Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Ross.
Dustin, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Colorado and was always encouraged to pursue my interests. Eventually landing in NYC I worked in tons of different types of business before finally landing my dream gig working for a photo agency (Contact Press Images). My original focus was long-term documentary work but I was photographing everything I could at that point and took any job that came my way. This lead to me working on projects from high-end studio product photography to even taking jobs as a baby portrait photographer.
My friends and I created an event called Rude Movements in the early 2000’s that was affiliated with an incredible music magazine out of London called Straight No Chaser.
Through the magazine, we forged connections with other like-minded artists, musicians and DJs around the world. Through a partnership with PUMA, we were able to bring many of our friends to our party at the legendary club APT in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. I photographed every event and eventually started shooting a lot of music-related events.
In 2003 I met my business partner Dan Eckstein when we both interned for the well known National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. Dan and I stayed in touch after leaving McCurry’s and in 2007 came up with the idea to found StudioBooth as a new way to capture events. We were looking for a way to redefine the event photography experience. Our concept was to combine the latest technology with elements of fashion photography to create an entirely new way to capture events.
StudioBooth has since grown into a multidisciplinary photography service with offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. We now partner with creatively driven companies and individuals to produce unique activations worldwide.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Photography as a vocation is not easy and I have had a lot of ups and downs. When I was starting out I would take any gig I could for an experience. Since I wasn’t able to make much money when first starting out I always held another day job to pay for all of my expenses.
It was hard work, but photography was my passion so didn’t feel as much. Originally I thought StudioBooth would be just another side hustle. We were actually surprised when our idea started gaining traction. It was amazing to see our hard work come to fruition and through word of mouth we just started getting job after job.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about StudioBooth – what should we know?
StudioBooth creates high-end photo and video activations at events and also creates custom content for brands. We have worked with many of the biggest brands but also create amazing photo and video booths for private events as well.
Since starting in 2007 I’m proud to say that we really haven’t let any clients down. I think that as a company our work speaks for itself. When you hire us, there is a personal touch that we offer that most other photo booth companies do not. We are a network of top-level professionals and bring all of our experience to each job.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Our technical experience, creative know-how, aesthetic sensibilities and drive to create something new is what really has lead to our success. Over the years we have had to do very little marketing, in an otherwise overheated market, because our clients keep coming back.
Most of our business is either repeat customers or referrals from those that have already worked with us.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4653 Lincoln Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90041
- Website: www.thestudiobooth.com
- Phone: 310.606.2114
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: studiobooth
- Facebook: facebook.com/studiobooth
- Twitter: twitter.com/studiobooth
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