Selfie Studio
Photographing a Place Built for Photographs
There's a certain irony in being hired to photograph a business whose entire purpose is helping people photograph themselves. I loved it.
The client was a selfie studio — a fully designed, multi-room content creation space where guests come in, grab a ring light and a Bluetooth clicker, and spend an hour moving through themed sets built for maximum visual impact. Ball pits, neon signs, painted murals, trampolines, vintage phones, graffiti walls — every room a different world, every corner engineered to be the background of someone's next great shot. The concept is exploding right now, and it's easy to see why. People want experiences that are fun, shareable, and a little bit theatrical. This place delivers all three.
My job was to document it before the doors opened to the public — to create the imagery that would live on their website, their social channels, and their marketing materials. Which meant I needed to capture not just what the space looked like, but what it felt like to be inside it.
We worked with a cast of models and moved through the rooms one by one. The purple jail. The angel wings mural. The ball pit is in teal and white. The yellow trampoline room with its oversized "Love Your Selfie" typography. The moody green neon corner with a vintage rotary phone. The smiley face graffiti room with a chain swing and a glowing neon sign behind it. Each setup had its own energy, and part of the challenge — and the fun — was finding a different mood in every room rather than letting them all blend together.
What I find most interesting about shooting spaces like this is that you're really photographing a promise. No one is buying a ball pit — they're buying the feeling of being the person in that photo, laughing, lit perfectly, having the kind of day they want to post about. My job is to make that aspiration visible and believable, and to do it with enough variety that the brand has content to work with across every platform and every campaign.
Technically, it's a great challenge too. You're moving fast through wildly different lighting environments — neon, ring lights, natural light from windows, deep moody shadows — and you have to stay sharp and adaptable. I've been doing this long enough that I love that kind of problem-solving. No two rooms, no two frames.
If you run an experiential venue, a pop-up, or any kind of immersive concept space, and you're looking for photography that actually does justice to the energy you've built, let's connect. This is exactly the kind of work I love.
Leah Flores is a commercial photographer with nearly 20 years of experience working with brands including Nike, National Geographic, and VICE News. She specializes in lifestyle, experiential, and adventure brand photography across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
