Amplified Studios are an Award Winning photography studio with a difference in Pontypridd Town Centre, Sally Gillard, Partner and Business Manager spoke with us about their latest success, how the idea came about and why they’re based in Pontypridd among other things.

Thanks for your time today Sally, can you tell us about Amplified Studios, what you specialise in, how the idea came about and how parents find out about the business?

Of course. We have been in business since 2013 and although we did a mix of genres of photography at the time we decided very quickly it was newborn and baby portraiture that we wanted to specialise in.

Jordan was still studying for his photography degree at the time, and the beauty of working with newborns is being able to create lovely portraiture but by still having full control over the set ups and design of what we produce - allowing us to be as creative as we want to be. The only limits we have to work with, is ensuring that everything we do is done with the comfort and safety of baby in mind and at the forefront of our priorities.

Nowadays, the vast majority of our client comes through word of mouth - but we still use social media a great deal to reach a new client base.

The Studio recently won five awards for your photography which is fantastic, can you tell me what are they and what they mean to the team?

Jordan is a qualified master photographer with The Master Photographers Association, specifically in newborn portraiture and also a qualified member of The Guild of Photographers in newborn portraiture. We frequently enter images in to both associations’ national awards, and have had a fantastic start to 2018.

In April, Jordan received 4 Bronze awards with The Guild of Photographers and also a Highly Commended award with The Master Photographers Association. Although it’s lovely to receive the awards, it’s important to us because it’s about the standards we set ourselves to create consistently high quality portraiture for our clients.

All of the images we enter are client commissions, and not shot specifically for competition - it gives our clients and potential clients a benchmark of what to expect from us as a studio. Plus, we always strive to produce better - so it stops us becoming complacent.

Your ethos is to create a luxury and bespoke service to your clients, with fine art gallery quality products, so why did you decide to set up and base your Studios in Pontypridd?

Pontypridd is my hometown. Both myself and Jordan grew up and attended school in the area, so it’s familiar to us. But, this is our third premises - having been based in Caerphilly from 2013-2014 and Pontyclun from 2014-2015, and moved here in December 2015 to officially open in January 2016.

We actually fell in love with the building that we’re in - it has so much character, is homely and has plenty of space and privacy for our clients. Not only that, but everyone knows Pontypridd. It’s central to so many parts of South Wales that our clients travel from all over (we even had one client travel from Essex last year). Aside from that, being from the area we know how important family is to the vast majority of Pontypridd and the surrounding areas - quality portraiture is an investment, but it will be valued and sit on the walls of homes all over the Valleys for decades. We’re proud to be a part of that memory and process.

Keeping in topical, if you pitched a photo shoot to Prince William and Catherine for the new royal baby, what would make them choose Amplified Studios?

The Royal Family are known for having official portraiture, and no doubt the quality of the art they hang in their home is of an exceptional standard. What better way to introduce the new Prince than with gallery quality newborn portraiture - something a little different but upholding their high standards with regards to quality. Not only that, but as a specialist studio we are trained and experienced in working with newborn babies so they could rest assured that the new Prince would be in safe hands and they could sit back, relax and enjoy the session.

Your photography in niche and pretty, so what advice would you give a new photographer just starting out in the business?

Photography is hugely oversaturated, because the digital medium has made anyone believe that they can be a photographer. This means that becoming successful and standing out is so much more difficult. Our advice would be get educated! Don’t just pick up a camera - invest in quality training and qualifications. Particularly in our niche, the importance of getting trained and educated in posing and safety cannot be stressed enough.

What do you know about Pontypridd’s Business Improvement District and are you a member of or attend any other business networks?

We know that BID has been set up based on a vote by local businesses within the town centre, and aims to promote and improve certain aspects of the town centre. We actually don’t attend any other business networks at the moment.

What potential do you see for Amplified Studios over the next five years with the ongoing redevelopment of Pontypridd town centre?

Pontypridd has so much potential, particularly as an old market town - and even in my lifetime so far, I’ve seen it go downhill so much. It would be wonderful if the re-generation brought a new breath of fresh air and new businesses to the town. With more businesses, we’ll have more local jobs and hopefully we can see people return to Pontypridd to shop and re-build it’s reputation.

That in itself will have a positive effect on not only the studio, but on all businesses within the town centre. I’d really like to see more independent shops offering a wide range of products that will entice shoppers to our town rather than them having to travel in to Cardiff or to out of town centres. We could really do with a boost to our local economy, and bringing our local high street back to life. If we can provide a way for people to spend their money locally then that will only have a positive effect on Pontypridd.

What ways would you like to see the BID and Amplified Studios working together in the future?

I’d like to see BID being utilised to it’s full potential. It’s a really good platform to market all local businesses. I’d like to see, not only us but all the businesses in the district put forward new ideas that will improve the town. I do think that access to free parking for staff would be a huge benefit to many who work in the area.

Additionally, so many people avoid coming to Pontypridd because we don’t have contactless or card payment facilities within our car parks - that alone would bring more young shoppers to town. It will then be a case of working on promoting our town and getting more businesses to open here.

We need to make it worth a trip in to our town. It would be great to have interactive shop maps in town to help visitors find us, and other businesses too. Although I love the history of the town, and I do believe that we should maintain the architecture of our buildings there are certain things that could do with modernisation as we need to advance and innovate to keep up with the changing trends, and how shoppers want to be serviced in 2018 and beyond.

Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Sally we hope the Studio goes from strength to strength.

For more on Amplified Studios check out their website https://www.amplifiedwales.co.uk/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/amplifiedstudiowales

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/amplifiedstudio/

Twitter https://twitter.com/amplifiedwales