Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Floyd.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Julie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started Classic Kids in San Francisco in the 1990’s after my husband was transferred there with his company, Hyatt Hotels. I had a law degree from Northwestern and a good job as an international tax attorney in the Midwest, but was bored as a lawyer and wanted do something with the photography skills I had gained with the birth of my first baby boy (I now have 4 boys!). When my first was born, I was so besotted with him, wanting to capture for eternity every little detail. Quickly after moving to San Francisco, I opted to quit the law and open my first studio. The studio thrived and I began hiring people to help me with sales and production. Soon enough, my husband’s company transferred him to Chicago where I quickly added another studio, maintaining my San Francisco studio by frequently flying back and forth to conduct my photo sessions. Both studios thrived. There are now 11 studios altogether, from Santa Monica, Newport Beach, Los Gatos and Burlingame in California, to two in Manhattan, one in Greenwich and four in the Chicago area. I have done this by hiring incredible artists who love children to work and train with me, and when they are ready, they will open a new studio. Santa Monica and Newport Beach have each been open for about ten years. My photographers and I share a common vision and style when it comes to capturing children artfully. I own our photo lab where we process all the studios’ images and make all our fine art prints and canvases and where we make several artisanal photo display products that are completely unique to CK. We have 48 total people working at CK.
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?
It has been a wonderful and, at times, wild ride! When I left San Francisco, I took on a business partner to help me with the day to day there, and I bought out her interest in 2012. We are great friends today, but that was a very trying experience, to say the least! The recession and the advent of digital were also giant bumps in the road and difficult to navigate. These game changing events largely coincided, forever changing the photography market for us. The recession brought a renewed consciousness to household expenditures, even in the luxury market and sales and sittings took a big hit and the effects are still felt today. The recession also brought more competitors into the field who had lost jobs elsewhere. The explosion of digital technology and internet growth lead to a ton of new competition as the barriers to entry in our industry were dropped very low. Anyone with a digital camera and a computer could easily hold themselves out as professionals and sell their services. Online sites selling websites and business materials, such as price lists and marketing strategies, were easily purchased. Up until 2013, CK shot only black and white film, but we converted at that time to digital as the technology and supplies surrounding digital finally could meet our high-quality standards. Converting our lab was a huge task and retraining all of our photographers in digital was also challenging!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Classic Kids – what should we know?
Our origins are in black and white studio work, although we are also very good with color and outdoor as well. We sell only fine art prints and canvas made in our own lab to a very high standard. We generally serve a high-end demographic and are considered a “boutique” studio company that is high touch and service. Our portraits are very interactive and relationship oriented, displaying a generally intense connection between the subject and the viewer of the photograph. We strive to tell a story about who each child is in our images. We believe in power of print as opposed to simply handing over a thumb drive full of images that may never see the light of day. We offer print and display options that we created in-house and that no one else has, although some of these can now be purchased by other professional photographers from our lab at www.besotted.com.
I am super proud to be the grande dam at this amazing company full of great people and talented like-minded artists. I am proud to have a wonderful career for myself that I truly love, but also be mentoring so many others, many of whom have been at CK for 10, 15 and almost 20 years!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
In one word……PASSION. Simple as that! Passion for children and the desire to capture their incredible beauty drives every success that I have had and the success of others at CK. Passion drives you to be creative, to work hard and to surmount every single obstacle thrown at you, year after year!
Pricing:
- Sitting fees are around $300, prints start around $100 for a fine-art, hand edged 5×7. Customers can expect to spend a minimum of about $1,000.
Contact Info:
- Address: Classic Kids Santa Monica
1627 Montana Ave,
Santa Monica, CA - Website: www.classickids.com
- Phone: (310)395-1468
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: classickids_photography
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/ClassicKidsPhotography
Image Credit:
Classic Kids
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