Kahn Santori Photography Studio

By Tiana Kennell

Carefree and in love brides and grooms smile from the walls of Kahn Santori Photography studio. They are completely oblivious to the adversities their photographer went through to be able to create their picture of perfection. Bad locations, a recession, family tragedies and internal demons are just a few of the hardships. But each time he has triumphed proving that Kahn Santori Photography studio (www.KSantori.com) is built to last.

Owning a business during a recession is tough. Working in a neighborhood where no client wants to venture makes it tougher. Khan Santori, 32, was residing on the Westside of Detroit in a colonial-style home with his wife, Latasha, and their three children when he opened his studio in 2002. Nevertheless, the studio was in the living room of the home.

When potential clients saw Santori’s work on his website, they were eager to meet him. Once realizing they wouldn’t be meeting in a glamorous studio, but in a regular house in a regular neighborhood, Santori said some clients cancelled their consultation or just didn’t show up. Some of those who did meet with him still chose to take their business elsewhere, and Santori couldn’t help but feel that his work was being overshadowed by his circumstance. His ego was dealt a hard blow.

“I didn’t have the confidence,” he says. “I had to do some reading and self-exploration to be confident in front of people, not be ashamed of my surroundings and understand myself.”

He began meeting clients at posh coffee houses instead, but it wasn’t the answer. What he realized he had to do was build trust by showing his clients the real Kahn Santori. That began with a photo album.

When a couple arrived at his home for their consultation Santori pulled out his parent’s wedding album from more than 30 years ago. He told the story of how he was only a year and a half when his parents died, leaving him to be raised by his grandparents. Page by page he showed the pictures, taken by his grandfather, of his parents exchanging their sacred vows and standing with family and friends in that very living room. He explained that the album was one of the very few intimate mementos he had left of his parents.

“This is what I’m all about,” he’d say to the couple. “And I want you to look at your album in 30 years and have the same reverence and feelings as I have for this album.”

Santori would then lie out photos from current weddings he shot and share the personal stories of those couples. By that time, the clients were no longer looking at outer appearances, but at the talent before them.

Santori says that taking the new approach caused an increase in his business, grossing about $10,000 in 2007 to $40,000 in 2008. “I had officially turned the corner,” he says. “I’m in this regular colonial on the Westside of Detroit where nobody wants to come, but I’m booking weddings and competing with big studios. I did something that I felt was very hard to do.”

Although Santori moved out of the area with his growing family and into a subdivision outside of the city, Santori still works close to home—in a private studio inside of his home, to be exact.

CUTTING BACK
Running a studio from home is one way Santori curbs spending. Other ways require self-control and budgeting. Since opening Kahn Santori Photography seven years ago, where he also offers editorial and documentary photography services (www.ksantophoto.com), Santori has used a plethora of tools to create his masterpieces. He’s found that sticking with his equipment is hard to do when the temptations of new and updated models are constantly coming onto the market. It was once his weakness.

“Because technology is updating so fast there’s probably something that comes out every month that I’d want, especially in the software field. I finally got myself in control. Some of the things I can do now is with a camera I’ve had for five years,” says Santori, who currently uses a Nikon D300, D200 and D70. He also prefers using Apple’s Mac computers, Alien B lights, and the software Adobe Lightroom, I-View Media Pro and Photoshop. “It’s not about the camera but what you can do with it. The new stuff may make you do it faster, but you can’t buy everything that comes out.”

He also found that not participating in bridal shows and canceling the ad subscriptions that aren’t beneficial to his business helps save money. However, he learned to invest in profitable mediums. “I have an ad in The Knot that runs about $400 a month, but it’s the most premier listing. That’s what makes me money.”

THE PEOPLE’S PHOTOGRAPHER
Having the proper advertisements and keeping up an attractive website have worked well for Santori, but he says most of his business comes through referrals. Clients who are pleased with the outcome of their engagement and weddings photo albums are quick to recommend Santori’s services. But it is more than his talent that wins clients over.

Santori immediately comes off as a warm, inviting and down-to-earth guy with a jolly personality, charm and knack for relating to everyone. He has the ability to gain the confidence of clients and make their relationship feel more like a friendship than business. “I’m a regular dude,” he says. “I don’t have the ambiance or reputation to blow you away. I may not come across as this calm, suave photographer, but I’m the type that every blue-collar worker can talk to.”

The comfort level transfers from the consultation to the engagement session to the wedding day. Santori uses the engagement session for he and the clients to become familiar with each other’s personalities and work habits. He compares his style to a mixed breed of photojournalism and traditional wedding photography. “It’s me interacting with them. I put them in a position and I communicate what inspiration I’m looking for,” he says. “I add to the vision. I had a bride who did a Bridezilla pose like she was attacking her bridesmaids. That’s what she wanted.” All he asks is for the clients to trust that he will make everything work.

He recalls a time when that trust was put to the test. Santori was scheduled to shoot his newlywed clients in between their wedding and reception. The couple wanted the shoot to take place at a location 30 minutes out of the way. To Santori, this was no problem. However, the limo driver reminded everyone that in twenty minutes his services were over, endangering the newlyweds and their wedding party of either being stranded or paying extra. Santori stayed calm and led the limo in a search to find a closer location. No one saw Santori on his cell phone with his wife frantically trying to figure out where. Then something caught his eye.

“I looked over and saw an office building that had the cobblestone, Old English, antique look. The lighting was good and I had a tree. I said, ‘We’re going right there!’”

Santori says that from 6:15 p.m. to 6:25 p.m. he took the essential photos, including the newlyweds, the parents, maid of honor and best man, leaving five minutes for the group to get to the reception before the limo changed back to a pumpkin.

The following week Santori received a call from the thankful, crying bride after she and her family looked at the album. “She said, ‘Everyone was in tears! And you caught all the moments. The building was like our own little castle, and everything was so beautiful. We know we kind of put you on the spot...’ That was one of my most stressful and most proud moments ever.”

PAYING IT FORWARD
Many of the lessons and kindness that Santori passes on to others he has learned from mentors. From his grandfather he learned to never let an occasion go by without recording it on film. From a photographer Santori respectfully calls Mr. Burns, who he assisted during his early 20s, he learned the basics of photography and how to interact with clients. And from Marco Antonio (www.Marco-Antonio.com), who became a friend while working in the field, he was taught the business side of photography and was introduced to WPPI.

In an attempt to pass on the wisdom he has received from others, Santori uses his online blog (http://ksantori.blogspot.com) to post tips and tricks for clients and fellow photographers. “Blogging is important because it’s the only thing on your website that will keep them coming back,” he says. “It’s current. With blogging people can see you behind the pictures.”

He says doesn’t worry about helping the competition. He concerns himself with something deeper. “Good karma. People get caught up in the competitive nature of photography. If you’re a photographer who’s got a good client base, runs a good business, and focuses on marketing and customer service, you’ll stay in business.”


(WPPIOnline.com, May 2009)