THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Friday, January 31, 1997 TAG: 9701290130 SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY JENNIFER C. O'DONNELL, STAFF WRITER LENGTH: 75 lines
James and Susan Knox will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their Chesapeake photography business, Knox Studios, in just a few weeks. What makes the milestone even more special is that the couple will celebrate it in a brand new studio they designed and helped build themselves.
From August through November, the Knox's, their children and a handful of their friends, hammered, sawed and eventually constructed the business owners' new location off Tintern Court.
The building is unusual by Chesapeake standards. It's an arched-steel, or igloo, style building. Jim Knox refers to it as a ``high-tech Quonset hut.''
While the building may not look like your standard run-of-the-mill photography studio, what makes it stand out even more is the manner in which it was constructed. The effort on the part of the Knox's and their friends was reminiscent of an old-fashioned barn raising. Everyone chipped in.
``When we first started out, I thought I'd just hand out nails,'' said Jim, a confessed non-carpenter. ``But by the end of the project, we were all on the roof working away.''
The Knox's decision to use the talents of their friends and family members was largely economical.
``If we had gone the route of hiring professional people, it never would have gotten done. It would have been too expensive,'' said Susan, who manages the accounts for the business.
But what started out as a way to save money, turned into a community gathering.
``What was so nice about the effort is that people went well beyond what they needed to do,'' said Jim. ``One of my friends showed up one day with his entire family. Even his little girl helped out by planting grass seed.''
Bill Fowler, a Chesapeake landscaper, was one of the workers that went the extra mile for the Knox family. Fowler helped design the studio's yard, plant trees and the lawn. McCoy Williamson, another close friend of the Knox's, helped frame about 90 percent of the building's structure.
While the new building took only three months to construct, the dream of a new studio was a long-time in the making.
Last year, after spending several years in rented quarters off Battlefield Blvd., Jim and Susan decided their photography business needed additional space in which to grow.
``Our lease was up and we figured with what we were paying in rent, we could probably afford our own building,'' said Jim, the studio's primary photographer.
But a traditional rectangular building wouldn't satisfy the Knox's. The couple considered buying a house to convert into a studio. But zoning ordinances held them back as did the cost of heavy remodeling. Instead, Jim and Susan considered building their own studio from the ground up.
They settled on the ``Quonset hut style'' after noticing several businesses on the way to the Outer Banks were using similar buildings for storage or warehouse space.
``It's a good style for us. We knew we needed a lot of interior space but without the interference of support poles,'' said Jim.
The interior of the studio is spacious and airy and the lobby filters in plenty of natural sunlight. Portraits are snapped in the main studio, which features 20-foot high ceilings, and there are no support poles or columns to interfere with large group photos.
While the studio is up and running, the Knox's admit they still have some details remaining. In the spring, when the weather turns warm, they plan on creating a few outdoor backgrounds including a fake beach scene with sand dunes, as well as an annual flower garden. Interior plans include adding a winding staircase to another studio loft, which will feature natural light. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Jim Knox and his wife Susan moved Knox Studios to their new
arched-steel building that Jim refers to as a ``high-tech Quonset
hut.'' ``It's a good style for us,'' says Jim. ``We knew we needed a
lot of interior space but without the interference of support
poles.''