Melissa Mullen Photography Studio, Portland, Maine

Back in April I posted about my new space in Portland, Maine.  Check that out here. I knew I couldn’t let another day go by without photographing the studio because before you know it, this year is over.  I didn’t pick the best morning light but I just had to take some pictures today.

This studio came into my life before I even really decided on where I wanted to live.  I found an ad for this space on Craigslist while I was in Northern Maine last winter on a Wednesday night in January.  The next day, I made contact with the owner to see if it was still available to come check out.  It was so then I decided why not look for a house too.  I hadn’t at that point considered living in Portland, Maine yet something just felt really right about it.

So, I went back to Craigslist and made several appointments to see condos.  One in particular stood out to me that I was very excited to see.

The next day, my Mom and I drove 3 hours south to spend a day and night checking out Portland.  The studio was the first place we checked out.  The potential was huge, the construction was major.  It felt really big to me as I had just relocated here and really didn’t know what was in store.  Yet I just had this feeling about it . . .

Loved the street, loved the big windows . . .

We spent the rest of the afternoon canceling appointments and sitting in Coffee By Design taking in the local cafe crowd.  We had to cancel a few viewings because I didn’t really know what areas to look for so I ended up making appointments in some sketch areas.  Ooops.  The condo I was looking forward to seeing was located in the West End of Portland, 4 blocks from the studio. We did a drive by and loved what we saw so we settled in with a coffee until it was our time to see the space. Here is a little history of Portland, Maine.

So, at 5pm that night, I walked in and knew that the condo was home.  I wrote the check for the deposit that night and made the big decision to start my new East Coast journey in Maine. It all happened really fast and I wound up renting the studio as well. At first, I rented just my office space and then . . . I went for the whole second floor. It serves as a great meeting space, great shooting space and hopefully a space that I can share with other artists or even yogi’s in the future.

Over the past several months it has been a lot of work, very challenging and time consuming. I have had enormous help from my family and friends who have pitched in their time and labor to paint, scrub, shop, paint and paint and paint. 🙂

Here’s a virtual walk through of the space. And a little WAS and IS.

131 Spring Street, 2nd Floor : The old Ballard House which was a home of a natural birthing center and Birth Roots.

WAS

IS

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WAS

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WAS

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View to the 2nd floor from the 3rd floors staircase.

My office in black and white because it’s a hot mess.

View down to the entryway.

The bathroom on the 2nd floor.

The staircase that heads to the 2nd floor. Notice the tiles along the walls and stairs . . .

Each tile represents a baby that was born in the building.

The new Melissa Mullen Photography sign.

Leo, my pug . . . makes an appearance throughout. I was sort of photographing the space during his morning sun bathing treat time. 🙂 He loves it! Especially in the winter – the big room gets so much light . . . it’s amazing to walk in there in the morning after walking to work in the cold.

I’m sure a lot of people can relate to taking on a big project during your busy season . . . holy wow. It’s been a heck of an amount of work and I feel that it’s now time to party!! I haven’t made the official plan yet the idea has been discussed to have an open house. Will you come visit?!