Drake Busath grew up in the darkroom of his father’s studio.
Drake Busath
“In junior high and high school, I could barely stand the daylight. I spent a lot of hours developing and printing alongside my father. I wore sunglasses outside,” Drake shares, laughing. His passion for photography has followed him out of the dark and into the beautifully manicured gardens of Busath Studios and Gardens in Salt Lake City. He and his staff, including a third generation of Busaths taking up the camera, create classic, understated family portraits.
He recognizes that he was very lucky to have a mentor from an early age: his father. For those who don’t have that luxury, however, he stresses that it’s crucial to find someone who will be honest with you and guide you forward. “Be constantly on the lookout for the style that you admire and reach out to them,” Busath counsels. He cautions listening to clients for honest feedback about your work. “Customers are not objective, so they can be unreliable,” he says. “They can hate an image because of a crooked smile or love it because of the expression on their child’s face. You need a mentor to be frank and honest with you. Your mentor will keep you grounded.”
He encourages photographers who are starting out to shadow a mentor in his or her daily grind. Busath believes so fiercely in the mentoring process that his studio offers a two-month unpaid internship program for photographers wishing to learn how he runs his studio.
Drake Busath showing Brian around the gardens
And his studio is one to study. With a large “behind the scenes” staff and six photographers, he admits that his success is due to the family atmosphere that has developed over the years. Many of his photographers have been part of Busath Studio and Gardens for several years, loving the flexibility and trust that has developed. When asked by other studio owners why his photographers have not left and ventured out on their own, he firmly states: “We go to great lengths to keep them. This is a fundamental belief that I have, because my father did it for me. When I was younger, I needed the respect of my own clientele, and he provided that to me. I find out what our photographers need and I give it to them.”
As a result, Busath Studios’ photographers have their own clients, receive their own kudos, enjoy their craft and leave running the business to Busath and his wife of 31 years, Liz.
He’s learned some valuable lessons over several years. His studio now employs a central network for post-processing and image storage. Each photographer downloads his or her session images at a workstation direct to a sophisticated enterprise level RAID system, which is then backed up to a second RAID off-site. He jokingly calls it the “No More Tears System”, but after having previous data losses, he is serious about ensuring images are not lost. He also uses Lightroom for his entire workflow, from naming, editing and presenting to clients. His central network and Lightroom combination keeps his busy studio running efficiently and quickly.
Drake, telling a story with a fish (the monkey is shy...)
But there is nothing quick about his sessions or his techniques; both have developed a pattern over the years. Spending time with his subjects and developing a rapport with the young children to capture the essence of who they are involves a lot of forethought – and a monkey.
A stuffed monkey becomes the focus during the session, helping him with a story. “It’s all about the story. You create a story with any inanimate object and draw attention off the child and onto the inanimate object,” Busath explains. “We can scold and discipline the monkey without intimidating the child. Keeping the child in suspense will get him or her to sit still.” (You can see Drake and the monkey in action in this week’s Vault segment. If you missed it, you can see it here.)
Drake is not afraid to admit that he sees challenges ahead for the industry – and for himself. “Because of the proliferation of images, customers may put less value on portraiture. We have to differentiate ourselves in our clients’ minds and change their perception of value.”
His personal solution to this is to create, refresh and redefine the classic image. He believes that classic images, free of heavy filters and gimmicks, have a perceived higher value to clients. When presented with a rich, understated classic look, clients will recognize that this is a legacy or heirloom treasure. It’s fortunate, as this is the style he prefers to shoot. His goal is to start of revolution of photographers to go back into the studio and create “new, fresh studio styles” that rival what was created on film in the past.
One of Drake's classic family portraits
But he won’t be in the studio all the time. When he’s not photographing, he’s gardening. “I spend as much time pruning as I do photographing. I keep a pair of pruning shears in my camera bag and I’ll even prune while clients are changing clothes during a session.” He also travels extensively, having created a series of workshops in Italy (with expansion to other locales in the near future) designed to take small groups of photographers off the beaten path and into the “quieter, intimate side of Italy”. For photographers who want to stay closer to home, Drake has begun a workshop in southern Utah.
To learn more about Drake, Busath Studios and Gardens, and his tours, visit:
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