We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zack Bowen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Zack, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you take vacations? Why or why not?

Pre-covid I was definitely taking a good chunk of time off for vacations. That was the beauty of working for myself. If I found a cheap ticket to a destination I had yet to see before, or to one that I had loved and wanted to explore more, I could simply purchase the ticket on a whim and say I was “booked” on other jobs during that time. At first it was a little scary. I was worried about not having the income during the time I was away. I’m a freelancer, so there is no PTO. Not only scared of not having the income, but of also spending money with no forecast of other income coming in. But once I made the leap, I quickly found that the work was still going to come in. And on top of that, I did a better job for my clients when I was back in town. I was reenergized, excited again, and most of the time I had taught myself something while away that I could bring back to my clients. Or I had witnessed other creative ways to showcase products, which I could translate for my clients. It pulled me outside of my daily grind, stripped away the blinders I had, and allowed me to grow, and therefore grow my clients’ products as well.

Zack, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am run a small photo/video commercial production company, and also run a turnkey production studio and event space in Portland, Maine. I started my career in Dallas as a graphic designer, then transitioned full time into commercial photography. My commercial career in Dallas didn’t have a specific focus within the commercial photography realm. The studio I worked in shot McDonald’s, RJ Reynolds, Neiman Marcus, Nextel, Brinker Corp., and a whole host of other national and international brands. We shot still life product, and fashion, and every week it was something completely different.
I was hired out of Dallas in 2005 to start the first in-house photo studio for LL Bean in Freeport, Maine. I worked as their lead photographer and studio manager for 9 years. During that time, I built up a freelance career shooting mostly food and editorial in the New England area. After 9 years with LL Bean, I formed a small agency in Portland with two business partners, focusing on photo, video, and written content development. Clients for our agency ranged from small local businesses to international brands, and had us traveling roughly 4-5 months out of the year across the country. I sold my shares in the company 8 later and went solo. About a year after starting my solo career, I decided to start a turnkey production studio. The studio would be my studio when I needed one, but would also be a rental studio for any production company in need of one. In the Portland market, there was only one of rental production studio. It was a great space, and I often rented it for specific productions. But it was lacking a few amenities that I wish I could find in a single location. The other options for rental studios were a few small studios that were owned by other photographers who rented them out when they were not using them. Even though they were wonderful spaces, there were complications to using them at times. For example, one studio would have great natural light, but it was on the 4th floor, had limited parking, a less than trusty freight elevator, and was small. Another studio was big, was on ground level, plenty of parking, but didn’t have any natural light, nor did it have a kitchen. So I decided to build the studio I wanted, and then hoped the market would also want.
I officially launched Maine Studio Works in 2021. I took advantage of the pandemic’s impact on commercial real estate, and leased an 8,000 sqft industrial building in the newest “up and coming” neighborhood of Portland. I then built out a full kitchen, added more natural light, built a prop room for additional rental income, and also built out a smaller second studio. On top of that, I collaborated with a wood worker to have his wood shop moved into the studio so that we could offer custom set designs for larger productions.
The theory was to put something on the market that could work for a very wide variety of clients. The larger studio is roughly 5,700 sqft, has the full kitchen, a loading dock, a bunch of natural light, and an outdoors green space. This could work well for the big commercial photo/video productions where they need to build full home sets, get a car inside, have larger crews of 30+ people, etc.
The smaller studio is roughly 1,200 sqft and is rentable by the hour, which makes it great for the small table top shoots with small crews, or for the local portrait/family photographers that need to shoot in a studio during the winter when the weather isn’t the most cooperative.
For the really big productions, a client can do a full buyout and have both studios at their disposal.
In early 2023, I launched the studio on the private event/wedding market to capitalize on larger budgets that mostly occur over the weekend, when typical photo/video productions are not booked.
One of the biggest plusses to now having a studio of my own, especially one of its size, is that I, as a production company, can take on larger jobs. I also now have a dedicated space I can go to when I want to experiment with new techniques and ideas. It is a place of growth for me. And not just for me! I often times allow new shooters to use the space for free when they are working on portfolio pieces, or spec work to pitch to potential clients. One of the intentions I had with the space was for it to be a learning and growth space for all, regardless of skill level, in my industry. They more my “competitors” grow, the more work that comes to this region. We all win.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During my time at LL Bean, I used the small freelance business I had built as seed revenue for a production company I started with two other business partners. We each brought our freelance clients into this new venture. It worked really well, and we quickly grew the business. One of the biggest ways we grew the business was actually being out and networking with people on an almost weekly basis. Because of this, my face, as well as another business partner, became the face of the company.
When I sold my shares, and went on to start my next venture, I had to “rebrand” myself. Portland is a very small market, and everyone associated me with my former company. So when I would meet up with people, they would make comments around booking my former company, which made it difficult to network and build up a new client base when everyone automatically associated me with a different brand. Sadly, there was no easy way of fixing it. I had to start fresh in business circles that had no prior association. It took about a year to make enough new connections to build up the client base needed to exceed my gross from my previous company.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I know I am not the best, most creative, photographer/videographer. The market, locally and nationally, is flooded with amazingly talented people in my industry. What I’ve learned, and strive for, is that people want tow work with known entities that they ENJOY working with. I am good at what I do, I can deliver the final product my client needs, like many others. But what I feel is my “niche” is my customer service. I do not do any direct marketing or advertising. All of my work comes via word of mouth, majority of the time from other clients of mine. The common thread of feedback I get from my clients is that they just enjoy working with me. I try and think of every detail, whether it effects the final image or not, it will effect the client’s experience, which tints the final product. Going above and beyond for every client, as best I can, has spread my name exponentially, and fortunately in a very positive way.

Contact Info:

• Website: zackbowen.com , mainestudioworks.com
• Instagram: @zackbowen , @mainestudioworks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-bowen-3921757/

Image Credits
all photos copyright: zack bowen