Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Gelb.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Stephen. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Started out with my dads Nikon F and a 50/1.4 lens! Ended up working as a photographer about 12 years ago after a different career. Slowly but surely, I moved into the service side of the business, first providing equipment for sale and then providing hard to find lenses for rental and now, I run a medium-sized full-service camera rental house!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
So so many struggles. We had to learn a lot of lessons along the way, especially about providing complete camera rentals. Everything from dead batteries to dirty cameras to damaged lenses! I think the biggest struggle has been learning what customers are really after on the service side of things. We bought a lot of equipment (not lenses) early on that we had to redo with newer, better more functional equipment. The business is and always has been competitive, but at the same time in many ways collaborative, so even when we struggle, we learn, we change, we grow, we get better at what we do so that pressure is a good thing!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lensworks Rentals – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Lensworks Rentals is a Full-Service Camera Rental House. We Rent out Cameras and Lenses and Camera Accessories for TV shows, Feature Films, Short Films, Commercials, Branded Content and Music Videos. We are known for having a large inventory of super beautiful spherical and anamorphic lenses as well as a large fleet of modern cameras and accessory/support equipment. What sets us apart is the hugely varied selection of rare and modern lenses we have and the experience we can offer clients. We often can provide lenses you just can’t get at another rental company and we also provide a spacious 3300sq foot prep space to facilitate the most demanding jobs.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We just moved from a 1000 sq foot space to a 3300 sq foot space and had our busiest year ever! It’s an exciting time! We are planning for more long-form shows next year!
Contact Info:
- Address: 3975 Landmark St.
Suite 700
Culver City, CA 90232 - Website: www.lensworksrentals.com
- Phone: 3102317677
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @lensworksrentals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lensworksrentals/
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