Photo Opp's mission is to offer a space for people of all ages and backgrounds to learn photography and videography. We want to create a space for beginners and pros to learn from each other and enjoy the craft.

We also see this as a way to meet growing demand in the photo and video fields. Our culture has become so visually based and has become so dependent on quality photo and video work. The companies and organizations in our community will need skilled digital visual artists more and more to help them promote and communicate their brands.

As we're starting out we could use help in awareness and fundraising.

If you know of anyone with interest in the photo/video fields, or someone that manages potential students (of all ages) please let them know about us.

We will be running a capital fundraising campaign to transform this space from a church to a visual workspace. We are guessing this will start in January. Please sign up for our newsletter to get updates.

Once we're up and running we will have needs for volunteers in various roles.

We have started doing programming outside of our walls. The building is demo’d and waiting for construction.

We are currently finalizing our remodeling plans and planning our capital fundraising campaign.

We are hoping to have the Community Darkroom open in the first half of 2023, and the full space by the end of the year.

Photo Opp is a community-driven organization that provides hands-on photo and video/audio education through instruction and experience. We have no owners and our purpose is to promote and advance the organization’s mission statement driven by the community’s interests.

When we open (hopefully Summer of 2022), hours for the studio/building will be by appointment/special event. Darkroom members will have access based on their membership details.

Parking is available on the street. Please try to stay to our side of the streets. There is no parking on the east side of Bateman.

We are in a residential district. So, please be kind and respectful to our neighbors.

Darkroom will be membership-based, with hours and materials in the lab included (to a defined limit). The studio space and audio/video podcast room will be available for rent on a use-to-use basis.

We will be developing a camera club program or outlet in and around Photo Opp. We look to create a space for people of all levels to learn from each other.

Workshops will be taught by various professional photographers and videographers. These would be on a special event basis. Costs and topics will vary.

We are working on partnerships with schools and youth groups. Let us know if you know of a potential partner organization.

We want to be a referral resource at some point, with a goal to offer referrals to photographers of varying experiences. That way non-profit organizations, start-up small businesses or anyone with a restricted budget could be paired up with beginner photographers who could work on a smaller budget while they learn. As well as being able to refer to professional photographers with a strength in any niche.

But, at this moment we do not have that all together. Feel free to email us and we'll see if we can help.

We will have a basic kit in-house that will come with the rental. Mainly for the people looking to learn. This will be a camera, a small selection of lenses and a strobe, and a modifier. We are considering having a selection of lights, cameras, lenses, modifiers, stands, and more for rent.

Currently, we are working on those programs with school districts. As for our workshops and other offers, those will range based on the topic. We do plan on having workshops that children will be able to have fun and learn.

With supervision, children could join their parents/guardians in the darkroom.

We have workstations with Adobe products on Windows and Mac machines. We also have a digital scanner bed and digital printing capabilities.

We are planning to be open in Summer 2022, by then we'll work out an online booking system for the studio space. Darkroom time slots might have to be managed through staff, depending on how we get the darkrooms set up and how much room we'll have.

We're hoping to figure out a tiered system... lesser rates for beginners to create that space to learn (themission that we're going for) and market rates for pros doing paid gigs.

We're looking to work with school districts to assist in their programs. We're also looking into partnerships with youth group organizations. Let us know if you know of a potential partner organization. Workshops will be offered at Photo Opp. These workshops will be short-term opportunities and will have ranging difficulty levels.

Offering classes or ongoing workshop series are on our wish list, but we haven't detailed that programming yet.