A Detroit photo studio
Our studio sits inside a Gilded Age mansion.
Detroit Photography works out of the John N. Bagley Mansion at 2921 East Jefferson Avenue, half a mile from the Renaissance Center. We chose a historic house on purpose: the room should fill you with a sense of awe before the first frame.
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The Bagley Mansion
Built in 1889. On the National Register.
John Scott built the house in 1889 for John N. Bagley, a tobacco merchant who served a single term as governor of Michigan. The exterior is rough-faced sandstone with a corner turret and a deep porch. It is one of the last surviving Gilded Age houses on the avenue.
Inside, the mansion keeps its original oak staircase, carved fireplaces, stained glass, and twelve-foot ceilings. The house sits on the National Register of Historic Places. You can read its full entry in our Detroit architecture portfolio.
The room
The front parlor, set up to photograph you.
The studio occupies the ground-floor front parlor and the adjoining library. Tall south-facing windows give clean window light through the morning; a full strobe kit covers afternoon and evening calls. You change in a private dressing room off the foyer, hair and makeup work at a station by the bay window, and the back parlor doubles as a review lounge where your proofs go up on a calibrated monitor before you leave.
How we shoot
Prime lenses, live review, same-day files.
The gear serves one end: a frame you sign off on the day you sit for it. We light with Profoto B10 and B10X strobes, shoot tethered, and edit by hand.
Prime lenses, every frame
We shoot on prime lenses—an 85mm or a 105mm at f/4 to f/5.6, focused on the lead eye. A prime renders skin and the fall of light the way a zoom never quite does.
Live review on a calibrated monitor
Every session runs tethered through Capture One to a calibrated NEC PA271Q. Proofs go up in the back-parlor review lounge so you see the frame at full size before you leave, not on a phone a week later.
Light, honest editing
Andrew Petrov edits each frame by hand. Stray hairs cloned, blemishes removed, pores kept. The final file looks like you on your best day, not a stranger.
Retouched files the same day
We deliver the finished images the same day. Nothing is ever late. Most sessions run thirty minutes a person; group bookings of fifty or more move at five minutes a head.
Who we photograph
Detroit leadership teams sit in this room.
We have photographed executive leadership for proxy statements, physician rosters for hospital websites, and engineering teams for annual reports. Corporate clients include:
Pricing
The numbers, stated plainly.
Most clients book two or three images. That runs $149, $248, or $347 in studio, all in.
- In-studio headshots are $149 for the first image and $99 for each additional image.
- On-location sessions are $299 for the first image and $149 for each additional image, anywhere in Metro Detroit.
- Hair and makeup is $150 when your shoot calls for it.
- Retouched files are delivered the same day.
Getting here
A block off the river, minutes from downtown.
2921 E Jefferson Ave, Suite 101, Detroit, MI 48207
Parking is free in the lot off Jefferson, with more on Rivard. The Renaissance Center is six minutes by car, downtown ten. The next available slot is usually within forty-eight hours.
Sit for a portrait in a Detroit landmark.
Book online and the next slot is usually within forty-eight hours. You leave with files the same day.
Book Your Session