Velvet Underground...

Yesterday, I received a gift... the gift of about 1/3 of my basement, which had previously been filled with an immovable object. After roughly six years in this house, I managed to find someone to claim it and remove it, and that is the gift.

It's a good size room...the original owners had practiced ballroom dancing there. The main drawback is a ceiling of only 7-1/2 feet. (Note to self: book shorter models) But the notion of setting it up as studio space has tons of possibilities. Take part of it back to the bare concrete... try other wall treatments or set constructions or whatever. It removes the constraint of all my props and gear needing to fit in the backseat of my car and having to be hauled in, set up, torn down and hauled out for every shoot. For models, there's a comfortable dressing room and clean bathroom--even a shower to clean up after something particularly messy. Some models raise an eyebrow at the "in home" studio set-up, but hopefully that won't be a problem. And it's blissfully cool down there on the hottest summer days. I'll probably keep the "box" downtown for a while at least, but combine this with the potential of using my garage with the 12-foot ceiling as supplemental space, and utilizing the upstairs rooms for shooting, too, and this could turn out to truly be a wonderful gift.