Photography Entrepreneur: Studio, Photo Stores and Opportunities with Julien Guedj

Some photographers build one business their whole life. Julien Guedj launched five in sixteen years: a videography business, an upscale photo studio, a pop-up studio, a chain of photo stores in shopping malls and, at the time of recording, a coaching business. What they have in common: each time, the previous business was doing well. He wasn't running away from failure; he was looking for the next challenge.

Talking with Eloa Landais, photographer and head of training at Fotostudio, he explains how he went from video to photography, what PhotoCoach changed in the way he sells, how a Christmas pop-up studio became a retail concept, why he hired salespeople rather than photographers, and what the pandemic cost him. An episode about the photographer's entrepreneurial mindset as much as about business models.

Who is Julien Guedj?

Julien Guedj is a photography entrepreneur based near Beauvais, in the Oise region of northern France. At the time of recording, in spring 2021, he was 43, had been married for 19 years to Delphine, whom he met in high school, and was the father of two grown-up children. His wife is his “life partner” and the first person to back each of his decisions.

• 2005 to 2009: videographer. After studying film and working as a projectionist, he quit his job at 27 to film weddings and corporate events.
• 2009 to 2019: photographer. Weddings first, then maternity, baby and family sessions in his studio, L'Atelier, opened in 2011 in a former garage, along with corporate clients.
• 2017: a pop-up studio offering mini sessions in a shopping mall, for one month before Christmas.
• Since 2018: La Photo et Vous, his concept of photo stores in shopping malls, first in Beauvais and then in Amiens, run by a salaried team.
• 2021: coach for photographers and entrepreneurs.

Today, his website julienguedj.com (in French) presents a business coaching and hypnosis practice for entrepreneurs: clearing mental blocks, clarifying and structuring your business, finding balance and motivation again, with a free discovery call and one-to-one sessions.

1. How do you seize opportunities as a photographer?

Julien's whole career is summed up in the episode title: embrace opportunities. But not just any opportunity. Each step is connected to the previous one. He studied film, so he started with video; wedding videography led him to wedding photography; his couples then called him for their maternity photos, and later for their children. He never woke up one morning thinking “what if I became a singer?”

“An opportunity comes along: do you let it pass, or do you feel it's aligned with what you want to do?”

Julien Guedj

Leaving your comfort zone, and never going back

His first big decision dates back to 2004. Working as a projectionist, he was wondering what to do with his life. A friend gave him the idea: “You film, you take photos, why don't you do it for other people?” He resigned without a single contract lined up, with two children and a mortgage to pay. When Delphine asked him how they would manage, he simply answered: “We'll see.” Sixteen years later, he admits he no longer really knows where his comfort zone is.

It's not boredom, it's the love of a challenge

Eloa points it out: Julien walks away from projects that work. He admits he only realized late that he needs to achieve something bigger each time. The risk is running without knowing what you're running after. His safeguard: regularly coming back to his mission and his vision, to the “why I get up in the morning”.

2. How do you go from video to your own photo studio?

In February 2009, the photographer Julien usually worked with turned down a wedding. Julien called another videographer to handle the video and offered to take the photos himself. The couple trusted him. It was meant to be a one-off favor; then some of the guests asked him to photograph their own wedding. He said no (“I'm a videographer”), and they insisted.

A portfolio built 15 minutes per wedding

Throughout the 2009 season, he slipped a camera into his bag and asked each couple for fifteen minutes of photos. Those images became his first portfolio for the October and November wedding fairs, where he signed his first photography contracts for 2010. That year, he had more weddings in photo than in video and invested in a Nikon D3S, which he still owns. If you're targeting this market, a page dedicated to wedding photographers explains how to organize quotes, contracts and galleries for each couple.

“You've got a camera, so you're a photographer.”

Julien Guedj, quoting his first clients (and the French cult comedy Les Bronzés)

L'Atelier: stepping into his own drawing

His wedding couples called him back for maternity photos, then for family portraits. He'd say “of course”, hang up and google what a studio maternity photo looks like. Tired of traveling to clients' homes, he looked for premises for five or six months and came across a listing: a big, high-ceilinged rectangle, exactly the studio he used to sketch for his friends. The catch: the space was only sold together with the house behind it. The couple visited, looked at each other, and knew they would live there. They had to convince the banks (€320,000, while he was earning about €1,200 a month) and signed three days before their bridging loan ran out. The studio opened in October 2011, in a village of 1,300 people. People told him he was boxing himself in; he was convinced clients would come if they knew he was there.

3. How do you sell your photos without feeling like a salesperson?

In 2014, Julien came to a realization many photographers will recognize: he was working a huge amount for what he earned. His weddings sold for just under €1,000, he was working 80-hour weeks, and he didn't realize that a large share of his revenue went on overheads. He typed “photo coach” into a search engine and found PhotoCoach, the training program run by Québec photographer André Amyot, who became his mentor. With not enough funding available, he borrowed €1,500 from his parents and promised to pay them back before the summer. To work out your own numbers, the photography price calculator starts from your overheads and your income goal.

€842 from a €117 session

He'd seen photographers selling €800 or €1,000 of products after a studio session and thought they were “making it up”. Ten days after his training, he tried it with a couple he had photographed at their wedding: a €117 session including two prints, followed by an appointment to present the photos, on his laptop set on a piece of furniture. They bought €842 worth of products. When he came home with the check, his wife thought he had booked a wedding. That appointment is what a viewing session is about: showing the images to the client and helping them choose their prints, rather than sending files.

“As long as you respect your clients from A to Z, what you're doing isn't selling.”

Julien Guedj

A mindset more than a technique

Julien kept telling himself “I'm a photographer, not a salesman”, picturing a used car or carpet dealer. He came to understand that selling is a process of guiding the client. Eloa, who took the same training in 2012 (an early Christmas present from her parents, after she discovered her business wasn't making any profit), sums it up: 20% marketing and 80% personal development. Samuel Malarik, whom Julien also met through PhotoCoach, breaks down this sales model in his episode on running a profitable photography business.

4. Is a pop-up photo studio profitable?

By the end of 2017, the studio was running smoothly: 130 to 140 sessions a year, around twenty weddings and a growing corporate business. Julien already knew how Christmas would go. Over dinner, Delphine suggested a pop-up project, just for Christmas, but somewhere other than the studio. The idea wasn't to do photos with Santa, but to introduce photography to people who would never have walked into L'Atelier, put off by the prices or by the idea of a “real studio”.

The test: one month, mini sessions, a unit in a shopping mall

On the advice of Samuel Malarik, who knows the mini session market well, he rented a unit in a shopping mall in Beauvais, ten minutes from home. Open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for a month, on his own, he shot 8 to 10 sessions a day. The result: €16,000 in revenue for about €6,000 invested. To handle that many time slots without spending your evenings on it, online booking lets clients choose and pay for their slot themselves, and Fotostudio also offers a dedicated module for Christmas mini sessions.

The health scare that sped everything up

The day after he got the keys, Julien ended up in hospital for four days with a severe hypertensive crisis. Friends repainted the unit for him. He got through the month living “like a hermit”, then stopped in January, canceled his sessions and went on a road trip across the United States for his 40th birthday. That's where he told Delphine his decision: he would open photo stores based on the pop-up studio model. He didn't want to live with regrets.

5. How does a photo store in a shopping mall work?

In 2018, Julien stopped shooting weddings and launched La Photo et Vous (“Photography and You”), a brand in its own right, with its own colors, rather than his name above the door. Samuel Malarik told him about Picture People, a German chain of studios built around mini sessions; the whole challenge was adapting it to the French market. The first store opened in Beauvais in November 2018, in the very same unit as the pop-up studio (“it brings me luck”), one week after the start of the yellow vest protests. The second opened in Amiens in September 2019.

Hiring salespeople rather than photographers

This is the most surprising choice. Each store is run by two people with a retail background, not a photography one. A photographer knows how to make images, but not necessarily the ones Julien wants to deliver, and not necessarily how to sell. The concept relies on standardized sessions (this backdrop, this pose), which are quicker to teach than sales confidence. The team earns commission on the sales that follow each session. When one new hire had doubts (“I'm not a photographer, I used to sell clothes”), he replied: to the client walking into the store, you are a photographer.

“People confuse low cost with low end, and they have nothing to do with each other.”

Julien Guedj

Low cost, not low end

For Julien, low cost means cutting costs to run more efficiently, not lowering quality. Client experience, photographic technique, images worth hanging on the wall: the standards are the same as at the studio. He's happy to show photos taken by his team on his phone, and people often reply “you took those yourself”. He sees this path as just as profitable as the upscale studio, simply different.

6. What can you learn from a business failure?

The pandemic hit in March 2020. A third store was almost ready, with the fit-out only waiting for the green light: the bank pulled out, and Julien had to call the landlord back. When the stores reopened in May, Beauvais bounced back, Amiens never did. The store was in the wrong location, facing a clientele that wasn't the right fit. It had to close and go into liquidation, his “first real brick wall” after 14 years in business. He talks about it openly: it's hard, you have to process it, but he has no regrets, because he gave it everything.

Listening to clients to bounce back

During the second lockdown, Julien and his two employees reviewed two years of trading: what were clients asking for that the store didn't offer? Convinced that mounted, laminated prints were the way to go, they had been turning down canvases. Yet they were getting around ten requests a week, often for budget reasons. Canvases and posters joined the catalog (mouse pads, requested once a quarter, are still a no). When the store reopened in December, revenue took off.

7. Why become a coach after photography?

Third lockdown, March 2021: the closed store only needed an hour of his time a day. An idea had been on his mind since 2015: passing on his experience. During the crisis, business owners around him (hairdressers, service providers) were already asking him how he was holding up, and his advice gave them back their motivation. But he felt he had no legitimacy with photographers: he doesn't win competitions.

A test with five spots, eight sign-ups

His own coach advised him to put the idea in front of real clients. In less than 24 hours, he offered five photographers free coaching in April (three one-hour sessions and a review) in exchange for honest feedback and a testimonial. He was hoping for two sign-ups; he got eight. Their reason: they knew his story, his ups and downs, and could see he was still standing. Julien discovered that the photography community could value an entrepreneur's journey rather than award-winning photos.

“Making money from it is a consequence, not a goal.”

Julien Guedj

Competitions aren't the only form of recognition

Julien has entered wedding photography competitions and offers a word of warning: if you keep studying the winning images, you end up shooting for the judges rather than for your clients. Competitions help you see where you stand, as long as you know why you're entering. Eloa, who doesn't enter them, puts it this way: her first award is her clients, when her photos are on their walls and they come back with their friends.

His coaching project was designed as a hybrid, one-to-one and in groups, sold as a program rather than by the session: “I'm going to sell a transformation.” Impostor syndrome? “I've put it away in a cupboard.”

Episode recorded in spring 2021, during France's third lockdown. The stores, projects and coaching offers mentioned relate to that period; Julien Guedj's current business is presented on his website.

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