Inside the Studio with Westphal Inc.
By Brent Phelps July 28, 2005
At the very beginning of my career I worked as a freelance
photo-assistant for about 18 months. In that time I worked in no less than 40-50
different commercial photo studios where the pay stunk, the hours were awful,
and I had no benefits. However, I later discovered that the experience gained
working as a freelance photo-assistant has proven to be very valuable. I
learned by simply being there and getting inside the studio. In an
effort to continue learning, occasionally, I will interview some of people I meet
who have “been there, done that”.
Today’s interview is with Arty Westphal. Arty (pictured with son, Eric) is the CEO and founder of
Westphal Inc a Digital photo and retouching studio with locations in Denver, CO and New York, NY.
How did you get
started in the business of photography? I started with art courses in junior high school and high
school. I later went to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and majored in Film and Photography.
When I graduated I spent some time looking for a job as a
photographer. This was in 1972 and the typical job offered about $50 per week
and these jobs were very hard to get. I couldn’t get a job as a photographer,
as an assistant, or even at a school photography firm. After six-months I went
to an employment agency that dealt with a lot of photo labs. I was hired at a
photo lab called Creative Color as an Assistant Production Manager, the pay was
$250 per week. Working at Creative Color opened my life up to commercial
photography. I handled the production of retouching and photocomposition on
film for clients like National Geographic, Woman's Day Publications, Revlon,
and Elizabeth Arden. I later got involved in sales and developed relationships
with major dept stores and advertising agencies. These relationships allowed me
to eventually start my own studio with a partner doing very high end retouching.
In 1984 my partner and I separated and I moved to Noho and
started Westphal Inc. In the early 90’s we started doing computer retouching on
PC systems. The cost for our first PC was about $55,000 for one PC (a 386
Intel). Then the Mac’s came out and Photoshop was introduced which helped us to
further develop as a digital retouching studio. With my background in photography we started to combine
digital photography services to offer our clients a total solution. We used
Phase One scan backs with a 4x5 view camera doing mostly product photography
for the cosmetics industry. Our slogan is “From Art to Finish” because we
handle everything from shooting the image, project management, retouching, and
print management to the delivery of the final printed pieces to the client.
Westphal has two
studios located in Denver
and NYC. How do the two locations work together? The two studios collaborate on many levels including
marketing, infrastructure, technology, and on assignment photography and
retouching projects. The challenge in this fast paced world is to leverage the
expertise of each of the studios for the markets we serve. The Denver studio shoots a lot of lifestyle
images and the NY studio shoots mostly product images. The two studios have
different specialties that complement each other which allow us to work on new
projects we might not otherwise have been considered for.
Westphal is a family
operated business. How does that work? Westphal is a family owned and operated business. My son
Eric Westphal is the Executive Director of Operations. My niece Heather
Westphal is the Executive Director of Sales. I am the CEO and we have a
Management Committee that consults with the executives. My personal goal is to
retire in the next 10 years but I hope that Westphal Inc will continue to be a
family operated business run by the Westphal family.
Westphal has now been
operating for more than 20 years. What advice would you have for someone just getting started? After 20 years of business I would say that you need to look
at the big picture to evaluate your clients expectations and adapt accordingly.
Service is one the most important values you can offer and the relationships
you develop are what will take you down the road. These relationships are built
on service to your customers and making their lives easier. Also, our business
is founded on people and their unique talents. Many of our employees have been
with us for many years, making Westphal a great place to work.
How many employees do
you have? We have 23 employees, consisting of a retouching dept, a
complete digital photo studio, with multiple bays and a prepress dept,
producing Kodak Approvals. Six employees are located in Colorado,
and the rest are here in New York.
What are you most
proud of? We are very proud of the fact that we have employees who
have been with us for 20 years. We have helped them to develop their skill sets
as artists and technicians. We are proud that our work has improved and evolved
over the years and we have provided our clients tremendous value. Many of our
clients have also been with us for 15-20 years.
What type of
equipment do you work with?
Cameras – We work with a
Phase One H25 on a Cambo 4x5 view camera and sometimes on a Hasselblad
. We also
have a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II.
Lighting - We use Broncolor
lighting. It is one of the more expensive lighting systems but it has been a
consistent and reliable system for us and we feel it has given us good value in
the long run.
Computers/software – We use
Mac G4’s or G5’s. We process raw files with the Phase One and Canon software.
We use illustrator, Quark, and Photoshop along with many 3rd party plug-ins.
How has the digital
revolution affected your daily life? I consider the concept of digital imaging today to be the
transfer of data. Pixels are transferred from the camera to the computer, to
our proofing systems, to our client, to the printers, and finally to the
consumer. The digital revolution allows us to customize how we transfer data to
efficiently serve customers in ways never before possible.
How do you chase
after new business? My Niece (Heather Westphal) and I work together in sales.
Most of the work we bring in is from referrals, recommendations, and
networking. 70% of our business is cosmetics with the other 30% coming from
consumer products and ad agencies.
Where do you see
yourself and your business in 10 years? The digital revolution has many possibilities for the future
and right now our challenge is to use this new technology to become more
efficient and serve our customers better. A significant part of that will be
leveraging web technologies as part of our daily workflow. We are creating
portals that allow us to collaborate with our clients online to speed up and
enhance production.
Digital Asset Management has also become very important as
this enables us to distribute images throughout the world. I think that in the
future this will help to decentralize the sources for imagery and that people
will seek out content from many different channels rather than just a few
sources as it happens today.
At the very beginning of my career I worked as a freelance
photo-assistant for about 18 months. In that time I worked in no less than 40-50
different commercial photo studios where the pay stunk, the hours were awful,
and I had no benefits. However, I later discovered that the experience gained
working as a freelance photo-assistant has proven to be very valuable. I
learned by simply being there and getting inside the studio. In an
effort to continue learning, occasionally, I will interview some of people I meet
who have “been there, done that”.
Today’s interview is with Arty Westphal. Arty (pictured with son, Eric) is the CEO and founder of
Westphal Inc a Digital photo and retouching studio with locations in Denver, CO and New York, NY.
How do you chase
after new business?