Proposed floor plan for the upcoming Textiles & Photography area

I’ve updated the floor plan to include Photography within the Textiles area. I wanted to share it with everyone so you know where we’re headed.

The area we have for photography is the dashed line on the center left side of the plan.

Steps remaining for this area to open up:

  • Finish clearing out remaining extra items
  • add a locked door within this room for the coworking area

Then final setup steps will include

  • building the large central working table
  • setting up a desk and computer for the vinyl cutter and sublimation printer
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Professional Photographer here…

What’s the goal of the photo space there?

The area seems small and limited maybe to close in work. Not really enough room there for photographing people with a medium-long lens.

Suggestion - put the big work table on wheels so it can be moved aside if the photo area needs more space

The central work table needs to remain in one place. A solid, unmoving piece of furniture is important.

Just read the other thread on the photo space.

Understand the point about the work table, but the space would be more flexible if it could be movable (but able to be locked in position)

If the table is unmoveable, adjusting the position 2-4 feet towards the entryway - and/or so it’s not on the same center axis as the photo background setup would open up the photo area for more kinds of use.

We will adjust as much as is reasonable, but that work table is the central heart of what the textiles space will be. That large work expanse is the thing that people don’t have in their own homes, and it is most important thing we are making for this space

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From my understanding, the photo space is intended more for smaller project based photos, and the education of using proper lighting and backdrops. See thread: Photography space with hosted studio lights
I’m not sure the space would suit medium to long range lenses in general.
The textiles area is the primary focus of that space. The table will be centered in the room to allow ample workspace on all sides of the table, along with space around the machines. Mounting the table on casters isn’t an option for this situation, and that plan has been finalized already.
One thing to remember, as with most spaces in the shop, the use and planning for this space will evolve with time. Future expansion of equipment for the textiles has to be considered.

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Agreed, I don’t see allocating any more space to photography setup in here without negatively impacting the core focus of this area of the space – textiles.

Another thing to keep in mind is that we are hopefully only at this location for less than 3 more years. We should keep some specs to the side on what an ideal photography setup would be so that we take that into account at our next space and implement something with more capabilities there.

Please do keep a “quilting machine” in mind for a future textiles area. That requires quite a bit of space.

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I consider it very generous of the textiles coordinators to be considering this.

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Yes! A quilting machine is definitely something we want to add. It’s far enough in the future that we aren’t allocating the space yet, but when the time comes that that is a more realistic acquisition priorities will shift towards that for sure. Thanks for mentioning.

In case there are folks out there who do want access to a long-arm quilting machine, Honey Bee Quilt Store does have them available for rental inside their store. I haven’t used them, but it’s a great store, and the setup they have seems well thought out.

Having a small portable light tent for shoots of small projects on the worktable would be useful.

Thanks, all, for the input and support.

I met with Stephanie the other day to go over the space and proposal. I will be putting together a proposal in the next couple of weeks (my convention is in two weeks and I’ll be tied up with that).

But it looks like we came up with a great space to work with that won’t interfere with the textiles area or other operations. This will be fun and a great addition to the space.

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