com went on line. This year, on August 26, 2022 it will go off line. It’s the end of an era, and brings some sadness to me as I finally admit that part of my journey has come to an end.
I went into photography as a career in 1984. I had been exhibited at the Chrysler Museum in 1983, and bolstered by that event and the contacts I made, I decided to make a career change from being in the shipping business, to going to work for a small town newspaper – The Portsmouth Times. I was their Photography Editor, and I occasionally wrote reviews of movies, took the photographs of events, took the “blue lines” (I think that’s what they were called – essentially they were large negatives that the printing plates would be burned from) to the printer, and delivered the newspapers. I think if the bathrooms needed cleaning I did that too.
In 1984 that newspaper folded and I rented a small office for $150 a month, applied for a job at 7-11 in case I couldn’t make the rent, took my portfolio and hit local magazines and ad agencies. I also was hired by the Chrysler Museum to document their glass collection. In my first month I also landed three catalogue assignments – The Chrysler Museum “Hampton Roads Collects,” an auction catalogue for a fund raiser for the Virginia Opera, and the auction catalogue for the S.S. United States. Those assignments generated around $5,000 in revenue. It looked like I really could make a living as a photographer.
In 1999 we were entering the internet age, a time when small businesses like mine were considering a website. Honestly, a friend – Dan Kohler – had to pretty much badger me into doing it. I shot Dan and Lisa’s wedding, photographed their newborn sons, who later sat in with my band at our last concert as drummer and guitarist, so our relationship goes back a long time. The reason he had to twist my arm was I couldn’t see how a website would benefit a photographer; I didn’t sell widgets. My “products” were all very personal. Fortunately, Dan was smarter than I was and very persistent.
This studio was my biggest gamble. I went from $500 a month in overhead to around $2000. When my dad came down in the late 1990s to visit he took this photograph. He was so proud of me. It was hard for him to understand being an “artist” but this was being a businessman, and that he could relate to.
Back then there were only five “carriers” that could host a site. I can only remember three - Compuserve, MSN, and AOL. I went with MSN, where every “page” was $50 a month. I set a budget of $150 and had three pages.
And it worked. For 23 years, a good decade after the physical studios were closed and I worked from home, there’s been a web presence. But, sadly, I’m just not getting enough business to justify the cost. So it is, “Adieu, adieu, remember me” (Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5, line 111).
While I personally continue to photograph for a few select clients, and pursue the “There Are Places” project, this part of my journey is ending. My sincere and heartfelt thanks to the hundreds, perhaps thousand, of people who trusted me for almost 40 years, with their portraits and weddings. You were a blessing.
This was my “living room” sales area. I wanted clients to have an idea of how wall portraits would look on their walls.
On the far left you see the set for fairies and elves, then a “white window” set for infants, and then some traditional backdrops - we could pull up three different full length backgrounds.
From that “white window” set.
Using those full length backdrops. This was shot with film before Photoshop - hence the diaper peeking out.
I had a plethora of props.
Yes, we had a little mermaid set.
And we had beach days in the winter, too.
There was a set for columns and arches. a living room with fireplace for portraits, and then additional backgrounds.
A senior portrait using the columns and arches.
We used that set for bridal portraits too.
Fairies.
We did a lot of children’s portraits in that set.
I wish I could remember her name, she worked for me one summer. She was a dancer, and a beautiful young woman.
More backgrounds, a changing/nursing room for infants, and that small set was for angels.
For several years I networked with a ministry that helped single mothers. We did a promotion called “Angels Amongst Us,” and in lieu of a session fee we asked for a donation to our “Angel Tree.” We had a Christmas tree in the front gallery that people placed their donations under. They often gave so generously that their donations were more than what the session fee would have been.
For older angels we used a different set up.
One of my favorite angels - my son Malachi.