Studio story: Progress, a dilema & some luck

The spare room (soon to be studio) hasn’t had as little stuff in it since the day we moved in! It’s surprising how much dust collects in the places you can’t get to :) All that’s left in the small room is the bed, filing cabinet, and a few odds and ends waiting to find new homes. I’m hoping to start painting the walls white next week!

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but I bought a couple of new bits of photography gear in preparation for the new studio. A collapsible light tent for tabletop product photography and a 3x2m stand to hold a 3x6m white cotton backdrop. It’s huge! And very exciting to have.

The size is a problem, however, in the small room. The big stands can only go so close to the wall. Also, the pole from which the backdrop is suspended comes in 4 parts, so there’s only so much adjustability.

This is the widest I can set up the stand, only two of the four segments in place:

This is what happens when I put a third segment in. The stands are pushed too far apart and their legs are lifted off the ground. There’s only barely enough clearance for the pole in the room, but not enough for the bases of the stand:

But wait a moment… If the pole is almost EXACTLY the width of the room, the maybe I don’t need the stands at all! If I can figure out some secure way to mount the pole directly on the wall, without pissing off the landlord too much, I should be able to have a backdrop that perfectly fits the room with no space wasted by stands!

I’ll let you know how I go :)