Business Spotlight: Architectural Imageworks LLC

Owner: Gayle Babcock

Founded: 2003

Address: 1451 E. Walnut St., Springfield, MO 65802

Phone: (417) 869-1178

E-mail: aillc@mchsi.com

Services/Products: Architectural photography

Employees: 1

Gayle Babcock has a passion for angles, finish, and play of light and shadows.

In photography terms, that means she’s an architectural photographer. Other subjects just don’t inspire.

“I wasn’t into cute animals or balloons or anything like that,” Babcock says. “I really loved to shoot architecture.”

Babcock’s passion turned career in 2003, when she formed the one-woman enterprise known as Architectural Imageworks LLC. She provides architectural photography and some design services, but the photography drives her. She loves to capture a building at its best.

“You can hear the symphony in the background when everything is going perfect,” Babcock says. “It’s a cross between that and a hot fudge sundae.”

Developing moments

An early mentor was Missouri State University professor Bruce West, who noticed her talents for architectural photography in 1987 and fed them.

“I was very impressed,” West says. “She is a great photographer.”

West says photography was a suggested course for her field of study and she took too it. He recalls taking the extra time to teach her more extensive techniques.

“He really encouraged me and taught us a lot about color and composition,” Babcock recounts.

Babcock, who graduated in 1988 with degrees in housing and interior design and an art minor, then honed her skills for 13 years at Butler, Rosenbury and Partners before setting out on her own.

According to BRP partner Geoffrey Butler, Babcock grew as a photographer at the firm.

“We hired her as an interior designer,” Butler says. “We kept using her as a photographer and she developed into that field.”

Butler says she has an eye for the subjects she photographs.

“You don’t get a snapshot from her,” he says. “She knows how to set the image up and when to take the image, in morning, evening or summer. It takes a lot of effort to find the best view. I couldn’t do it.”

Rob Haik, principal architect at H Design Group, agrees. He uses her services for portfolio and marketing materials.

“Her work has kind of a perfectionist attitude,” Haik says. “The work is essentially artwork in its purest essence. She knows what views to capture.”

Capturing clients

Most of Babcock’s work is ordered by architectural firms and contractors in the architectural products field. Her client list is rounded out with a few owners, interior designers and signage companies.

“My business is totally word of mouth,” Babcock says. “I find when I have good clients, they give me good client references.”

Her work is used mostly in portfolios, but a few clients such as Citadel Architectural Products and the Titanic in Branson use her art in ads.

The advent of digital photography has given Babcock more latitude than she ever had with film, especially in her ability to use natural light.

“My main shooting strategy is I keep an eye on the sky,” says Babcock, who has traveled as far as St. Louis and Rogers, Ark., to shoot. “I’m always looking for perfect clouds.”

Babcock declined to disclose company revenues or quantify her growth, but says she finds herself doing a lot less residential photography at the moment. That trend has been made up for in commercial architecture work.

“In commercial, everybody is really wanting to get their portfolios together,” she notes, “so there is a lot of that going on.”

Going out on her own was a big decision for Babcock and her husband, but it has worked out with more clients and more freedom.

“We wanted to actually see our daughter grow up,” Babcock says of her child, who was born the year she started Architectural Imageworks. “I also wanted to do the work I loved. I have a 10-foot commute; it is great.”[[In-content Ad]]