Holborn Studios

Today we visited Holborn Studios, a well-known place for artists and celebrities from all over the world for more than three decades. It is currently based in Eagle Wharf Road, London, literally a fifteen minutes walk from Hackney Community College in Shoreditch.

On our arrival we were introduced to staff members, then we took a tour around the studio. We saw different rooms which were wonderfully designed for photo-shoots, performances, and various different activities for artists and celebrities, creating a unique place for shooting their album covers, magazines covers and lots more. 

The studio basically consists of different rooms where you could see plain and seamless white walls, floors and ceilings, with professional lighting and photography props which cost from £300 to £900 a day to rent. The reason for using white paint is because white is a neutral colour and doesn't add any effect or any meaning to the actual object which has to be shot or filmed so artists can add mise en scene to this blank canvas. Normally artists rent photography and lighting equipments in studios instead of buying their own which cost thousands.


The studios have their own changing room, toilet, and a personal computer. The studio keepers, have to redo the white paint all over the surfaces each day to retain the studios' pure white look. As we were walking through different studios we could see lots of construction and rebuilding works going on there, they were expanding the studios into larger spaces to keep up with their customers demand as many professional companies/people would need a larger spaces and different facilities for their shoot. 


Among these studios, there was a unique room with green walls and floors decorated by artists pictures and a pool table, plus a small bar, a changing room and a toilet. This room, which was called the 'green room', is actually a place for artists to relax and chill while getting ready for their shoot and filming, and to spend some times on their own away from paparazzi and cameras. The green color also adds to its relaxation with views over regents canal. There is also a bar and restaurant, or even a boat for relaxing and going around the canal!

Things I learnt today:

• What a studio is and how it looks, what rooms and spaces need to be there and how they function.

• Costs needed for renting the studio and equipment and the assistants per day and sometimes per hour, you can find these cost here.

• Hassles and costs required for keeping the studio up and running, working well and professionally.

• Different pay for staff in different positions, such as studio manager, director, photographer, technician, bar and restaurant staff, etc.

We did a two hour shoot in Studio 4. As you can see in the pictures the studio had white floors, walls and ceiling. One of the shot locations had two boards, black and white, on two sides and a big stood flash light with a special kind of lamp shade  
for controlling the light and 
shadows and preventing it from being reflected. 


There was also a dressing table and a professional computer system attached to the camera used to transfer the pictures to the computer screen automatically after being shot so you could see the pictures at the same time they were shot and touch them up on photoshop.