The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Lesle Lane Transforms Photography Business with Innovation and Resilience

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Lesle Lane Transforms Photography Business with Innovation and Resilience Studio13online.com Lesle Lane Transforms Photography Business with Innovation and Resilience About the Guest(s): Lesle Lane is the founder and lead photographer at Studio 13, a corporate branding photography company based in Indianapolis. With a rich family legacy in photography, Lesle Lane is a third-generation photographer who has successfully transformed her family's traditional photography business into a modern, thriving corporate branding service. Specializing in B2B, Lesle Lane has become an influential figure in commercial photography, particularly in the Indianapolis area. As a certified woman-owned business, Studio 13 has carved out a niche in providing high-quality visual content for corporations, showcasing Leslie's entrepreneurial spirit and pioneering efforts in both business and photography. Episode Summary: In this captivating episode of The Chris Voss Show, host Chris Voss delves into the world of corporate branding photography with Lesle Lane, founder of Studio 13. Lesle shares her journey from inheriting a family photography tradition to modernizing it into a cutting-edge business. With insights into the challenges and triumphs of transitioning a legacy business into the digital age, Lesle illustrates the transformative power of entrepreneurship and innovation. Lesle Lane discusses the evolving landscape of photography, emphasizing the role of technology advancements and her adaptive strategies to meet market demands. She highlights the significance of authenticity in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), noting how AI can be both a tool and a challenge for photographers. Lesle's experience as a former competitive ice skater adds a unique perspective on resilience and leadership in her career. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes the importance of maintaining trust in brand imagery and shares valuable insights into expanding services, such as drone photography and corporate headshots, reflecting her company's growth and adaptation to client needs. Key Takeaways: Lesle Lane emphasizes the importance of adapting to technological changes in photography, especially with the advent of AI and digital transformations. Authenticity in visual content is crucial for building trust with clients, whether in branding, corporate headshots, or other photography services. Lesle's strategy involves utilizing a network of skilled photographers and offering a diverse portfolio of services, including architectural, drone, and product photography. Her journey from competitive ice skating to entrepreneurship highlights the resilience and determination necessary for success in evolving industries. As a certified woman-owned business, Studio 13 is leveraging its unique position to access opportunities and foster diverse, sustainable growth. Notable Quotes: "Being successful is a linear prospect… You've never run a business." "AI is not the devil. It's absolutely not. There's too many effective uses for it." "Photography really helps tell the story of a brand." "Just because you scroll to open up your lens on your iPhone, it's not really the same." "I think it's the same way if you're a company. I'm going to look for an attorney, and they've got a fake picture."

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Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. I'm host Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com. How are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? Ladies and gentlemen, the hour and a half latest news that makes it official. Welcome to over 16 years of The Voice of the Chris Voss show and 2300 episodes a man we tired tired 10

to 15 new shows a week you guys are consuming 94% of it now 94% of the shows you guys are cheating and cutting out at the end I know what you're doing but we appreciate the fact you binge watch the shows you can see anything you want go Go to Goodreads.com, Fortress, Chris Voss, LinkedIn.com, Fortress, Chris Voss. Chris Voss won on the Tik Tok, and all those crazy places on the internet. Opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Voss show. Some guests to the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it is not an endorsement or review of any kind. Today we have a wonderful young woman

on the show. We're going to be talking to her about her amazing entrepreneurism and her startup and everything that she does. She is Leslie Lane, the founder and lead photographer of Studio 13. She's a third generation photographer with deep roots in the industry, transitioning her family's legacy business into a modern, thriving corporate and commercial photography brand. She's one of the few women in commercial photography in the Indianapolis area, and her story is one of pioneering in both business and photography, helping companies enhance their brands through high quality visual content. Welcome to the show, Leslie. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me, Chris. helping companies enhance their brands through high quality visual content.

Welcome to the show, Leslie. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me, Chris. Thank you for coming. We really appreciate it. Give us your dot coms or wherever you want people to find you on the interwebs. Yep, studio13online.com. You can also see me on LinkedIn, Studio 13, Leslie Lane, and then Instagram as well, Studio 13 Indy. Indianapolis, the home of the Colts, if you will. Leslie Lane And the home of the 500 coming up much sooner than football season. Pete Slauson And what is it? What is the big oil thing,

I think is, aren't they? Leslie Lane Lucas Oil Stadium, yeah. Pete Slauson Yeah, they're big there, I guess. Everyone needs oil, last time I checked. Leslie Lane Last time I checked, you're right, Chris. Pete Slauson In fact, I need to take my fish oil vitamins. Anyway enough joking around Chris. So Leslie give us a 30,000 overview what you do there. We are a corporate branding photography company so we only work b2b. We don't work with anybody in the retail industry and we help businesses large and small just take their brand and elevate it through photography.

So we are almost always working with their marketing or advertising agency or with them directly in their marketing department so that the visuals that their stakeholders see match up with the messaging that they're putting out there. Definitely. And photography is just an amazing, wonderful thing. I love it. I mean, you know, I guess I'm old world because I grew up in the world of going to Kodak stores and you know, dropping off the film at the photo, photo mat?

Photo? Yes, photo mat was what it was called. Yes. Remember that? Yeah. And you had to pay like $10,000 and then sometimes you got the whole roll and you found that your finger was over the lens. Correct.

Yes. It's a very different time. We're not going to talk about our age, Chris, but I actually processed my own film and printed my own prints. So yes, but we're not talking about how old we are. Chris Pratt You know, I did that in high school. We did the chemical thing. They taught us the chemical thing. Not that I was good at it or anything, but I was like, this is kind of interesting. Photographers spend a lot of the times in dark rooms, evidently. I mean, I don't want to think about everything that happened in the dark rooms during those

times, but I'm telling you in college, there was other things happening other than doing your processing. Oh, there we go. It had that wonderful red light, I think, sometimes or whatever. Exactly. So, Leslie, your story is kind of interesting of your journey. You're a third generation photographer. Talk to us about growing up and when did you know you were into photography? What was your influences? I imagine it was your family, but tell us in your words, your story.

Leslie Larson Yeah, you know, I'm not really sure I had much of a choice. I just, I like to laugh about that now. But my grandfather was actually the first in the family because his stepfather tried to kill him with a garden hoe. And so he ran away when he was in eighth grade. And back then there were no child protective services. And so he ended up just hitching a ride with a local traveling salespeople and photographers were part of that traveling troop. And so they taught him how to take pictures and he and my grandmother eventually settled in Columbus, Georgia.

And then my aunts took over their business. My mother and my biological father started the first color laboratory outside of Eastman Kodak. Eastman helped them open it, but my grandparents and my parents came together to do that, a very viable, you know, pioneering business at the time. And then my mom and dad got divorced and we came to Indiana and my stepfather was a commercial

photographer. Neither of my brothers decided that this was the life for them. And so the pressure was on me to take over. And unfortunately, my stepfather was taken out of the business due to a health problem when I was 23 and so that's when I took over the business at that time We were still shooting and processing all of our own film in-house We had three photographers at the time two two lab technicians and office manager That's how I came to take over the business and it was right around the time where digital was being introduced.

My stepfather knew it was coming and especially a lot of people don't know that back in the day you shoot transparency film and it was getting digitized in order to print it. So we knew that this transition was coming and it was coming fast and so luckily my parents were both really on board when I wanted to jump into it with both feet. The digital age. And you know, so many photographs with my original, I think it was a Canon D30 or something, one of the first digital SLRs from 2000s, early 2000s, late 1990s. They're still some of the best photographs I ever took. And I really sucked back then. Well, the sensors were very different.

So I got my first digital camera in 1997 and the quality of those files was unbelievable, but everything was so slow. It's just not like it is now where you take a picture and you can view it instantly. So yeah, just a totally different pixel count and pixel orientation than those first cameras. Now your build is transforming your parents' business model into the new sort of business models for photography and being an entrepreneur. How did you make that journey? Tell us about that path. You know, I'm going to tell you Chris, anybody that says that being successful as a linear prospect has never run a business. Basically, I've going to tell you, Chris, anybody that says that being successful as a linear prospect has never run a business.

Basically, I've kind of had one, I won't say misstep one challenge after another is probably the best way to say it. You know, my stepfather being taken out of the business, and then I went into digital, and then I got a divorce. And that caused all kinds of havoc within the business and then starting all over again. And then my 30-year assistant and best friend passed away after a very short illness. And all of a sudden, here I am in the industry for 25 years. Now what? And so necessity is the mother of invention. I could not do everything myself. And my mother actually, again, a family full of pioneers. My mother had the idea back in the 90s

that she should have started what she called a community of photographers. The difference was is that all she had to offer them was a studio and equipment. And I took that concept and I'm like, oh, the one thing photographers really hate is running a business. They just want to take pictures.

They don't want to talk to the clients. They don't want to network. They don't want to do the accounting. And so what I started to do is that I've been in the business long enough that I had extra work. And so I started bringing in photographers that I would sell the job, I would get the job, and then I would assign it to 1099 photographers based on what their skill sets were.

And then I handled all the business. And so I started that about three years ago. Then I brought on a administrator as a 1099 employee, a social media person as a 1099, and now just a salesperson in January. So just kind of leaning into this next generation of employees that really don't want to work for the man. They don't want to work 40 hours a week and they don't want to really do business. And that's what I do well.

So that's what I'm doing. That is awesome, Sauce. And it probably opens the aperture of available types of photography and types of photographers that you can tap into and offer your clients. Yeah. I mean, with a 30 year reputation, I shoot nationally, but most of my work comes from either repeat clients or regional clients. And so with 30 years of experience, I have tons of work to draw on, and I have tons of photographers to draw on. And it just, I added drone, I added light video, and I added events, which I don't do any of those. And so just being able to book out the time

differently. So if a client really needs my skill and expertise, I'm available. If I can pass it on to somebody else because they can do it just as well as I can because I train them all. I have a handbook. I have an operating procedure. I do everything just like they're all my full-time employees, except they're not. 1099s, you got to love independent contractors. Yep. So, and then you don't have to pay all the extra stuff for insurance and

unemployment and all that sort of thing. And of course they can do their own business on the side or whatever they want to do. So if they want to continue their photography business, you know, you're right. I tried to be a photographer for, I don't know, five or six, 10 years or something and it's a fun business to do the photography part, but like one of my turnoffs was the editing, you know? The hours you spend looking at hundreds of photos going, is this the right one? Is that the right one? You know?

And so I love the funner part of it, going out and gallivanting and shooting and stuff, but spending hours looking at photographs and then trying to edit them and tweak them. It kind of took the fun out of it for me. And then I realized I really didn't have any talent or skill to it. And I was like, you know, I should go find something I'm good at, you know, podcasting. But it's fun in photography in helping you look at things in different ways, I think. I think it helps people in seeing the world in different perspectives, if you will, looking through the lens. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that.

Oh, I do because most people don't really have a clue what you mean by that. I mean, if they've got a cell phone in their hand, they think that they can take the picture because they have no idea about the compression value of a lens. You know, the length of your lens changes what you see in the viewfinder. And just because you scroll to open up your lens on your iPhone, it's not really the same. And so you're exactly right. You know, whether you're looking down the tunnel of a long lens or whether you're looking through the wide angle lens,

that completely changes the graphicness of the image. So yes, I do have a lot of thoughts on that. And it changes how you look at life. Like I look at the world differently after doing photography and looking through a lens. I think you get a different appreciation and more people should think about that. You know, in a different appreciation and more people should think about that. You know, in today's world, most people use their phones for their selfies. So I'm not sure how much photography work is going on. It depends on who you ask, Chris. It depends on who you ask. That's true. I've seen my selfies and no one wants to see them. So now what do you think about the coming, I know digital was a huge thing for photography.

How do you see AI impacting the future of your work and what you do and how it's being utilized sometimes? Luckily, I've been through enough disruptions in my life between 9-11, completely turned business around, the digital age completely turned it around. So luckily I'm going into this AI thing with pretty, pretty wide open expectations. I'm not afraid of it. Hopefully that doesn't bite me in the rear end to not be afraid of it, but I really feel like this is an opportunity that already I'm seeing. I mean, many people don't know that Photoshop's been using AI for 10 years. I mean,

we we've been able to make major changes in Photoshop through the click of a mouse for 10 years. But what I'm seeing now is that it's going to be the differentiator that anybody that doesn't know how to use it either as a tool to be more effective at their processing, to get it done faster, meet deadlines faster, or maybe to come up with a new look or style that their clients may want them to do. Anybody that's digging their heels in at AI is probably going to be weeded out, just like they were with digital. If you did not change to digital, you're gone within 10 years.

I definitely think that we need to lean into this as an industry and see where it takes us. It is not the devil. It is absolutely not. There's too many effective uses for it. So I'm excited to see where it takes us. I am too. I think I am. Let's put it that way when we ever we discuss AI, because we were talking last night about the Boston dynamic dogs and how every time I see those videos of the dogs running around doing robot stuff, that I hear the sound of Terminator 2 music. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the uprising of AI, but I am looking forward to how it is going to impact my industry.

I'm not looking forward to when the AI looks at my photos and goes, you really suck at photography, Chris, you should just quit this business. And I'm like, I did. But you know, a funny thing is, is AI has brought me back to photography and wanting to edit, so I have all these all, you know, hundreds of thousands of old photos that I took and you know, a lot of times back in the day, I just go day shooting, but you shoot all these photos and you pack away. Like one of my friends, he does the same thing.

He can go to an event and blast out 10 to 20 photos, but it can take four years for him to get back to editing those photos because he has so many photos and he has so much work. But the Topaz AI, I'm not smart enough. You know, I need to go to college to learn how to use Photoshop. I'm not that smart.

You know, simple AI programs like Topaz AI and stuff like that I've been using lately. And they really helped, especially some of my really old photos from the early digital days that may be the low resolution and they've got ways you can upscale and save photos. And so that's really made a difference. It's made me want to

edit my old photos and I don't know if I'll get back into photography much, but- And that is a great tool. I've used Topaz AI. I see it, I just upgraded all my camera equipment in the last three weeks. And when I used Topaz AI, it was because the camera had slipped focus. AI, it was because the camera had slipped focus. And so it was focused slightly behind my subjects instead of on. And I needed to bring that focus into clarity. And so Topaz AI helped me do that. The newest Photoshop 2025 is an amazing product. You know, part of the things as a corporate photographer that I do, there's a level of consistency that I must achieve. Well, I am human. I'm not perfect. So you set up a group of headshots that's supposed to match the ones you did five years ago. And oh my gosh, the background is three shades lighter than it was five years ago. And the new Photoshop allows me to select

that and make a change in seconds. I mean, I can even set it up as an action, select subject, inverse, change background color, save and close, and it's done before I can even think about it. And that's what I mean about AI. Right now, the tools that are coming out, you know, you've got a plug in the wall, you just hit remove and it's gone. And that's all in Photoshop. coming out, you know, you got a plug in the wall, you just hit remove and it's gone. And

that's all in Photoshop. Pete Slauson Wow. I mean, the world's advancing and doing, because we don't want to lose great photographers. I mean, photographers, I subscribed to I think different things. I think it's the New York Times or maybe it's the Washington Post. Somebody sends me the world in pictures. And you know And photographers around the world take some of the most amazing pictures that capture the most amazing moments. And I'm not really sure that just any teenager on Instagram is doing that. Sorry, teenagers. Dr. Cammie Cammie No, they're really not. But I tell you, what

I'm seeing, and I don't know if this is the way it's going to be for the long term, is that people are kind of pushing back against AI, especially I work with a lot of doctors and lawyers and environmental firms and engineering firms, and they feel like that they need a level of transparency in their photography, that they want people to know it's real. They want them to know this is the actual site that is being photographed. It's not a rendering. Some of the product photography is actually getting returned by the retailers because they tried to use AI on the packaging. And so this truth in advertising, it's going to be interesting to see how reality and AI blend together to come to our new normal because we're not there yet. It always has to go to the far

extreme before we come back to where we're going to stay. Pete Yeah. I noticed one of the things you do on your website is you guys do portrait, or if people who want like a, you know, photography, they can use me for business or maybe their website or something like that. And for headshots, that's what, that's the term I'm looking for. You can schedule headshots and things like that. We're seeing in the dating markets, I run huge data, they're profile pics. And to me, I forget the term in AI that makes my brain find it disturbing naturally because it identifies it's artificial and because it's fake it could be dangerous

to me. There's a biological response. I think it's called the sunken valley response. It's something the valley response. And it's a response people have to AI when they can identify that it's fake. And it's kind of like when you, I don't know how to explain it, but in cavemen days, anything that was, you couldn't really understand, you'd be like, it's kind of like when you, I don't know how to explain it, but in cavemen days, anything that you couldn't really understand, you'd be like, it's kind of a warning there. But we're seeing that in people's photography. And you had mentioned earlier that there's a concern there of a trust of fake looking photos in shopping.

The same thing is true in dating. You know, when I see someone using a profile pick of clearly, you know, identifiable right now, AI photo, it makes me distrust that person and want to, you know, less swipe them. I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. Yeah. I mean, not from a dating perspective, but I think it's the same way if you're a company,

you know, I'm going to look for an attorney and they've got a fake picture. I am not going to choose that attorney. I need to know that I can relate to my attorney. Do you really want your doctor to have a fake headshot or do you want to know what your doctor looks like? So I just think again, Chris, I don't think we're there. We're not on the other side of where this pendulum is going to end. We're just probably, as a photographer, I would say we're probably 40% in, 30% in of where it's gonna go. Yeah, and I just think that authenticity is so important.

It's called the uncanny valley and it's a unsettling feeling people experience when androids or human robots and audiovisual simulations closely resemble humans in many respects but aren't quite convincingly realistic. And I see a lot of this now. A lot of people in dating, I see it on LinkedIn for profiles for business, people using AI. And to me, I find it kind of disingenuous. I mean, if you're using photography or Photoshop to sharpen an image of a photo of someone, that's fine, right?

But when it's a fully fictionized thing, when I see that your AI photo makes you look like you're 20 and you're really like 50, and there's going to be, you know, when I meet you in person, I'm going to jump out of my shoes, which I've had single events. I'm like, holy shit, you don't look anything like the photo that you have. Oh, it's AI enhanced. You know, there's a really trust thing there. So I think with business and dating and you dating and it's kind of an interesting thing that we have where I think that brands and people need to realize there's that uncanny valley concept

where there's a loss of trust really, I think. Absolutely. And on the dating profile, if you're really interested in finding a relationship and trying to find a partner and you realize on the very first get go, you can't even trust them to show you the right picture. I mean, being deceptive from the start, deceptive from the start. So I just think, and imagine if you're walking into and you're going to hire a financial advisor and you're like, holy crap, no, if I can't trust you

to show me what you look like, how can I give you my money to invest? Pete Slauson I mean, for all I know, you're a, you know, some Nigerian scammer artist because there's a lot of that going on. Kristin Larkin Sure. Pete Slauson You can't even trust, you know, same thing in dating. I remember I joined Tinder a year ago and I paid for the full money. All I got were those Asian bots that you see on Facebook. They're clearly fake accounts and they're just looking for money and stuff.

But it was extraordinary. I don't know, 70% of the interest I got was from those. I was like, wow. Or they were just flooding the system. And the Uncanny Valley is a very real thing. I mean, maybe as a photographer, I'm going to notice more fake photos and artificial photos and tweak photos. I mean, that's a big thing in dating these filters that the kids have with the TikToks. I sound old, don't I? We're not going to comment on that. I told you we're not going to comment on that. I'm just forever Clint Eastwood, get off my lawn.

Now you're a certified woman owned business, one of the few in commercial photography in the Indianapolis area. How has that impacted you and what are some of the challenges you've run into doing that? Sure. I've been certified for about six years now, and it has allowed me some work within the municipalities and large companies that are global companies, and then state universities. That's all been a way to get me in the door because they all have a diversified spend, that they have a certain percentage.

Now with the new administration that is in the White House right now, I am expecting that that will no longer have any importance. I spoke to a company last week that they have a vice president of supplier diversity and I point blank asked her, does this even matter to you anymore? And she said, we have a supplier diversity program based on our company culture, not the current political situation. You know, that's gonna be something that is just gonna take some time

because we do have a lot of WBEs, minority BEs, all kinds of different certifications on both a federal and a state level that have given us an even playing ground, so to speak, because they never, it was never more than like 25% of the vendors had to be diverse. It wasn't like it was 50%. It was just 25-30%. And so this, again, this is another disruptive time in the economic and environment of this country. And we'll just have to wait and see what's going to come up, but it will all change again.

So I'm not going to get rid of my certifications even if they don't matter right now, because it's cheaper just to renew them than to start all over again. Yeah, that's true. It's kind of funny you have to prove that you're certified as a woman on business when you're clearly a woman, but I guess that's- It's not just that, it's how much do you own. Oh, okay.

So like my husband, he has zero ownership in the business. We have to prove how much our sales are. I mean, like we have to submit tax returns, we have to submit stock certificates. I have a board of directors that I have to send minutes of when we have to submit stock certificates. I have a board of directors that I have to send minutes of when we met and what we said. So, I mean, it's a serious deal to get certified, especially on a federal level. Pete O'Reilly Wow. Yeah, for those listening on YouTube, because YouTube is notorious for writing things like, you know, the 10 years later after

video is up, they made comments about stuff. So yeah, it's April of 2025 folks, if you're watching this video. So don't write me that that's been changed or, you know, whatever. We used to quote prices on products reviewed on Amazon and people would write in 10 years later, they're like, it's not the thousand books anymore. It's the 50 books on Amazon. It's thanks, bud. You know, and then they're like, you're so stupid. How do you not know that it's cheaper now? And it's 50 books on Amazon. It's thanks bud. And then they're like, you're so stupid. How do you not know that it's cheaper now? And it's, dude, that video is 20 years old. Anyway, being on YouTube for 18 years has its adventures. Yeah. I would never want your job, Chris, because I couldn't handle the trolls. There's

no way. We got used to, I've got thick skin. It's about an inch thick. When they ever give me shots, they have problems because they've got to about an inch thick. When they get ready to give me shots, they have problems because they've got to go an inch in. So there you go. Speaking of, you were a former competitive ice skater and coach. How has that helped in your leadership roles in, you know, managing other, other photographers, your business, being the CEO and founder, et cetera, et cetera.

You know, being a competitive ice skater is, it was a very, very challenging part of my life. At that point in time, I had more passion than I did talent. So even though I skated for a very, very long time, you cannot succeed without some amount of talent. So I did well, and I'm very pleased with how far I progressed in skating. But that constantly falling short of my dreams in skating, I think it was an excellent preparation for how hard running a business really is and all the things that are out of your control. You can be doing everything right and still have a failure or a lost year or still have an employee leave when you didn't do anything wrong. So, and the ice was unforgiving.

You fall on your butt on ice and it hurts. I still have injuries that will never go away from that. But business is kind of the same way. It's unforgiving. You make the wrong mistake at the wrong time and you are done. So it made me tough. Not sure if that's good or bad. It made me competitive. Resiliency. Yes, very much. And I loved it. And we seeing the Boston Worlds this week and seeing all the great skaters that the United States did incredibly this year. It just warm memories in my heart for sure. I mean, it teaches you resiliency.

You know, like you said, I mean, when you fall down on the job of being a competitive ice skater, you've, you know, you hit the ice, it's painful. It's, it's not fun. And you're going to fall down probably a lot because well, you're on ice. They, you know, those competitive ice skaters, they do all the things, they throw the gallop in the air and twirl her and all that stuff that I just watch it and I just go, yeah, I'm going to just sit here and watch it from my couch and I'm not going to do that. Julie Penner I just imagine how many times that they

throw her in the air and twirl her and he doesn't catch her. Pete Liesveld Oh, no, that's good. You definitely want to stay friends with your fellow competitive ice skating partner, I guess. Yes, you do. Yes. Cause I did not stay friends with one of mine and I ended up slammed into the side of a board. So yeah, you do want to stay friends. That's for sure. It's no different than a marriage, Chris. Can you imagine marrying your ice skating partner? Chris Larson That sounds like some married folks I know. I do some gaming and I was talking to my gaming friends because I was hearing some of the conversations they were having with spouses

over the comms the other day. And I was like, you know, people always wonder why Chris Voss has been single all of his life. And anytime I get kind of lonely and I'm like, you know, people always wonder why Chris Voss has been single all of his life. And anytime I get kind of lonely and I'm like, you know, I should settle down and quit being a playboy. And then I talk to my married friends and I go, oh, yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to be fine. You're the banter that goes on sometimes with married couples. And you're like, I see why the two of you, the two of you are made for each other and there's no one else as weird as you two. So, you know, that sort of you. The two of you are made for each other and there's no one else as weird as you two. So, you know, that sort of thing. Some people are that way. Some people are that way. You meet them

as a couple and you're just like, you two were made for each other. You found a good way to go. You found each other because there's nobody as weird as... I haven't determined if they were both weird and they got together or if they just grew to be even more weird as their marriage went on. I don't know. Well, and that's the same thing about people and their dogs. How come people look like their dogs, Chris? I don't know, but I probably look like a husky because I'm covered in hair half the time.

I think I'm drinking some of my coffee right now. So yeah, I probably look like a wolf who's lost her. I think if Huskies have a homeless look, that's probably my look. So if I'm a photographer out there in the wild, is there a perspective to join your organization? First of all, we're just regional right now. But what I do do is I've had opportunities where I need to shoot nationwide and obviously I can't do that. So what I mean I can but when they have a deadline that I have to meet and so it is not unusual that I will look into other markets to find a photographer to subcontract out

to. So if there's somebody out there that would like to be considered in my pool of freelancers, normally if I'm going to be sent somewhere, it's going to be East Coast, West Coast, Texas, because most of the other places my team can handle up to about five hours away from Indiana. I would love to receive portfolios. There's a contact me page on my website. You are welcome to send that to me. But I book people as the opportunities arise to me and I book myself first and then everybody else gets booked after I've met the kind of quota I want to

make because obviously when I shoot myself the photography is the most profitable than if I send somebody else out on the job. So profit first. Drone photography is a big thing. Tell us about some of the things that you offer on your website to clients, prospective clients that are out there listening. You know, this goes out to LinkedIn as well. Tell us about some of the variations of stuff

that you offer or maybe a list of them and how people can reach out to you to onboard with you and find out more about working together with you. Sure. So we added drone and video work two years ago to our menu of work because I shoot a lot of architectural photography. So I go out and I shoot in interiors and exteriors of buildings all over the country.

That's something I travel extensively. And many times they want drone work to go with it. And they also want a walkthrough tour of the building that I'm photographing. So that was an extremely easy add on to our services because they go hand in hand. And most of the time, if there's a drone job, I'm on it. So I'll do the stills and then my drone guy will do the drone and video for me. We also do product photography. Used to do a lot of this Chris, and then Amazon has studios all over the country and they started pulling in most of that product photography.

But over the past two or three years, I'm really seeing an influx of people that want to retain their own copyright to their images rather than letting Amazon have those rights. their own copyright to their images, rather than letting Amazon have those rights. And I have myself and one other product photographer that we will shoot products of varying sizes. So that's, that's been a wonderful increase. Industrial and manufacturing. I got my start going into factories and foundries and different places where

they're making products and then it dropped off. And then again, lately it's been coming back. And if all of this industry truly does come back to America, manufacturing photography is going to come back as well. Just a few interesting things that we offer here between myself and then my other photographers, events, headshots, as you mentioned, and then photography, which I just love. Pete And you guys service stuff globally too. I mean, you can go global? Julie We can. I've got myself and two other shooters that are passport ready to go wherever needs. This year, we've been just 6,000 sky miles

within the continental US this year, but I'm about to take off again in a couple weeks. We got a stretch in Ohio and then I've got a long week over in South Carolina and North Carolina. It's good to see photography still working because there's so many people that do it badly and poorly with their little cell phones. And there's still something about an SLR and a beautiful camera. I grew up in love with canons and then Sony's put out just, I mean, they've really changed, I think the marketplace and stuff. And, you know, I think there's lots of still great cameras and digital, digital-wise things

have really changed. But yeah. They have. This Canon 5R Mark II that I just got, the technology now, it will tell you where a person's eyes are to make sure that you focus on the eyes. It is unbelievably beautiful. The file quality of that new Canon camera, Chris, you need to check it out. It is magnificent.

I've not been impressed for a long time, so I really feel like Canon has caught up with the technology. I'll check that out. I pulled that up here. The $3,500, Do you think they'll take a check? I'm sure they will. Yeah, I'm sure. So yeah. And you know, you mentioned Amazon before. I've seen the AI photos on Amazon. And once again, it kicked in my uncanny valley and concept. And I don't know why they came up with that term uncanny valley for the, for the AI.

It's a weird term, but it definitely, you know, we're, we're designed as human beings to look at things and analyze, you know, fight or flight danger, you know, warning, should I, you know, and can I trust what this is? And trust is a huge factor in doing business with people. I mean, it's a huge factor. And just think about the, the upswing of people understanding what gas lighting is.

So you're looking at a photograph of a person and your brain is trying to process if what I'm seeing is real, just like when a gas lighter will tell you things that your brain's, that doesn't sound right, that's not real. So those same synapses are confused by that. I mean, it makes perfect sense to me because you're just not believing what you're seeing. Yeah, and I've seen too many times, even in dating, I mean, someone shows up for coffee and you're like, wow, you don't really say anything, you just have a nice coffee and go away as

friends. But you know, I've had people show up that look, that were decades off. I had somebody show up one time in their 40s and they had posted pictures of themselves in high school from the yearbook. Julie Well, you're nicer than my husband is because he walked out on one. You know, they normally end fairly quickly, but I'm polite. I'm just like, you know, this doesn't work for me or whatever. We'll have coffee and I'll go, okay, it's time to go. But, you know, there's no reason to throw shit in dating. I make a friend, that's how I roll. But yeah, sometimes when we do our events and stuff, it's

really surprising people show up and you'll jump out of your shoes. So you're just like, you're posting pictures from 20 years ago. And now I can see that person. So, you know, whether you're brand or whether you're a person, you know, I think more and more people will be making their own AI avatars in the future. And just be careful how you're using it folks. That's all I can say, because it is disturbing. And then when you meet people, like sometimes I've literally almost jumped out of my shoes. Holy crap, that's what? That's you? And I think people forget, Chris, that whether it's

dating or work, it's your personal brand. It's your brand. It's how you're representing yourself to the people, whether it's dating or not. And you just need to be careful about that. Definitely. Definitely. And the same thing goes for the corporate brand. What story you're telling.

And I imagine, you know, story is a big way to tell a story about a brand, about what a brand's meaning is, or how the brand views themselves or wants consumers to view them. Photography really helps tell the story, right, of a brand? 100%. And the same with video. You put those two things together, a still image may represent the team or it may represent the office space to show the customer that this is a standalone business in this country. It's not a prince from Nigeria.

It really is an investment firm. And then the video can portray those emotions. They can portray the honesty and the transparency. And I mean, really, those two mediums working together for an overall brand, it can really mean the difference between trusting and not trusting an organization. Yeah. As we go out, give people the final pitch out.

Dawn, I'm bored with you. Reach out to you and how they can find out more. Yep. You can reach me, Leslie Lane, L-E-S-L-E, Lane, LinkedIn, Studio 13, LinkedIn, Studio 13, Instagram, Indy, Studio 13, LinkedIn, Studio 13, Instagram, and the Studio 13, and then studio13online.com is our website. Chalked full of information. We've got educational pages.

We've got all kinds of stuff on there. Fun is fun. It's been wonderful to have you on the show. Thank you very much, Leslie. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Chris. It's been a joy. Thank you.

And thanks for tuning in. Go to goodreads.com, forgeschrissfoss, linkedcom for just chrisfosschrisfoss1 on the TikTok in the analyst crazy place on the internet. Be good to each other, stay safe, we'll see you next time.