Welcome to Genovese Ashford Studios! – Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette Wedding Photographers

July 18, 2012 1 Comment by genovesestudio Information

It’s been in the works for a number of months, but it’s finally here and we’re ready to tell the world about it! If you’re reading this then likely you’re amongst many current and past clients of AK Photography and Genovese Photography and wondering what this is all about. In a nutshell, Genovese Ashford Studios is a partnership between myself, Chris Genovese of Genovese Photography, and one of my closest professional colleagues of many years, Kim Ashford of AK Photography! For many years we’ve both run our own very successful independent photography businesses. And for quite a few years we’ve tossed around the idea of combining our two businesses in an effort to cut down on some of the workload we each independently share as separate enterprises and at the same time improve our accessibility and customer service to our clients. At the start of 2012 Kim and I started getting things into place to make this merger happen. But since we’ve both been continuing to run our independent businesses in the process the progress has at times been slower than we had originally hoped for, particularly with the busy spring wedding and portrait season that we’ve recently come out of.

As the title suggests though, the news is now official and Genovese Ashford Studios is ready to see the light of day! For a better idea of just how exciting this news is, click here to see what a phenomenal team we make! www.Genovese-Ashford.com

Below I’ll try to address some questions that many of you may have about what exactly all of this means for any current and future clients. Before I do so I want everyone to rest assured that first and foremost, both Kim and I have unwavering commitments to all of our clients and any and all decisions that are currently being made have your interests as our top priority!

A New Logo and Name

Yep……. for all Genovese Photography and AK Photography clients currently booked for any 2012 and 2013 weddings, the new name and logo will be the biggest change for you. Rest assured, if you booked either Kim or I to shoot your wedding through our independent businesses then we will absolutely still be your photographers! And our second shooters and assistants who’ve shot with us for years and been part of our businesses aren’t going anywhere either! We are starting to look like a really strange iteration of the Brady Bunch over here, but we’ve all essentially been working together for many years previous and you likely just didn’t realize it. All of my shooters and all of Kim’s shooters have had an opportunity to work with both of us at some point in the past already.

Packages and Pricing

Well…… as mentioned before, the only change you’re likely to see if you’re a previous or current client is the name and logo. Genovese Ashford Studios does have some revamped pricing and packaging for all future 2013 clients, and for any 2013 clients currently booked you do have the option to change to those packages if that is your preference. The reality is that the new pricing is very similar to the old pricing with a few tweaks. But we don’t want any clients worrying or stressing that there will be any changes to anything that we’ve previously spoken about when you booked. If you booked prior to this announcement, then all of the pricing that you looked at is still good. And you still have the ability to make adjustments to your current invoices and package choices within all of the pricing that you previously were quoted at – we’d never try to retrofit these changes to clients who are comfortable where they are! And rest assured that both our previous and our new pricing still makes us some of the best values in photography anywhere!

A True Merger

Genovese Ashford Studios is owned by Genovese Photography and AK Photography, which are both very well established and successful photography businesses located in Baton Rouge, so this is a true merger. We don’t want clients worrying that this is some sort of risky and unproven venture. Yes, all of the things that we’re having to set up and get in place are the steps taken by a new business. But we’ve both done all of this before with our own businesses, and we’re both extremely experienced as business people and as photographers with over 20 years of combined professional photography experience. And for many years leading up to this we’ve both turned to each other with questions about many different aspects of running a photography business. Like I mentioned previously, we’re professional colleagues in every since of the word for many years now. And, the studio that most of you have met us in previously has been the location for our own independent businesses for almost 3 years. In short, there is more of Kim Ashford in Genovese Photography and Chris Genovese in AK Photography than most of you had every previously realized!

A Revamped Studio Space

As I mentioned above, we’ve shared the same studio space for many years now. However, as part of this merger we’ve both moved our home offices to our studio in downtown Baton Rouge so that we could fully immerse ourselves into every aspect of our business. What does that mean for you, the client? Well, first of all, our accessibility will be greatly improved for clients to come and pick things up from us if that’s easier for them to do so. It also gives us much greater flexibility for portrait and baby clients looking to set up in-studio shoots, or for location clients shooting in the downtown area and needing a place to change! We now have a renovated office where we meet with all of our clients for consultations for a better experience as well. And our shooting area is undergoing updating as well, with even more variety for in-studio shoots! So bring that baby over here right away!

There’s No I in Team, and There’s No Why in Merger

Honestly, the list of benefits is probably too long to list here and too many to recall as I write this. But there are some distinct advantages to a partnership of two of Louisiana’s finest and most experienced professional photographers that I’d like to point out. First of all, as much as both Kim and I might sometimes like to think that we have every aspect of photography personally conquered, the reality is that we both have areas that we really excel in and specialize in – and we’re both helping to continually shape each other into even more well rounded and exceptional photographers with our own experiences and approach. Particularly since we’ve been working together from the same office, we’ve both shared some eye opening experiences and personal takes on aspects that we’ve both been working separately on for years! Not only is it helping to shape us personally into better photographers, we’re also becoming more efficient in the process! And where the efficiency really comes in is when this merger gets legs and takes off on it’s own! When we have a combined workflow and approach, and we’re able to jointly share in the responsibilities (many of which will only now need to be done once as one combined business) then the business will be more productive than ever. And that directly translates to our customer’s experience, as turn around times are likely to improve and we’ll be more available to our clients than ever! And any risk clients take in hiring a photographer for their once in a lifetime event is greatly offset by having a partner to call in an emergency, more professional backup equipment than ever, and a staff of experienced photographers. There will also be new services immediately available to our clients that were not previous options, like a manned photo station (very similar, but far superior, to the wedding photo booth)! More information will be coming soon about that option! And, if I do say so, Kim and I are a virtual photographic dream team! With such vast experience as photographers for many years prior, varying approaches to different scenarios, and an unwavering commitment to our clients the results of our combined efforts thus far are stunning! It’s been really fulfilling for both of us looking at what our combined efforts have produced! The question more aptly pertinent in all of this seems to be why haven’t we done this sooner?

So, hopefully this helps to further explain what all of this is about and what it means to “you” our clients! In the following weeks and months there will be continual updates as we move forward, so stay tuned! And to all of our loyal clients we’d like to personally thank you for your continual support, your enthusiastic referrals, and your faith in our abilities! You now have even more to be excited about, and even more reason to tell all of your friends and family about Genovese Ashford Studios!

Chris

P.S. No blog post would be complete without some images… enjoy!!!