We were lucky to catch up with Dustin Ross recently and have shared our conversation below.

Dustin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?

It was late 2007 in New York and I was hustling as a freelance photographer and working as a digital editor at a photo agency. A friend and I decided to start StudioBooth as a side project fusing high end fashion photography equipment with event photography to create the first high end open air photo booth concept. At the time I was involved in with a party called Rude Movements at the renown club APT in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and convinced one of our sponsors PUMA to do the photo booth there. Shortly thereafter we started doing it for friends at their weddings and such. The PUMA connection and network of people coming through the party was really where it caught on and we caught the attention of a few key production agencies, namely Cornerstone (The Fader Magazine) and Relevent Media (now known as Endorphin Partners). We also did an event for Vera Wang in her shop in Soho early on. Before we knew it we were getting hit up non stop for events not only in NY but nationwide and beyond. Some highlights included going to Ibiza for Corona, heading to Tokyo and Osaka for a series as well as multiple gigs in Berlin. We found ourselves in NY and LA most often and eventually set up studios in both cities. For the first five or six years we did zero marketing because of the popularity of the concept; everyone looked incredible in the photos because of our secret lighting recipe and the high end equipment we were using. After only a few months we were quitting our day jobs and StudioBooth became our full time endeavor. The irony is that this was 2008 when the economy was crashing around us and just proves that a great and new concept can overcome macro economic stresses. We felt fortunate and couldn’t believe how busy things had become. Fifteen years later here we are! After a serious downturn during covid, events are back and stronger than ever.

Dustin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m a photographer by trade, so for the StudioBooth concept it was always about making the highest quality images possible. I’ve seen so many photo booth companies that have popped up over the year and really miss the mark. PHOTO is in the name after all! How are you going to be a photo booth company and have images looking like garbage?!

Since our inception we have evolved as a company and incorporate a spectrum of photo and video options to solve creative problems for event producers. Our bread and butter is creating custom photo and video activations that are tailored toward the theme of the event, whether it’s creating an underwater video concept for the Little Mermaid premiere or a life-size kaleidoscope GIF booth for Absolut at Coachella.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Covid put a stop on all live events and that included all of our business. It was scary but we quickly pivoted and started working on a project that we had been considering well before covid because of our skillset as videographers and technologists. Afterparty.live was our answer to a need by so many of clients to create engaging virtual events beyond what a zoom call or basic livestream could offer. Afterparty is our all-in-one platform for creating unique online events. We built a unique system similar to our StudioBooth custom solutions ethos where we could spin-up totally unique events for clients looking for a way to engage with their customer base during covid. Before we new it we had done events for Tom Ford, Netflix and Benefit cosmetics to name a few.

It was a scary time at first but we quickly identified this need for our production partners, built a solution and had it ready to go in about 5 months. It was an intense time, but reinforced our team’s ability to work together to produce something new and engaging.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing we did early on with StudioBooth was try and build everything we were doing from scratch. All the software, all the hardware, etc… It didn’t take us long to realize that the approach to have everything in-house was ineffective from a cost standpoint. I realized that it was more important to use the best tool available then try and re-invent the wheel. Our approach became just that, do the research to learn all available technologies so you can offer any solution for your clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thestudiobooth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiobooth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioBooth/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/studiobooth/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/studiobooth