People ask fairly often where my studio actually is. The honest answer surprises most of them: a converted industrial building in Kirkdale called The Secret Warehouse, tucked behind an unassuming exterior that gives absolutely nothing away about what’s inside.
Not Just a Studio, a Whole Building of Independent Businesses
The Secret Warehouse isn’t a single studio space rented out to one photographer. It’s a full building that’s been converted to house a whole cluster of independent businesses, all working under one roof, all doing their own version of the same thing: building something on their own terms. My studio is one small corner of it, backdrops, lighting stands, a bit of floor space to work with. The rest of the building is filled with other people doing their own equally specific, equally independent thing.
That matters more to me than it might sound. Running your own business can be a fairly solitary experience, especially the self-employed, sole-trader version of it. Being in a building full of other people doing the same thing, even if their “thing” has nothing to do with photography, takes some of that solitary edge off.
The Building Doesn’t Do Anything by Halves
Whoever fitted this place out clearly didn’t want it to feel like a standard co-working space, and it doesn’t. The reception area runs on astroturf sofas and vintage red London phone boxes. One corridor wall is covered floor to ceiling in old clocks and cameras, with “Follow us @ TheSecretWH” painted next to a hand-drawn lotus mural. Another corridor has genuine vintage suitcases stacked under an antique telephone. The courtyard out back has real cherry blossom alongside fabricated blue blossom trees that somehow work better than they have any right to.
None of it is subtle, and none of it needs to be. It’s the kind of space that makes a client smile before they’ve even reached my actual studio door, which is a nice thing to have working in your favour before a session’s even started.
Working Alongside People Building Their Own Thing
The best part of being here isn’t really the decor, even though the decor does a lot of heavy lifting. It’s sharing a building with other independent business owners who are each figuring out their own version of the same challenge: making something work on your own, without the safety net of a larger company behind you. Every one of them has made their own corner of this building their own, in the same way I’ve tried to make mine mine.
I don’t think that’s something to take for granted, and this feels like the right moment to actually say so instead of leaving it unspoken.
If You’ve Ever Wondered
If you’ve had photos taken with me and wondered exactly where you were standing, or if you’ve simply driven past an unremarkable-looking warehouse in Kirkdale without knowing what’s behind the door, now you know. It’s one of the better-kept secrets of where I work, and I’m genuinely glad to be one small part of what’s happening inside it.
