Creation Studios opens new photography storefront

Creation Studios, a multi-faceted studio for photography and corporate identity branding, just held its open house at 2655 Broad Avenue in the Broad Avenue Arts District. Though the company isn't new, it is the latest success story of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team's MEMShop program.
 
In 2001, after his first child was born, Donny Granger was a teacher in need of some extra income. Of this need to make ends meet, Creation Studios was born as well.
 
"I needed something I could do on Saturdays, so we invested in a ton of gear, way over the top, and just decided if I was going to do something, I was going to do it right," he says.
 
What began with wedding videography quickly became a second, full-time career of wedding photography. In 2008, Granger quit his job as a teacher to pursue his new career exclusively.
 
Joining the Lipscomb & Pitts Breakfast Club was fortuitous and eye-opening for Granger and Creation Studios.  "Accidentally we discovered that the years we spent doing wedding stories and telling emotional stories really worked well in the otherwise sterile, corporate environment," he says. "It turns out that environment is full of people with hearts as well, and once we discovered that, things took off really quickly."
 
Those corporate clients wanted "photos with emotion" in the style that Granger had developed in the wedding industry. To that end, Creation Studios has worked to produce images that cross over from simply technical into artwork for clients such as Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance, ServiceMaster by Stratos, Lausanne Collegiate School, Phillip Ashley Chocolates and MasterIT.
 
In January, Creation Studios moved from Bartlett to the 2,000-square-foot space on Broad Avenue, just across the street from Hollywood Feed. It's open and airy, with "walls" that can be moved around to accommodate gallery shows. With seating areas, a drum set, wet bar and studio space, it is a one-stop shop for photo sessions, art shows and strategy meetings.
 
The partnering with the Innovation Delivery Team and alt.Consulting to facilitate the move has meant a more accessible location for Granger and his employees as they work to make a bride's wedding day the best it can be and a company's story as clear and focused as a picture.
 
"Wedding, family, commercial," Granger says, summing it up. "Branding is the goal, getting the trust of the company. We are the creative department for a few different institutions."
 
By Richard J. Alley