We’re back ! | Yuri Arcurs (original) (raw)

Bigger. Better equipped and with lots of stories to tell.

Sorry it took us so long to dust off the cobwebs, but we have simply been too busy to blog about it.

Let us rewind to November 2015.

Studio

After having called a quaint studio in Roeland street our home for more than 4 years, We decided it was time for an upgrade. So we bought this run down plot in the center of Cape Town, Kloof str. 10, and decided to build it from the ground up into a photography haven!

Kloof Str 10 when we bought it 2 years ago. Lot’s have changed.

Kloof Str 10 as it stands now.

Now home to a dedicated team who work tirelessly under the guidance of Yuri Arcurs to produce masterful images.

Our new home – designed so that every inch can be doubled as space for a photo shoot – allows for the maximum amount of natural light and with a direct view of one of the seven natural wonders of the world, table mountain. Simply put – work life is pretty luxurious.

Staff

Our team is different from back in the old days. We now have:

Production – 7 (producers, runners and stylists)

RAW processing – 6

Retouching – 24

Advanced Retouching – 2 (3d, CgI)

Keywording and distribution – 6

Sales and support – 2 (peopleimages.com)

Video Retouching Department – 3

Cinematographers and focus pullers – 3

Kitchen staff – 3

HR and recruitment – 1

Photographers – 22

Interns – 10

Some of our retouchers now have over 6 years of experience and have become photoshop wizards who can really make magic happen.

Bootcamp

The start of January 2016 kicked off with the fifth Yuri Arcurs bootcamp. 100 hopeful young photographers fighting for a handful of internship positions and judged by industry professionals – Rebecca Harper the Cheif Creative Director at iStock and New York based photographer Felix Kunze as well as Yuri Arcurs himself.

The 5 day bootcamp entailed grueling tasks and challenges which often went late into the night. Blood, sweat, and tears went into the 5 days until the cream of the crop were chosen and offered an internship position.

11 Students were accepted this year from nearly 1000 applications and 110 bootcampers.

Then vs now: a quick breakdown on the numbers

2010 vs 2016

• 70000 images • 4100000 Images

•6 Affiliated Photographers •29 Affiliated Photographers

•10 Staff • 80+ Staff

•400m2 Studio (Rental) • 3000m2 (owned)

•Selection rate from RAW: 5% •Selection rate from RAW: 2%

For those that are bored by the numbers, to summarize it, we are consistently pushing the boundaries – in what is today a cohesively designed and well-oiled machine of a studio.