What does Aperture Studios do?

Our primary mission is to help independent and established artists and brands to find their voice and their vision through the planning, execution, and implementation of next-level, trend-right photography, video, and other visual assets.

We’re storytellers at heart and we work overtime on every project to discover, determine, and deliver usage of IP that achieves the goals of our clients and brand partners.

Specifically, these assets take the form of

Fashion Photography - lifestyle, editorial, test, art, and branding

Music Photography - styled, performance, tour, cover, BTS, event

Commercial Cinematography - shortform and longform campaign work, event coverage, podcast/show direction and production, other branding projects

Music Cinematography - music videos, performance videos, freestyle/acoustic videos, event and tour recaps, drops, shortform video assets

Commercial Photography - headshots, styled food photography, product photography, and non-music event photography

Graphic Design - album/single covers, logos, concert and event fliers, pitch decks, presentation graphics, apparel design and mockups

Other commercial client offerings include

Creative Direction

Marketing and Branding Consultations

Single and Album Rollout Campaign Planning

Photography Classes through The City Creative Studios

Photographer 1-on-1 Education.

Additionally, we are pleased to offer our services to non-commercial clients in the form of

Birthday Photo Shoots

Shortform Video Concepts

Styled Maternity Photo Shoots

Divorce Photo Shoots

and Select Event Photography and Cinematography Projects

What happens if I want to hire you for a service I don’t see listed?

If you do not see a service listed here that fits your particular needs, please feel free to reach out to us anyway!

We may have experience at what you are looking to have done.

If we find that it’s not work that can take on or that we are not available for, we may also be able to help you with an industry referral.

How do I book you for my project?

Best way is to call us at 781-913-0380 during our business hours.

Business Hours: M-F 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 12pm-4pm Eastern

You can also email us at apertureimaging1@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram to start the conversation (@aperturestudios.art)

What is the process like while working with Aperture Studios?

Discovery - Determine the Path Forward

Strategy - Planning, Treatments, Storyboards, Communication

Execution - Practice Runs (where applicable), Set Building, Shoot Dates, Direction, Multiple Takes, Wrap

Finishing - Post-Production, Sample Edits, Revisions, Ad Assets, Delivery, Partnership

What are your rates?

Sooooo about that. We don’t have ‘rates’ per-se. We have project fees, which are calculated as a a creative fee for the project and a licensing fee based on the usage(s) requested.

Why don’t you charge hourly or have packages like some others I’ve worked with before?

I used to, back when I first started. I think many burgeoning creators fall into that trap. Then, I learned better through trial and error and a lot of conversation with successful, full-time professional creators.

Many new creators make the mistake of thinking that art as a career monetizes in the same way that they’re used to earning money while working with as an employee for others in other industries. Pricing out art skills as a service at a professional level simply doesn’t work that way if you want to run a sustainable business.

When I previously quoted clients based on regimented hourly rates, factors would almost always conspire to cause additional hours to need to be billed after the fact. Clients regularly tried to tell me how long my job takes to do while always being incorrect in practice, simply to try to save money they ended up paying anyway. This is a very silly process, and it is one with which I will no longer engage.

The projects we generally take on frequently include big ideas with a lot of moving parts, strategy, and planning. Hourly rates based on shooting time do not account for the behind the scenes work and other value elements that go into nearly every project worth working on.

So, when I estimate a project, I decide on a finite range of time and effort that will be necessary to complete (strategy/shoot/post) the project and quote based on that as well as a myriad of other factors. Ever since switching to this line of thinking, I’ve been exceptionally accurate while quoting.

As far as packages go, no thank you. I’m currently booked, busy, and blessed at my full rates and terms.

That’s not to say that I’m unreasonable when it comes to offering discounts on multiple services (4+/campaign or quarter) to consistent, loyal clients. Discounted offerings typically occur during contracted, retained services with a term of 6 to 12 month periods.

Please reach out if you have any additional questions.

What’s all this about licensing?

Yes, licensing. Let’s talk about it.

The work I create as a result of the business we are doing together is, and will always be, my property.

Authorship, ownership and copyright of my work are non-negotiable.

So, how do my clients receive rights to use the work?

Licensing.

Included with my commercial work is a basic promo licensing package that includes personal use, most social media usage, website, small-market ad buys (<$2000/campaign), club flier/simple promo, and epk/one sheet/publicity usage.

Included with my non-commercial work is a personal licensing package that includes personal use and most social media usage.

Additional usages such as album cover art, merch, print advertising including store signage, billboard ad buys, magazine placements, and any platform placement that produces revenue will be accompanied by licensing fees that are situationally unique.

Please reach out if you require further understanding of and/or education on licensing.

What about Work For Hire?

We do not offer services on a Work For Hire basis at this time. Contract work, only.

Maybe someday, when the bag is crazy for it. Probably not, though. Our IP is valuable and we know it.

Please don’t ask. It’s not going to happen. I’m a fantastic teammate, but I’m not your employee.

But everybody who’s in photography and videography does Work For Hire!

Oh, that’s a lie.

Don’t serve me lies when I have lived the truth, researched this very subject ad nauseum, and had best practices discussions with hundreds of other full-time creators and hundreds of amateur cameramen all around the world. This lie reveals that you’ve only ever done business with amateur artists that are either uneducated enough to be easily exploited, or are producing amateur quality ideas and deliverables.

You get exactly the results that you paid for when you are working with visual artists.

Every creator that makes art of tangible value in the industries within I work, that understands how professional art works, has at least a basic comprehension of copyright law, and isn’t driven primarily by fiscal depression avoids Work For Hire in 90% of their client relationships like the engineered plague that it is.

Still, a few capable creators will do it for a BAG. So bring the BAG to those meetups. Duffels, not fanny packs.

Many avoid it altogether, and they are right to do so.

Folks who are willing to be your employee and create art while transferring authorship and ownership of their IP to you for an unsustainable bag like hourly rates and wages are rarely producing deliverables that are valuable, exponential ROI builders in fashion, entertainment, branding, or advertising. Not to say they don’t have their uses. Everybody needs homebrew content in the content strategy.

Aperture Studios and similar creators exist for a purpose. You bring us in when you are working on projects where underinvesting and likely getting it wrong is more costly than figuring out how to come up with a sensible budget. Our deliverables have more utility to spearhead a campaign, reduce CAC, increase watch time, elevate brand perception, and the most important factor of all: for being able to raise your own prices, and elevate your brand value.

While it’s good for organizations to have year-round team members that are able to handle amateur art creation projects, when the ideas get bigger you’re gonna want to bring in a specialist. A specialist is who you’re working with when you work with us.

Can I get the RAWs?

We do not distribute RAW or S-LOG files for any reason. You might think you need them, but I assure you that you probably do not.

If you’re asking for RAWs because you believe you have some right to them because you booked and paid me, please scroll back to the “What’s all this about licensing"?” section and read again. There is no transfer of ownership of my IP during any transaction we engage in.

If you’re asking for RAWs because you don’t like my editing style, I recommend that you either make a special editing request, which I am happy to entertain as long as you are not asking me to change your body shape into something completely different, soften your features more than I already do during my usual edits or perform challenging compositing work while undercompensated. Or you can simply hire someone else for your project that either edits the way you like and/or that doesn’t know any better than to not distribute RAWs haphazardly.

Ok well how about the video footage from an event I performed at, can I have that for free?

Unfortunately, no. My intellectual property is valuable, and I don’t just send that out to people for free.

You will most likely be in the event recap that I was booked by my client to create. I encourage you to repost and share that video for the benefit of all parties involved, including yourself.

In some cases, I have enough footage from the event to create an individualized mini-recap for an artist. Feel free to ask if that service is available in your particular case.

Additionally, if you find out that I will be shooting video at an event that you’re performing at, and if you reach out to me to let me know that you’ll be interested in an mini-recap from it, I will capture additional footage of you for that purpose.

How do you feel about Generative AI?

Have you ever heard of John Connor? Neo? Del Spooner? Member how Picard had to go belt to cheeks with the Borg over and over again? That’s the energy I’m on when it comes to artificially-created visual “assets”.

It’s plagiarized slop. It’s straight theft of human art and art styles.

It’s brain-dead, soulless garbage only utilized by lazy non-creatives to feed boomers on Facebook and losers who like to see fruit playing around on an island.

It’s the most obvious event flier that screams “I’m broke and I can’t be bothered to invest in good work, so here’s some sludge.” If you don’t care enough about your product to invest in humans with better ideas than you can generate, that says a lot to the general public about your standards for your product.

It screams No Understanding of How the Creative Economy works.

We will not participate in any project that has generative-AI anywhere in the workflow. I will never consent to any of my work being fed into AI in any form. I do not consume or share AI generated writing, visual assets, music, fashion, or edits.

Y’all out here making and eating synthetic Krabby Patties with a goofy grin on your mug. It’s gross. Do better.

Do you offer TFP, trade, or collaborative work?

Very rarely. Never for commercial work. Never for video projects. My landlord doesn’t accept exposure bucks.

There are a group of models on my team that I periodically do trade work with for fashion and art projects.

My end of the arrangement in these situations will be:

To scout, provide and find locations

Creative Direction

Pre-production planning and coordination

Take the lead on gathering set design elements

Acquire and transport all the gear necessary for the production day

Post-production

Providing our agreed-upon licensing to my collaborators

Abide by the terms and conditions that we have agreed upon

My collaborators’ responsibilities include:

Making time to communicate by phone during both pre and post production

Acquiring any apparel and accessories that we’ve discussed and has been communicated in the treatment

Makeup and hair.

Take part in gathering of set design elements, if necessary. Only comes up if we’re trying to achieve a pretty Big Idea. Wings that look real enough for the camera, things need to actually be built, that sort of thing.

Be ready, rested, and on time for the production day

Abide by the terms and conditions that we have agreed upon

There are the 4 ways you can POTENTIALLY establish a TFP/trade relationship with me:

1. If, as a fashion model, you have or can acquire name-brand designer pieces that we can build concepts around that we both agree is on-brand for my work, allowing us to create editorial or lifestyle images/video that attracts attention that has value. I couldn’t care less how you get them but I’m sure life will present you with opportunities one way or another. Be resourceful. Also, Rent the Runway is a thing. Invest in yourself. Example brands: LV, Chanel, Prada, Versace, Balmain, Givenchy, Tom Ford, D&G, Gucci. It should go without saying that fast fashion brands and basic mall brands do not count, but I’m gonna say it anyway.

2. If, as a fashion model, you have or can build a relationship with a fashion designer that we both agree is on-brand for my work and that is either willing to create pieces for you based on the guidelines of our creative direction, or is producing pieces that would work for an elevated concept that is likely to attract attention that has value, and they are willing to tailor and provide those pieces for our use in the concepts/sets we shoot.

3. If, as a fashion model, you have an editorial or lifestyle shoot concept that completely knocks my socks off utilizing lower value pieces that you have already strategized and that you are willing to do most of my usual work for (scouting/providing/finding location, creative direction, pre-production planning and coordination, and gather all set design elements) so that all I need to do is show up, create and direct, and handle post-production/licensing. It is VERY rare that I do this. That concept had better hit hard, be trend right, have some effort put into location/set design, and feature pieces that are unique and interesting to me even if they are non-designer.

4. If, as a model that does figure/art work as part of your offerings, you want to create sets that are either a combination of fashion and nude/art work, or sets that are primarily nude/art work for our exclusive mutual benefit in access to, distribution of, and licensed monetization of the content. This option is only for enthusiastically on-board professional, semi-professional, or well-informed amateur or hobby models who have a purpose for and are interested in exploring and creating in this discipline of art.

If nobody on this list sounds like you, you are either a paying client or just not someone I need to work with without compensation. Feel free to book me if you’re the former. Wishing you all the best if you’re the latter.

If you are on this list, and you’d like to join the movement, hit my line and let’s have a conversation.

What happens if I’m late for a production day? What happens if you’re late for a production day?

I’m almost always early to set. Nobody’s perfect, though.

I offer a half-hour grace period from our discussed start time to my Clients because traffic happens, life happens, chaos is all around us, etc. I get it. I also expect the same courtesy from my clients, although it is rarely necessary.

Late fees will be applied to my Clients’ balance due after that first half hour, though, and every half hour after, until it is time for me to leave, and you forfeit any and all retainers and payments.

Don’t let it happen to you, because it will.

Please see your Estimate/Terms and Conditions document for additional clarification.

What is your turnaround time?

While turnaround time is unique to each individual project, I can share some starting points.

Paid styled photo projects take 5 business days for proofs, then 5-7 business days from the date I receive image selections for finished edits.

Paid event and live music photography projects take 4-5 business days for finished edits.

Paid music video, event, and commercial video projects take 2-3 weeks for first draft, 1-2 weeks for finished post-production for most projects.

Rush Service is available for any of these projects and will cut the production time in half. Please be sure to request it specifically to receive an accurate quote.