Studio Guide

Access + Contact

Beast is run by Boone Rodriguez & Braden Spotts with help from some incredible humans. After booking you’ll receive a door code to get into the studio. The space is private, you can let yourself in and out during your studio time.

The building we are in, The Pickle Factory, is open M-F 8-5pm. If your shoot is outside of that time we will send you access info. Beast’s hour’s are generally 8-6 but can be flexi.

Beast has a Google Voice number that can receive texts and calls - it is the best number to reach the person on call for the studio.

‭(503) 308-9011‬
beast@boonerodriguez.com

Check out our availability at beastdaylight.com/calendar
Book at beastdaylight.com/book

Location

Beast is located inside The Pickle Factory building at 866 N Columbia Blvd Suite 217, Portland OR 97217.

We are in building B. Use the main entrance, walk towards the back and hang a left. Take the stairs and hang another left at the top of the stairs. (see diagram at bottom)

Parking

We have ample parking around the building. Do not park in a loading zone which unfortunately are not clearly marked yet. They are the areas directly in front of a rollup door, or the main door of building B (see map below).

Elevator

Our ADA elevator is mainly for those unable to take the stairs. We recommend taking the stairs if you are able to. If you have plenty of gear or would rather take the elevator here is how.

Use the I or II button to bring the lift up or down. Hold the desired button down while operating. Once the lift is at the desired floor, keep holding the button and the mechanical doors will open.
Do not force the doors or prop open the doors. This breaks the mechanism in the doors and renders the lift out of order.
If it doesn’t respond to the buttons being held down make sure both doors are closed all the way. Occasionally the doors need a gentle nudge to help them work. Also, note that the lift if silent on the way down.
It is a finicky sucker - sorry.
The lift’s floor plan layout is 38.5”x60” and the door is 33” x 80”. 9’ rolls of seemless must stand vertically and be attended to as it goes up as to not get stuck.

Light

We have 4 roll up windows that are 13.75’ tall and 10’ wide. Two are north facing and two are south facing to create a beautiful sunshine sandwich.

We currently don’t have curtains installed.

We frequently get asked “when’s the best light”. If you want the brightest light, the middle of the day will be your best bet. For hard light through our south facing windows you’ll want to cross your fingers for a sunny day. We always have soft light wrapping around and bouncing off a nearby white wall through our north facing windows or through the south windows on cloudy days. If you need to control hard light, we can possibly lend you a 8.5’13’ silk or two until our curtains are installed. Folks also use the V-flats to block off or bounce window light as desired. Even on cloudy days I find myself able to shoot clean images at f4 160th at 400iso or 800iso. The last half hour of the day the sun tucks away behind some trees and on cloudy days can be rather dark.

Electricity

We have five 20 amp circuits and eight 4 plug receptacles. The breaker box is located in the changing room.

Amenities

Here is a list of what is in the studio.

Full size jiffy steamer, wardrobe rack + hangers
Broom closet with: vacuum, broom, dust pan, some cleaning supplies + 25’ extension cord
6 c-stands with arms and knuckles, 2 apple box sets, seven 25# sandbags, 1 boom arm with counter weight, 6’ mini salon stand with ball head, 2 v-flats (white on one side black on the other)
Assorted donated seemless (shoot loot!) - if it’s in there feel free to use it. We cannot guarantee quality or color. Feel free to donate usable seemless,
Beverage fridge + filtered water + 12 glasses. There are often some donated beverages - if they’re in the fridge help yourself.
Single person changing room
HMUA area with full size mirror, directors chair and variable height table. (Mirror lights are activated by a motion sensor switch on the bottom right side)
Digitech rolling table
Seating includes a 3 person sofa, cone chair, 8 table height stools, directors chair for hmua area. We have two 6’ folding tables in the studio.
Sonos wifi speaker
- Sonos is not bluetooth. Connect to our network (password: meatballs) and then push music to “Beast STUDIO” from your phone or computer using your preferred streaming service.
- We include an 1/8th inch audio cable in the back of the sonos if you want to plug in directly. You’ll need the sonos app to switch the unit to “aux in”.
- You don’t need the sonos app to stream from most streaming services
- Sonos app gives you some additional options. Beast’s sonos app login info is on the info placard in the gold and black frame in the studio.
- Do not push music to Beast Office.

Equipment + Prop Rentals

You can add on our Profoto strobes and modifiers when booking your studio rental. If you’re interested in renting a camera (Nikon D850 or Fujifilm GFX 100) please inquire. Rental List

We rent the furniture in our office next door.

Social Media

We love to see and share what folks create at Beast. Please feel free to email or DM us images that we can share on social. We would love it if you tagged @beastdaylight when appropriate. We will always ask for permission before posting others’ work in our feed.

Additional FAQ’s

Beast is 32’ 6” x 50’, just over 1600 square feet.
Breaker box is located in the changing room.
We get asked to host events at Beast often and are open to those related to photography, creativity, or stuff that just seems interesting. We don’t host kids birthday parties or weddings.
We do love seeing young people foster their creativity. If you need a space where kids can practice and learn photography and don’t have a budget reach out and we might accommodate.

Weekend Use

If you book Beast on the weekend we will meet you at the front doors of the building at the start of your studio time to open the building exterior doors. There is a key fob in the drawer of the side table you can borrow to get in and out on your own. For the security of the other tenants and to keep the building heat in, do not prop the doors open for more than a couple minutes and never unattended.

Producers

As commercial photographers ourselves, we love working with producers. We can put the studio on a soft hold for shoots longer than 8 hours. We prefer to keep the soft hold to a day or two but depends on the situation.

We typically take payment when the studio is booked. We understand how larger shoots work and can invoice net 30 depending on the situation, the client, and the duration of the rental.

Our full day rate is $500 for 10 hours. Additional hours billed at $50/hr. For shoots that go late we ask $40/hr for a studio manager to be on site.

If you book multiple full days back to back you can leave your gear secured in the studio overnight. We change the codes so no-one else has access.

When available you can ship or stage gear & product in our office or studio. We don’t often charge for that service unless it’s a mega load or a long duration - just ask.

We recommend Beast for shoots up to ~15 people.

For larger productions, when available we rent our office next door as an additional staging area, production base, client green room, hmua area or whatever else you’d like to use it for. Rates start at $400 per day depending on needs.

We rent the studio to other photographers regularly. If you’re a producer we’ve worked with or want to work with, don’t feel weird about using our space if we’re not shooting the job.