There was a recent commercial that proclaimed, “You never know what kind of greatness can come out of an American garage.” Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, Microsoft, Dell and Hewlett-Packard (and many others), all started out as garage based businesses. Now, we may not be world-famous or have the phenomenal net worth, but we like to think that starting KDI Photography in our garage was still a GREAT idea! Back then, to make well-lit studio portraits, we needed to convert a tiny space in our minuscule home into a micro studio or borrow a studio space from another photographer.
When we started converting the garage into a studio, it was liberating. The larger space and exquisite light were serious upgrades. I called the magical way it rendered faces on black and white film “garage light”. I remember a fellow photographer admiring the light in one of my portraits and asking where one could buy “a Garage Light”. I had to explain that it was just the flattering light created from ambient daylight pouring into an actual garage!
We shot Polaroids to test the light and made portraits with medium format film cameras, crossing our fingers that the light wouldn’t fluctuate and the weather would stay warm and dry enough. We thankfully outgrew the rustic setting of the garage fairly fast, (although I miss that light to this day!) building a studio off the back of our house. As a mom and pop home-based business, we were able to work while raising two young children, all in the same building. An absolute gift.
Within seven years of building our home based studio, we outgrew that space as well, moving into our larger, but still cozy current studio on North Humphreys Street in downtown Flagstaff. After 22 wonderful years in Flagstaff, we’re deeply grateful to have clients who have been with us ever since those humble beginnings in the garage. We treasure those remarkable relationships.
-Keiji Iwai and Kristen Dacey Iwai
All portraits were made in the garage – our early studio space.
Kristen Dacey Iwai of KDI Photography is a full-time professional portrait photographer based in Flagstaff, Arizona with more than 2 decades of experience. Making portraits of families, pregnancy, newborns, babies, children, high school seniors and for businesses in her downtown studio and on location, she serves clients from Flagstaff, Sedona, Tuba City, Winslow, Payson, Page, Williams, Prescott, Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona
Flagstaff Family Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Maternity Pregnancy Photographer • Flagstaff Newborn Photographer • Flagstaff Child Photographer • Flagstaff Senior Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Couples Photography
