Notes from the Lab is a semi-regular dispatch of ideas, a journal of progress or failure, and a peek behind the curtain into the creative process of being a photographer, filmmaker, parent, and husband.
It is supposed to be an honest and subjective view of the creative industry and an attempt to share everything I experience and learn on the way as relentlessly as possible - because gatekeeping sucks.
This newsletter's content will always remain free, but if you want to support my work on this channel, consider upgrading to a paid subscription or buying me a coffee. Your help is greatly appreciated.
My name is Ramon Haindl. To learn more about me and my work, visit my Website or Instagram.
Over the last few weeks, except for a lovely easter weekend with the family, I’ve encapsulated myself in personal projects and preparation for upcoming commercial work. More often than maybe is good for me; I stayed up until late at night, having a couple of flow experiences and a frenzy of ideas and concepts for upcoming projects.
Working fast and ruthlessly has become my preferred method, but the biggest challenge has always been to stick to a handful of manageable projects and execute them, no matter what.
My studio reflects that. It is a retreat, sometimes messy, but always organized.
It serves as my office, storage for my tools, and a place to work freely, to think, write, print, draw, and experiment.
Lately, it has become a central point for my work as I focus more on printmaking and layouts and juxtapose old and new images to pursue new narratives.
When Evelyn, my wife, found this space last year, we fell immediately in love. When we first entered, I saw the possibilities of this small studio in this beautiful and quiet backyard, conveniently within short walking distance of our home. But we weren’t sure if we wanted to rent it.
But this place and all its possibilities stuck in my mind, and a couple of days later, we leased it. The studio used to be part of a woodworking workshop in a backyard in central Wiesbaden. Living and working in a comparatively small city in the middle of Germany and, ultimately, Europe proved a great advantage for our photography practice. The cost of living and finding a space like this at an affordable rate was significantly more accessible than in bigger and more crowded cities. And a lot of nature around.
So, let’s embark on a good old room tour of the place where I spend every waking hour except for quality time with family or friends, cooking, or when I’m out for work:
This is the heart of the studio, the entrance with a backdrop system, a wall-filling bookshelf, and a big desk on wheels that can be quickly removed if needed.
This desk is usually intended to be the messiest. I love to browse photobooks there, standing most of the time, or move around prints, paint, cut, and glue. I do most of my arrangements and documentation here, which I share on Instagram occasionally.
This workspace can easily be converted into a small studio, suitable for portraits and smaller shoots. Here’s the space when it’s turned into a studio:
For the occasional movie nights with friends, it converts into a small cinema with a beamer mounted to the ceiling.
The owner generously left a big bookshelf on the longer side of the first room for us to use. It houses a smaller, ever-growing selection of photobooks and zines, drawing tools, objects, and notebooks.
The second room, divided by a curtain, hosts my office space and equipment.
When we rented the space, I researched suitable heavy-duty racks and ended up with the IKEA Bror system. It perfectly fits my needs for a sturdy yet custom solution.
This is the technical area of the studio, and it feels like a cave. There is no natural light except when I open the curtains, which makes it feel like a gear storage room. And I like that a lot. Looks excellent on video calls. Plus, my dog sleeps most of the time in her bed back in the room, so I spend a lot of time here.
I keep my beloved Adicam cart in the middle of the room, which makes it easy to pack and prepare gear on top of it for occasional late-night packing and preparation.
There is a camera/lens locker and a wall holder for light stands at the back of the office. Installing these on the old walls was a pain, and we needed some hardening chemicals to attach them firmly. It doesn’t look great, but it does its heavy-lifting job.
I use a reasonably standard IKEA standing desk but rarely use it in standing mode. If I need to stand, I walk or work on the bigger desk in the studio section. I use a fairly common LG monitor whose form factor I like, which serves my purpose well. It’s not the most color-accurate monitor on the planet, but it served me well and files turn out great in print. On the desk is one of my backup RAID solutions, a first-generation M1 Max MacBook, and my beloved Xerox C310 printer on a separate, removable rack.
And to finish things off, here’s a little timelapse of me making the place shine for the pictures and a view from the backyard into the studio
It’s all work-in-progress and probably will always be, which amounts to all my work. But I plan to get the most out of the space in the future and already carry a few ideas with me. I will keep you posted!
And if you have any questions about the studio, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments.
Hugs and kisses,
— Ramon
This is really helpful and inspiring – we are about to put our studio together so we'll definitely check out some of the items you mentioned here, IKEA Bror for example. Looks like a lovely place to work!
Super schön :)