April 7, 2025 • 20 mins
The Loft Studio: An Artistic Journey from Photography to Wellness
In this episode, Becks and Blane visit The Loft Studio in Lehi, Utah, where they explore the history and transformation of the space with owner Jessica. Initially founded as a private photography studio, the loft has evolved into a vibrant community hub for photography, events, and wellness activities. Jessica shares the story of how she discovered and renovated this historic, over 100-year-old building, the challenges she overcame following her husband's battle with cancer, and how she pivoted to focus on the studio as a resource for creatives. They discuss the various memberships available, the studio's versatility for hosting different types of events, and how it serves as a sanctuary for creativity and community connection.
🎥 Full Episodes on our YouTube Channel @RadioDaybreak
00:00 Exploring The Loft Studio
00:42 Meeting Jessica and Studio Tour
01:38 The History and Charm of The Loft
03:24 Transforming The Space
06:15 Membership Benefits and Community Support
08:41 Jessica's Creative Journey
10:38 Diving into the Photography World
10:59 Life's Unexpected Challenges
11:29 Tragic Family Events
11:59 Pandemic and Personal Transformation
12:35 Shifting Focus to the Studio
13:48 Opening Up for Wellness Classes
14:09 Evolving into an Event Space
14:32 Exploring the Studio Space
15:23 Versatility and Community Engagement
16:15 Event Capacity and Logistics
17:52 Historical Significance of the Studio
19:26 Future Plans and Contact Information
20:14 Final Thoughts and Community Impact
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:09):
Becks.
Yep.
Wh where are we?
That we just went througha shanty town out there.
And is that true?
It, but it looks rough out there.
But now we're inside and I'mlooking, and I do see a sign.
It says The Loft studio.
Is it?
What is this?
This is a loft studio.
We are in Lehigh.
I know that you don't venture out of, youknow, salt Lake County very often, but
(00:32):
here we are in Utah County at the loft.
We're gonna go in here and check.
I know, I just, I just screwed.
Screwed.
What happened here?
I just grew.
I got the, I got the hills on today.
Blaine.
I look like a giant right now.
That was wild.
So we're gonna go in and we're gonna gotalk to our, uh, good friend Jessica,
who is gonna show us around the studio.
Let's do that.
Let, let's see.
Jessica,
you in here?
I sure am.
She is.
Let's get the look at the camera booth.
(00:53):
I love it.
Welcome, welcome.
Thank you.
Yeah, come on in and
we're gonna set this over here.
Oh, this is
beautiful.
I love the lighting in here.
Wow.
Thank you.
Now what is this place?
What is this?
I mean, this is, whatdo you want it to be?
Yeah, what do you want it to be?
Well, I'm looking around and I see like
(01:15):
some old school structure.
Uh, the, the flooring is original.
Don't you love this?
Yes.
Oh, I love this original flooring.
Yeah.
The lighting said
we came through shakytown, but inside says
Blaine with his accent.
That's true.
This is
beautiful.
This is
(01:35):
like a treasure right here.
Thank you.
Well, I found this and it'sover a hundred years old.
Wow.
Uh, very historic building.
Oh, it's so.
I it?
Yes, I would say happily haunted.
Oh, happily haunted.
Happily haunted.
There
is a really positive, amazing energy inhere, so I would have to agree with you.
(01:56):
Yeah.
I'm sure there's a story there, but let's,let's, I wanna see what we got in here.
I want to take, take a look.
Yeah, let's go check it out.
Okay.
Barn doors.
I love blind doors.
All Blaine.
Yes.
Sounds really good.
Go get
Blaine.
The full initial.
Full official tour.
Retro couch.
Retro,
but brand new.
Yeah, exactly.
You're kidding
(02:17):
is brand new?
Yep.
Look brand new.
Nice.
Oh, world Market.
This looks right from the seventies.
Oh,
this
is my childhood right now.
Nobody's interview that couch.
You gotta have color andcreativity in this space.
And so here you go.
This is nice.
She says that and
she's got these nice shoes.
And look at these.
I know.
Check those
out.
(02:37):
I gotta zoom in on theshoes because, hello.
I saw this,
but she's got more space out here too.
Yeah.
Okay.
And.
We gotta check out the back room.
It's a back room.
Well
watch this.
Oh, let's see this.
This is kind of funny.
Oh, there's no nothing entrance.
Kate, I have to tell you why.
You're gonna see why in just a minute,because that used to be storage.
(03:00):
Okay.
But we covered it up so that youcould have more real estate with
your events and your photo shoots.
'cause you were asking what is this place?
Photography and event studio.
Okay.
Alright.
And so just beyond these barndoors, there's another room.
Let's check it out.
Let's go check it out.
Yep.
I thought it was like a bathroom.
(03:22):
Oh wow.
Yes.
Now next, walk us through this one.
Oh, okay.
So,
so Jessica in her, what, a few years back?
A couple years back, yes.
Was once a photographer?
Yes.
So this, she's owned this space.
Still is, still is they'realways a photographer.
Yes, she's, yes.
Yes.
But she's owned this space for 11 years.
Is that right, Jess?
Yes, you're right.
(03:42):
And um, it really spoke to her photographyroots when she first purchased this place.
And I know you have a story aroundthat, but you can really see.
See those elements come out with thedifferent textures on the walls and
But go ahead and tell your story, Jess.
Well,
that was the intention.
In fact, I actually wasn't even lookingfor a studio when I found this place.
It found me, and I happenedto go into the antique shop.
(04:07):
Oh yeah.
That was there.
Yes.
Right across the street here.
Yep.
And they were trying tofigure out why I was there.
I was there for props for a photo shoot.
Mm. And.
The guy running that shop was like,oh, we need to go show you this space.
Oh, okay.
The moment he showed me, and you have tokeep in mind, it was dark, no windows.
(04:28):
Oh, no windows.
None
of this was in mm-hmm.
Birds flying through.
Oh my gosh.
It, it, I think it wassummer, so it was really hot.
No, no AC and I instantly knew,oh, it's a photography studio.
It just spoke to you.
Yep.
You're like, this is my sink.
And I could see it in my head.
And it took probably a year anda half with like architects and
(04:49):
the actual owner of the buildingand putting it all together Wow.
Before it actually came together.
Mm-hmm.
But I saw the vision andI couldn't let it go.
Oh my word.
And it just, I knew that ifit was supposed to happen, it
would, it would kind of unfold.
So Yeah.
And then like having all of thesedifferent backgrounds really, it, it.
(05:10):
The intention was for photography.
Mm-hmm.
We can see that.
It's stunning, but it, it'salso really fun for events too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, if you do a main event inthere, you know, you're, you can
have kind of the, the food andthe kitchen area ish back here.
I mean, there's a lot or asmaller, more intimate event.
Breakout room.
Yes.
This is absolutely stunning.
(05:31):
Really love the natural
light in here too.
Oh,
thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, that's what we pride ourselvesfor is the natural light for photography.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
And we'd like to change things up.
Like I said, this used tobe a storage room over here.
Yeah.
And a wall.
So we tore this, this wall down.
Yep.
You can see that.
And that entrance that we thoughtthere was an entrance there.
(05:52):
Oh.
We wanted this wallpaper,so we added the wallpaper.
This has been here for five years, soI'm probably going to replace it soon
to get another, oh, I love the colors.
Yeah, just option.
Just give another little option.
Yep.
Doorways of nowhere.
It's actually somewhere
Uhhuh.
It's somewhere.
Yeah.
Even this brick, I didn't evennotice this the first time.
This brick is so nice.
(06:14):
It's so charming.
So you have memberships that wewanna talk about because I'm like,
okay, how do I, how do I get in the.
Exclusive club.
Oh yeah.
How did Blane and I getin the exclusive club?
Great park.
Well, first of all, Ilike you two, so yay step.
Then you'll probably get intothe exclusive membership.
But no, really, um, this is reallyfun for us to be able to help out
(06:37):
the creatives in the community.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Give them a home base.
Um, having a studio of yourown is a lot of overhead.
Mm-hmm.
For sure.
A lot of expense, literally.
And so yeah.
Literally a lot of overhead.
Yes.
And it's something that, you know, nota lot of people want to risk mm-hmm.
With their business andthey really don't need to.
Yeah.
(06:57):
When there's a place like thisthat they can come and rent
for a few hours every month.
And, uh, so yeah, wehave these memberships.
They start at $47 a month.
I saw that $47 a month.
Right.
Netflix is more than that now.
Yeah.
I, I know it feels like
Netflix's prices are higher than that.
Probably.
I mean,
depends on what kind of, youknow, plan you have with Netflix.
(07:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, but yeah, it's, theystart at a really low rate.
Okay.
It's really helping outthose photographers.
Uh, you know, with thistype of economy mm-hmm.
It's different.
Yeah.
It's different from when Ifirst opened this studio.
So we have many memberships Okay.
That help the photographer get theirfeet wet in having a professional space.
(07:42):
Right.
And then they can build theirportfolio, build, build their business.
Yes.
Yeah.
And have this professional spaceso that they can eventually.
Build their revenue.
Right.
And have like a more permanent spot herewith more hours and all of the things.
So we have one renter who'sbeen with me for nine years.
Wow.
And she said having a professionalspace, her own studio mm-hmm.
(08:05):
Really helped to boost her business.
So the credibility
there as well.
Yes.
Yeah.
Let's go and shoot in my studio, right?
Yeah.
Like, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah, exactly.
It sounds better
than, Hey, I'm doing a shoot in mycloset because I've got, you know the,
I got the backdrop in my Yeah, youcome over and help me because that
starts sounding a little suspect.
Yes.
Yeah, that's true.
It does.
It does for sure.
(08:25):
You don't know what kind ofshoot you're getting into.
No.
Professional.
Especially
if it came from you saying that.
I'll be a little worried now from my,
I dunno.
Oh,
you never know what's gonnacome out Wayne's mouth on.
Somewhere in you and I know, Ican tell already the creative,
where did that come from?
(08:46):
Like I know where mine came from.
Where did what come from?
The creative, your neighbor,your passion for it.
What did
you That innate.
I just born with that.
There you go.
I came a family of creatives and soit's something that like I, well.
I was gonna say something aboutmy story, but then people don't
really know my full story.
We have to cut that out.
We can do it.
(09:07):
Really the, the creativity has comefrom my mom and from my siblings, and.
Like I just could not go intoa nine to five regular job.
Mm-hmm.
And so most of my adulthood, Ihave been doing something creative
and being an entrepreneur.
Mm-hmm.
And Right.
I don't know.
I just don't know if I couldgo back to nine to five.
(09:28):
Yeah.
After that.
I hear you there.
So yeah,
it's torture.
He's torture.
Yeah, there's people that are madefor, there's people that are not.
Mm-hmm.
So you
mentioned initially, 'cause I dowanna dive a little bit and touch
into onto your story because it does,this space really grew with you.
Mm-hmm.
So you talked about how you initiallysaw it, you were over at the t.
(09:50):
Antique store.
Yep.
We kind of jumped into, okay,we were in here, and then you
really transformed this space.
Yep.
But I know there's a little more backstoryabout who you are and that kind of what
happened and transformed in your life.
So if you don't mind sharing For sure.
Let's talk
about it.
Yeah.
I would love to.
Well, like I said, I was a photographer.
Yep.
I opened this space actuallyas a private studio.
(10:12):
Mm.
It wasn't even open to the public.
Yeah.
Just your space.
Yep.
My space had a few otherphotographers that rented with me.
And then very quickly I realizedhow much work it was Yeah.
To maintain, to be a landlord toother people, uh, realized I needed
to change up the business model andso I opened it up to the public,
which was like the best decision ever.
(10:34):
It's scary, I'm
sure at the same time.
Yes,
yes, definitely.
And just, you know, just being acreative and really diving into the
photography world, having my own space.
It really was a lot of fun.
Um, I'm trying to rememberwhat you asked me.
No, just your story.
So you ran that for how long?
Okay.
So I ran it for probably a good.
(10:55):
Five or six years.
Okay.
In that space.
Yes.
And then you had
a few things that kind of came upin life that maybe changed that
trajectory for you a little bit.
1000%. Yeah.
We all have stuff that up.
Yes.
Life.
What, what?
What life.
What life hit you?
So I will
tell you all about that.
And like I was tellingyou earlier, mm-hmm.
This space is like the brick and mortarto my heart that gave me the good shots.
(11:20):
My creative heart, right?
Yeah.
And so it's like, ooh, let meshow the world my creative eye.
Mm-hmm.
And then life hit me.
Mm-hmm.
So my family went throughsomething very tragic.
My husband was diagnosedwith stage four cancer.
Oh my gosh.
This was back in 2018.
Pre pandemic.
(11:40):
Pre pandemic right before, yep.
A couple years.
He fought for a couple years andthen he actually passed away four
months before the pandemic hit.
Oh.
I said everybody
goes through life.
Yeah.
Not necessarily.
Right.
That's especially hard a lot.
Well, we all have our difficult things.
Yeah.
We really do.
And so, um, you know, his, his deathand then the pandemic and homeschooling
(12:05):
my kids because of the pandemic.
Uh, I thought, wow, ifsomeone told me the isolation
around that.
Oh my gosh, Jessica, it was, it was a lot.
I can't even imagine.
My background's nursing, so I'mputting my nursing hat on, right?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, oh, I just remember those days.
So, yeah.
Sorry to interrupt.
No, you're good.
But it, it really rocked my world.
(12:26):
Shifted everything.
I suddenly didn't even have thedesire to do photography anymore.
Yeah.
It's like it died with him.
Mm-hmm.
But I had this space andI'm like, what do I do?
Like, what am I supposed to do?
And my kids needed me.
I needed to be home with them.
I couldn't run off tophoto shoots all the time.
Right?
All of a sudden thelight goes on in my mind.
(12:48):
Okay, let's really putthe focus on the studio.
Right?
Turn this into something that'svery hands off, very automated.
People can just get in turnkey and,and make that your bread and butter.
Sure.
So that way you can behome with your kids.
Yeah.
That way you can not have tobe in front of a camera 24 7.
(13:10):
Oh.
And so I started doing that.
But when the pandemic hit, imagine.
Yeah.
That honestly, I remember thinking,wow, people are gonna struggle mentally.
Mm-hmm.
With the
isolation, all the things.
And I was already, I had already beenthrough the really, really hard part.
Yeah.
Well.
I'm like, can I say thatwas really hard part.
(13:31):
The last five years havebeen really hard Too.
Grief is that way.
Like, but like I just knew, I knew it wasgonna be a collective difficult situation.
Right.
And I knew what was helping me.
Mm. And that was meditation.
Mm-hmm.
And breath work.
Mm-hmm.
And so I started opening up thestudio for wellness classes.
(13:52):
What was, what your focus wasand what was really breathing
life back into you in a sense.
Exactly.
I love that.
Breathing life back into me.
So I open up the studio for that.
And then all of a sudden one by one.
That's so cool.
People are like, Hey,can I do my event there?
And I'm like, yes.
Wow.
So it's evolved and morphed intonot just a photography studio,
(14:13):
but also an event space formostly wellness events, but Sure.
Yeah.
Like breath work.
That's what you said, right?
Yep.
Yeah.
So what do you get?
A bunch of people in therewith some mats and they, and
they do the go grab the camera.
Blane.
We kind of passed that up.
Um, exactly that.
Jess has more to show us.
I saw him kind of tucked overthere in that little corner.
Let's head back over and youcan look at the space over.
(14:36):
Well, and that's the great thing toobecause you know, like I said, we
have memberships for photographers.
Mm-hmm.
But now we have memberships forthese facilitators that want to
have regular classes here at thestudio and they're saving money.
They have their own studio and theycan build their business that way.
So.
So right over here in thecorner, she's got yoga mat.
Which we just passed rightby the, by the entrance.
(14:59):
And you said you're roughly,
how many yoga mat can you get in here?
You can fit 30 in here.
Okay.
Um, unless you wanna be sardinesand lay on top of each other.
You, you don't wanna do more than 30?
I do some water yoga before.
Yeah.
Alright, Blaine, go get your yoga mat.
Let's see.
Let's see your poses.
Let's go.
You guys' have to be helping me get up.
(15:20):
I get done in the pose.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
Well, I love the versatility of this.
Space.
So really it, it, it transformedfrom your studio mm-hmm.
To opening that up to, to everyone.
Yep.
Opening it up to a wellness studio.
Yeah.
How, how do you, and thenclearly with yoga and some of
these other memberships mm-hmm.
How do you describe that again?
(15:41):
What was what you said?
The brick and mortar of your heart.
Oh, to my
heart.
Yeah.
I love that.
It really is so powerful.
It is.
I think it says a lot foryou to take a private place.
Mm-hmm.
And open it up to other creatives.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, it's so much.
You talk to my heart like, yeah, yeah.
You better be back.
I'll be back.
I might just stay.
(16:02):
I like the couch Enough.
Blane.
For our listeners out there,I know they're saying.
How many people can you fit in this space?
What size events fit in here?
Whatever
she says, I'll double it.
That's true.
I can know me, I can fit it in here.
So, but it really
does depend, because Jesshad weddings in here.
She has had small,
intimate weddings.
Open house style, like up to 150 ish.
(16:23):
Uh, there little markets,little popup markets.
Popup markets.
Uh, there is, we know the
market people.
We know all these people.
Oh, we do?
Yep.
And there is parking.
So this sits Yes.
Remind me your address.
So, 8 34 North, 8 34 North,
100 East, 100 East.
And we're sweet.
C in Lehigh.
In Lehigh.
So we're right on some main crossstreets, but they do have a parking lot
that sits in the back of the buildingon the south side of the building.
(16:46):
South kind of westy.
Well, I don't even know whichdirection we're facing side.
Um, so plenty of parking.
If you do have those events, 70, 90.
What's the.
So if you
were to have sit down
seated, let's say you did a small,intimate wedding, you can fit
about 55 people seated in here.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, and switch itover with tables and chairs,
(17:09):
it works about the same.
Okay.
Um, if you were to do an open housestyle or popup shops, markets, yeah.
You can definitely getmore people in here.
It's just a, probably a maxcapacity of about 75 in this
space at once, at one time.
So, yeah.
So you could have them kindof shuffling in and out.
Yep.
Okay.
Blaine, you're behind the camera now, butwhat kind of ideas you got for events?
(17:32):
You gotta show this.
You got, I'm like, I'm like,you gotta show how cool this is.
I keep looking up here.
This is crazy.
The, the ceiling,
it's beautiful, the lightthat comes through there.
So when you opened, this wasclosed or was this open up?
Nope,
this was open, but it was all dark wood.
Did you add these windowsup here or those were there?
Oh,
I love
that light.
(17:52):
I believe this was actuallyan old lumber yard.
Okay.
I still don't know all of the history.
History and I need to find that out.
But can you see the cute little ladder?
Yes.
Oh,
I
love that.
And a belt.
There's like this wheel, there wasa belt right here that came down.
So some type of functioning.
Yep.
Uh, mill.
(18:14):
That's awesome.
So yeah.
That's awesome.
These original floors haveseen all kinds of things.
All sorts things.
A hundred, a hundred years you said?
I
believe it's so pretty.
It's gotta be one of the originalswith Lehigh Roller Mills.
Yep.
You know, in here.
So
it'd be interesting tofind out the story on this
for sure.
So what kind of event could I do?
Oh, you're over therethinking, yeah, I'm thinking
(18:36):
I still have to do my, my wrestling show.
Oh, that's,
I'm thinking we could throw a wrestling.
You get a wrestling ring here Maybe.
It might have to be small.
It might have to be like jello wrestling.
It might have to reinforcethe explorer with everything
you got going on.
Well, speaking of wrestling though,okay, we do have some people that
want to come in and do self-defense.
In here.
Oh, there we go.
Isn't that interesting?
That would be,
(18:56):
that would be cool.
Probably
not the most like aggressiveself-defense in here.
Yeah, more.
More moves.
Just more tactical.
We know how to protect ourselves.
We should, right?
Yeah.
We have to.
They do.
So again, I mentioned my nursing days.
So they would actually teachus those classes every year.
Imagine.
So if you've had a patient likegrab you behind and things, so they
teach you how to get out of those.
(19:17):
Holds.
Oh wow.
So maybe you just start that clasping.
There we go.
Maybe
I'll That's, and then it'll spiralinto my wrestling show that we do.
Yes.
There you go.
So, Jess, tell us where to find you.
Where can we find you?
Are you on Instagram?
Yep.
Tell us where, where you're at.
Yep.
We're on Instagram.
That's kind of our main hub.
Okay.
We definitely are all over Instagram.
(19:38):
So it's the Loft Studio photo event.
Okay.
Uh, it also trickles into Facebook.
Um, and we've got a website, sojust the loft studio lehigh.com.
The loft studio
lehigh.com.
Do you have pictures of your spacewith events taking place so you
can get kind of a different ideaof what Little Bit works in here?
(19:59):
Bit?
We're still working on getting allof that footage, all that together.
That's all right.
Yeah.
We all, we all start somewhere.
Start somewhere.
We'll have so many events.
You'll go, I have so many to choose from.
What do I put on the website?
Yep.
Exactly.
We're
coming back in here
soon.
Yes.
We really appreciate it.
Anything that we may have missed thatyou wanna share with the audience today?
Gosh, I don't think so.
(20:19):
This has been such a pleasure.
I really appreciate for having,taking the time and having us Yeah.
Coming down here.
Of course.
And yeah, like I said, this.
Once was just mine and it,now it's the communities.
And I absolutely love seeingwhat people do in this space.
And they're creative ideas.
Yeah.
And they're bringing the communitytogether in such beautiful ways.
(20:41):
So it's, it's a pleasureto be a part of it.
Yeah.
Thank you Blaine.
Anything else to add?
I'm good.
All.
Well, thanks.
We'll see you next time.
Yes.
Thank you.
Becks.
Yep.
Wh where are we?
That we just went througha shanty town out there.
And is that true?
It, but it looks rough out there.
But now we're inside and I'mlooking, and I do see a sign.
It says The Loft studio.
Is it?
What is this?
This is a loft studio.
We are in Lehigh.
I know that you don't venture out of, youknow, salt Lake County very often, but
(00:32):
here we are in Utah County at the loft.
We're gonna go in here and check.
I know, I just, I just screwed.
Screwed.
What happened here?
I just grew.
I got the, I got the hills on today.
Blaine.
I look like a giant right now.
That was wild.
So we're gonna go in and we're gonna gotalk to our, uh, good friend Jessica,
who is gonna show us around the studio.
Let's do that.
Let, let's see.
Jessica,
you in here?
I sure am.
She is.
Let's get the look at the camera booth.
(00:53):
I love it.
Welcome, welcome.
Thank you.
Yeah, come on in and
we're gonna set this over here.
Oh, this is
beautiful.
I love the lighting in here.
Wow.
Thank you.
Now what is this place?
What is this?
I mean, this is, whatdo you want it to be?
Yeah, what do you want it to be?
Well, I'm looking around and I see like
(01:15):
some old school structure.
Uh, the, the flooring is original.
Don't you love this?
Yes.
Oh, I love this original flooring.
Yeah.
The lighting said
we came through shakytown, but inside says
Blaine with his accent.
That's true.
This is
beautiful.
This is
(01:35):
like a treasure right here.
Thank you.
Well, I found this and it'sover a hundred years old.
Wow.
Uh, very historic building.
Oh, it's so.
I it?
Yes, I would say happily haunted.
Oh, happily haunted.
Happily haunted.
There
is a really positive, amazing energy inhere, so I would have to agree with you.
(01:56):
Yeah.
I'm sure there's a story there, but let's,let's, I wanna see what we got in here.
I want to take, take a look.
Yeah, let's go check it out.
Okay.
Barn doors.
I love blind doors.
All Blaine.
Yes.
Sounds really good.
Go get
Blaine.
The full initial.
Full official tour.
Retro couch.
Retro,
but brand new.
Yeah, exactly.
You're kidding
(02:17):
is brand new?
Yep.
Look brand new.
Nice.
Oh, world Market.
This looks right from the seventies.
Oh,
this
is my childhood right now.
Nobody's interview that couch.
You gotta have color andcreativity in this space.
And so here you go.
This is nice.
She says that and
she's got these nice shoes.
And look at these.
I know.
Check those
out.
(02:37):
I gotta zoom in on theshoes because, hello.
I saw this,
but she's got more space out here too.
Yeah.
Okay.
And.
We gotta check out the back room.
It's a back room.
Well
watch this.
Oh, let's see this.
This is kind of funny.
Oh, there's no nothing entrance.
Kate, I have to tell you why.
You're gonna see why in just a minute,because that used to be storage.
(03:00):
Okay.
But we covered it up so that youcould have more real estate with
your events and your photo shoots.
'cause you were asking what is this place?
Photography and event studio.
Okay.
Alright.
And so just beyond these barndoors, there's another room.
Let's check it out.
Let's go check it out.
Yep.
I thought it was like a bathroom.
(03:22):
Oh wow.
Yes.
Now next, walk us through this one.
Oh, okay.
So,
so Jessica in her, what, a few years back?
A couple years back, yes.
Was once a photographer?
Yes.
So this, she's owned this space.
Still is, still is they'realways a photographer.
Yes, she's, yes.
Yes.
But she's owned this space for 11 years.
Is that right, Jess?
Yes, you're right.
(03:42):
And um, it really spoke to her photographyroots when she first purchased this place.
And I know you have a story aroundthat, but you can really see.
See those elements come out with thedifferent textures on the walls and
But go ahead and tell your story, Jess.
Well,
that was the intention.
In fact, I actually wasn't even lookingfor a studio when I found this place.
It found me, and I happenedto go into the antique shop.
(04:07):
Oh yeah.
That was there.
Yes.
Right across the street here.
Yep.
And they were trying tofigure out why I was there.
I was there for props for a photo shoot.
Mm. And.
The guy running that shop was like,oh, we need to go show you this space.
Oh, okay.
The moment he showed me, and you have tokeep in mind, it was dark, no windows.
(04:28):
Oh, no windows.
None
of this was in mm-hmm.
Birds flying through.
Oh my gosh.
It, it, I think it wassummer, so it was really hot.
No, no AC and I instantly knew,oh, it's a photography studio.
It just spoke to you.
Yep.
You're like, this is my sink.
And I could see it in my head.
And it took probably a year anda half with like architects and
(04:49):
the actual owner of the buildingand putting it all together Wow.
Before it actually came together.
Mm-hmm.
But I saw the vision andI couldn't let it go.
Oh my word.
And it just, I knew that ifit was supposed to happen, it
would, it would kind of unfold.
So Yeah.
And then like having all of thesedifferent backgrounds really, it, it.
(05:10):
The intention was for photography.
Mm-hmm.
We can see that.
It's stunning, but it, it'salso really fun for events too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, if you do a main event inthere, you know, you're, you can
have kind of the, the food andthe kitchen area ish back here.
I mean, there's a lot or asmaller, more intimate event.
Breakout room.
Yes.
This is absolutely stunning.
(05:31):
Really love the natural
light in here too.
Oh,
thank you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I mean, that's what we pride ourselvesfor is the natural light for photography.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
And we'd like to change things up.
Like I said, this used tobe a storage room over here.
Yeah.
And a wall.
So we tore this, this wall down.
Yep.
You can see that.
And that entrance that we thoughtthere was an entrance there.
(05:52):
Oh.
We wanted this wallpaper,so we added the wallpaper.
This has been here for five years, soI'm probably going to replace it soon
to get another, oh, I love the colors.
Yeah, just option.
Just give another little option.
Yep.
Doorways of nowhere.
It's actually somewhere
Uhhuh.
It's somewhere.
Yeah.
Even this brick, I didn't evennotice this the first time.
This brick is so nice.
(06:14):
It's so charming.
So you have memberships that wewanna talk about because I'm like,
okay, how do I, how do I get in the.
Exclusive club.
Oh yeah.
How did Blane and I getin the exclusive club?
Great park.
Well, first of all, Ilike you two, so yay step.
Then you'll probably get intothe exclusive membership.
But no, really, um, this is reallyfun for us to be able to help out
(06:37):
the creatives in the community.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Give them a home base.
Um, having a studio of yourown is a lot of overhead.
Mm-hmm.
For sure.
A lot of expense, literally.
And so yeah.
Literally a lot of overhead.
Yes.
And it's something that, you know, nota lot of people want to risk mm-hmm.
With their business andthey really don't need to.
Yeah.
(06:57):
When there's a place like thisthat they can come and rent
for a few hours every month.
And, uh, so yeah, wehave these memberships.
They start at $47 a month.
I saw that $47 a month.
Right.
Netflix is more than that now.
Yeah.
I, I know it feels like
Netflix's prices are higher than that.
Probably.
I mean,
depends on what kind of, youknow, plan you have with Netflix.
(07:18):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, but yeah, it's, theystart at a really low rate.
Okay.
It's really helping outthose photographers.
Uh, you know, with thistype of economy mm-hmm.
It's different.
Yeah.
It's different from when Ifirst opened this studio.
So we have many memberships Okay.
That help the photographer get theirfeet wet in having a professional space.
(07:42):
Right.
And then they can build theirportfolio, build, build their business.
Yes.
Yeah.
And have this professional spaceso that they can eventually.
Build their revenue.
Right.
And have like a more permanent spot herewith more hours and all of the things.
So we have one renter who'sbeen with me for nine years.
Wow.
And she said having a professionalspace, her own studio mm-hmm.
(08:05):
Really helped to boost her business.
So the credibility
there as well.
Yes.
Yeah.
Let's go and shoot in my studio, right?
Yeah.
Like, absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah, exactly.
It sounds better
than, Hey, I'm doing a shoot in mycloset because I've got, you know the,
I got the backdrop in my Yeah, youcome over and help me because that
starts sounding a little suspect.
Yes.
Yeah, that's true.
It does.
It does for sure.
(08:25):
You don't know what kind ofshoot you're getting into.
No.
Professional.
Especially
if it came from you saying that.
I'll be a little worried now from my,
I dunno.
Oh,
you never know what's gonnacome out Wayne's mouth on.
Somewhere in you and I know, Ican tell already the creative,
where did that come from?
(08:46):
Like I know where mine came from.
Where did what come from?
The creative, your neighbor,your passion for it.
What did
you That innate.
I just born with that.
There you go.
I came a family of creatives and soit's something that like I, well.
I was gonna say something aboutmy story, but then people don't
really know my full story.
We have to cut that out.
We can do it.
(09:07):
Really the, the creativity has comefrom my mom and from my siblings, and.
Like I just could not go intoa nine to five regular job.
Mm-hmm.
And so most of my adulthood, Ihave been doing something creative
and being an entrepreneur.
Mm-hmm.
And Right.
I don't know.
I just don't know if I couldgo back to nine to five.
(09:28):
Yeah.
After that.
I hear you there.
So yeah,
it's torture.
He's torture.
Yeah, there's people that are madefor, there's people that are not.
Mm-hmm.
So you
mentioned initially, 'cause I dowanna dive a little bit and touch
into onto your story because it does,this space really grew with you.
Mm-hmm.
So you talked about how you initiallysaw it, you were over at the t.
(09:50):
Antique store.
Yep.
We kind of jumped into, okay,we were in here, and then you
really transformed this space.
Yep.
But I know there's a little more backstoryabout who you are and that kind of what
happened and transformed in your life.
So if you don't mind sharing For sure.
Let's talk
about it.
Yeah.
I would love to.
Well, like I said, I was a photographer.
Yep.
I opened this space actuallyas a private studio.
(10:12):
Mm.
It wasn't even open to the public.
Yeah.
Just your space.
Yep.
My space had a few otherphotographers that rented with me.
And then very quickly I realizedhow much work it was Yeah.
To maintain, to be a landlord toother people, uh, realized I needed
to change up the business model andso I opened it up to the public,
which was like the best decision ever.
(10:34):
It's scary, I'm
sure at the same time.
Yes,
yes, definitely.
And just, you know, just being acreative and really diving into the
photography world, having my own space.
It really was a lot of fun.
Um, I'm trying to rememberwhat you asked me.
No, just your story.
So you ran that for how long?
Okay.
So I ran it for probably a good.
(10:55):
Five or six years.
Okay.
In that space.
Yes.
And then you had
a few things that kind of came upin life that maybe changed that
trajectory for you a little bit.
1000%. Yeah.
We all have stuff that up.
Yes.
Life.
What, what?
What life.
What life hit you?
So I will
tell you all about that.
And like I was tellingyou earlier, mm-hmm.
This space is like the brick and mortarto my heart that gave me the good shots.
(11:20):
My creative heart, right?
Yeah.
And so it's like, ooh, let meshow the world my creative eye.
Mm-hmm.
And then life hit me.
Mm-hmm.
So my family went throughsomething very tragic.
My husband was diagnosedwith stage four cancer.
Oh my gosh.
This was back in 2018.
Pre pandemic.
(11:40):
Pre pandemic right before, yep.
A couple years.
He fought for a couple years andthen he actually passed away four
months before the pandemic hit.
Oh.
I said everybody
goes through life.
Yeah.
Not necessarily.
Right.
That's especially hard a lot.
Well, we all have our difficult things.
Yeah.
We really do.
And so, um, you know, his, his deathand then the pandemic and homeschooling
(12:05):
my kids because of the pandemic.
Uh, I thought, wow, ifsomeone told me the isolation
around that.
Oh my gosh, Jessica, it was, it was a lot.
I can't even imagine.
My background's nursing, so I'mputting my nursing hat on, right?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, oh, I just remember those days.
So, yeah.
Sorry to interrupt.
No, you're good.
But it, it really rocked my world.
(12:26):
Shifted everything.
I suddenly didn't even have thedesire to do photography anymore.
Yeah.
It's like it died with him.
Mm-hmm.
But I had this space andI'm like, what do I do?
Like, what am I supposed to do?
And my kids needed me.
I needed to be home with them.
I couldn't run off tophoto shoots all the time.
Right?
All of a sudden thelight goes on in my mind.
(12:48):
Okay, let's really putthe focus on the studio.
Right?
Turn this into something that'svery hands off, very automated.
People can just get in turnkey and,and make that your bread and butter.
Sure.
So that way you can behome with your kids.
Yeah.
That way you can not have tobe in front of a camera 24 7.
(13:10):
Oh.
And so I started doing that.
But when the pandemic hit, imagine.
Yeah.
That honestly, I remember thinking,wow, people are gonna struggle mentally.
Mm-hmm.
With the
isolation, all the things.
And I was already, I had already beenthrough the really, really hard part.
Yeah.
Well.
I'm like, can I say thatwas really hard part.
(13:31):
The last five years havebeen really hard Too.
Grief is that way.
Like, but like I just knew, I knew it wasgonna be a collective difficult situation.
Right.
And I knew what was helping me.
Mm. And that was meditation.
Mm-hmm.
And breath work.
Mm-hmm.
And so I started opening up thestudio for wellness classes.
(13:52):
What was, what your focus wasand what was really breathing
life back into you in a sense.
Exactly.
I love that.
Breathing life back into me.
So I open up the studio for that.
And then all of a sudden one by one.
That's so cool.
People are like, Hey,can I do my event there?
And I'm like, yes.
Wow.
So it's evolved and morphed intonot just a photography studio,
(14:13):
but also an event space formostly wellness events, but Sure.
Yeah.
Like breath work.
That's what you said, right?
Yep.
Yeah.
So what do you get?
A bunch of people in therewith some mats and they, and
they do the go grab the camera.
Blane.
We kind of passed that up.
Um, exactly that.
Jess has more to show us.
I saw him kind of tucked overthere in that little corner.
Let's head back over and youcan look at the space over.
(14:36):
Well, and that's the great thing toobecause you know, like I said, we
have memberships for photographers.
Mm-hmm.
But now we have memberships forthese facilitators that want to
have regular classes here at thestudio and they're saving money.
They have their own studio and theycan build their business that way.
So.
So right over here in thecorner, she's got yoga mat.
Which we just passed rightby the, by the entrance.
(14:59):
And you said you're roughly,
how many yoga mat can you get in here?
You can fit 30 in here.
Okay.
Um, unless you wanna be sardinesand lay on top of each other.
You, you don't wanna do more than 30?
I do some water yoga before.
Yeah.
Alright, Blaine, go get your yoga mat.
Let's see.
Let's see your poses.
Let's go.
You guys' have to be helping me get up.
(15:20):
I get done in the pose.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
Well, I love the versatility of this.
Space.
So really it, it, it transformedfrom your studio mm-hmm.
To opening that up to, to everyone.
Yep.
Opening it up to a wellness studio.
Yeah.
How, how do you, and thenclearly with yoga and some of
these other memberships mm-hmm.
How do you describe that again?
(15:41):
What was what you said?
The brick and mortar of your heart.
Oh, to my
heart.
Yeah.
I love that.
It really is so powerful.
It is.
I think it says a lot foryou to take a private place.
Mm-hmm.
And open it up to other creatives.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, it's so much.
You talk to my heart like, yeah, yeah.
You better be back.
I'll be back.
I might just stay.
(16:02):
I like the couch Enough.
Blane.
For our listeners out there,I know they're saying.
How many people can you fit in this space?
What size events fit in here?
Whatever
she says, I'll double it.
That's true.
I can know me, I can fit it in here.
So, but it really
does depend, because Jesshad weddings in here.
She has had small,
intimate weddings.
Open house style, like up to 150 ish.
(16:23):
Uh, there little markets,little popup markets.
Popup markets.
Uh, there is, we know the
market people.
We know all these people.
Oh, we do?
Yep.
And there is parking.
So this sits Yes.
Remind me your address.
So, 8 34 North, 8 34 North,
100 East, 100 East.
And we're sweet.
C in Lehigh.
In Lehigh.
So we're right on some main crossstreets, but they do have a parking lot
that sits in the back of the buildingon the south side of the building.
(16:46):
South kind of westy.
Well, I don't even know whichdirection we're facing side.
Um, so plenty of parking.
If you do have those events, 70, 90.
What's the.
So if you
were to have sit down
seated, let's say you did a small,intimate wedding, you can fit
about 55 people seated in here.
Mm-hmm.
Um, you know, and switch itover with tables and chairs,
(17:09):
it works about the same.
Okay.
Um, if you were to do an open housestyle or popup shops, markets, yeah.
You can definitely getmore people in here.
It's just a, probably a maxcapacity of about 75 in this
space at once, at one time.
So, yeah.
So you could have them kindof shuffling in and out.
Yep.
Okay.
Blaine, you're behind the camera now, butwhat kind of ideas you got for events?
(17:32):
You gotta show this.
You got, I'm like, I'm like,you gotta show how cool this is.
I keep looking up here.
This is crazy.
The, the ceiling,
it's beautiful, the lightthat comes through there.
So when you opened, this wasclosed or was this open up?
Nope,
this was open, but it was all dark wood.
Did you add these windowsup here or those were there?
Oh,
I love
that light.
(17:52):
I believe this was actuallyan old lumber yard.
Okay.
I still don't know all of the history.
History and I need to find that out.
But can you see the cute little ladder?
Yes.
Oh,
I
love that.
And a belt.
There's like this wheel, there wasa belt right here that came down.
So some type of functioning.
Yep.
Uh, mill.
(18:14):
That's awesome.
So yeah.
That's awesome.
These original floors haveseen all kinds of things.
All sorts things.
A hundred, a hundred years you said?
I
believe it's so pretty.
It's gotta be one of the originalswith Lehigh Roller Mills.
Yep.
You know, in here.
So
it'd be interesting tofind out the story on this
for sure.
So what kind of event could I do?
Oh, you're over therethinking, yeah, I'm thinking
(18:36):
I still have to do my, my wrestling show.
Oh, that's,
I'm thinking we could throw a wrestling.
You get a wrestling ring here Maybe.
It might have to be small.
It might have to be like jello wrestling.
It might have to reinforcethe explorer with everything
you got going on.
Well, speaking of wrestling though,okay, we do have some people that
want to come in and do self-defense.
In here.
Oh, there we go.
Isn't that interesting?
That would be,
(18:56):
that would be cool.
Probably
not the most like aggressiveself-defense in here.
Yeah, more.
More moves.
Just more tactical.
We know how to protect ourselves.
We should, right?
Yeah.
We have to.
They do.
So again, I mentioned my nursing days.
So they would actually teachus those classes every year.
Imagine.
So if you've had a patient likegrab you behind and things, so they
teach you how to get out of those.
(19:17):
Holds.
Oh wow.
So maybe you just start that clasping.
There we go.
Maybe
I'll That's, and then it'll spiralinto my wrestling show that we do.
Yes.
There you go.
So, Jess, tell us where to find you.
Where can we find you?
Are you on Instagram?
Yep.
Tell us where, where you're at.
Yep.
We're on Instagram.
That's kind of our main hub.
Okay.
We definitely are all over Instagram.
(19:38):
So it's the Loft Studio photo event.
Okay.
Uh, it also trickles into Facebook.
Um, and we've got a website, sojust the loft studio lehigh.com.
The loft studio
lehigh.com.
Do you have pictures of your spacewith events taking place so you
can get kind of a different ideaof what Little Bit works in here?
(19:59):
Bit?
We're still working on getting allof that footage, all that together.
That's all right.
Yeah.
We all, we all start somewhere.
Start somewhere.
We'll have so many events.
You'll go, I have so many to choose from.
What do I put on the website?
Yep.
Exactly.
We're
coming back in here
soon.
Yes.
We really appreciate it.
Anything that we may have missed thatyou wanna share with the audience today?
Gosh, I don't think so.
(20:19):
This has been such a pleasure.
I really appreciate for having,taking the time and having us Yeah.
Coming down here.
Of course.
And yeah, like I said, this.
Once was just mine and it,now it's the communities.
And I absolutely love seeingwhat people do in this space.
And they're creative ideas.
Yeah.
And they're bringing the communitytogether in such beautiful ways.
(20:41):
So it's, it's a pleasureto be a part of it.
Yeah.
Thank you Blaine.
Anything else to add?
I'm good.
All.
Well, thanks.
We'll see you next time.
Yes.
Thank you.
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