There's no place in the world more photographed than New York, and rightly so. From the bustling Times Square to the scenic Central Park to the Empire State Building, the city is filled with unique backdrops for photos.
Are you a photographer looking for a fully equipped photo studio with natural light and white walls? Perhaps you are a creative director scouting for a spacious warehouse to accommodate large groups. On Giggster, you'll find multiple photo studios in New York City ready for your photo session.
If you're shooting on a budget, we have a number of affordable photo studios in New York that will help you make the photos you've envisioned without cutting quality. From vintage living room photo studios in Brooklyn to modern natural light spaces in Midtown Manhattan, NYC has the venues to meet all your needs and preferences.
NYC has a variety of photo studios available on Giggster. Browse our selection of creative spaces for your photo shoot in the big city and create long-lasting memories.
Whether you need space for advertising photography or are looking for a portrait studio, you'll find one that best suits your needs on Giggster.
For your upcoming editorial photography, you may need a large and versatile space you can have full control of. Look for a fully equipped photo studio rental with lighting, backdrops, and more equipment for a smooth and successful photo shoot.
Bright loft photo studios are ideal for portrait photography. Make sure yours has enough daylight, backdrops, and props to make each portrait unique. Narrow your search to Brooklyn and Queens, and you'll find many gorgeous loft photo studios.
NYC has a creative space for your photo shoot everywhere you turn. If location matters, you'll discover many gorgeous photo studios near popular landmarks, restaurants, shops, and entertainment.
Looking for a multi-set photo studio that can provide multiple backdrops? Whether you need seasonal or themed backdrops, fog machines, makeup rooms, or on-site crew, there's no limit to the studios NYC can provide.
Exceptional Variety & Quality: From exposed brick walls and natural light spaces to all-inclusive multi-set and CYC wall photo studios, Giggster's amazing selection of 1992 will help you find the right photo studio rental for your budget and needs.
Hassle-Free Booking: When searching for a photo studio on Giggster, you can immediately see the rental price and venue information and even get in touch with the venue manager, thanks to our user-friendly platform. Book your New York City photo studio today for as little as $20/hour.
24-Hour Free Cancellation Policy: If your photo shoot session gets canceled or postponed, you can get a full refund for bookings canceled within 24 hours of confirmation.
Platform Protections: In addition to a cancellation policy, Giggster offers optional damage protection and liability insurance to cover your booking against damages for the rental period. These add-on insurance protection packages help you select professional photo studios like Financial District Studio with peace of mind.
When searching for the perfect location for your photo shoot, you should consider the factors that can affect your experience.
Pros
New York is one of the world's most dynamic cities and has earned the nickname "the city that never sleeps" by right. Whether you're exploring Long Island City or bar hopping in Midtown Manhattan, NYC's buzzing scene will keep you entertained day and night.
NYC public transport is efficient and convenient, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn and Queens to Hudson Valley and everything in between, the MTA New York City Transit will get you to places fast.
The film and photography industry in New York is big, making it easy to find all kinds of photo studios. Whether you want to rent a venue with all the amenities and full professional equipment or just need a blank space with huge windows and natural daylight, New York has fantastic venues to stage your photo shoot.
Cons
Extreme weather conditions are common in New York City. Floods, winter blizzards, and heat waves may affect your shooting session.
New York is one of the loudest cities in the world. It can get pretty noisy, no matter the time of day. The city is also always crowded, from the busy Times Square to the packed subways, sidewalks, and long lines to get anywhere.
Living in New York is expensive. As the city with the highest cost of living in the U.S., it can be challenging to buy everything you need for your photo shoot, whether it's photo studio equipment, sound systems, hiring crew, or renting the photo studio you want.
Professional photographers know exactly the kind of photo studio they need. Pick from the many versatile 1992 on Giggster.
Versatile Studios – Variety of Backdrops. If you need access to diverse backdrops and props, be it green walls, white walls, intricate patterns, or themed or seasoned backdrops, versatile studios are your best match. Being located in a loft means they may have large windows and provide natural light, too.
Spacious Photo Studios – For Creativity and Smooth Workflow. Large studios are designed to accommodate all your equipment, props, and crew and make it easier for you to move around while shooting. Warehouses, industrial loft spaces, dance studios, and more are ideal for fashion and advertising shoots, engagements, and family portraits.
Restaurants/Event Venues – Capturing Real Emotions. Event photographers can capture photos throughout the event, but sometimes, they set up white walls and create gorgeous mini studios and backdrops for more intimate photos.
Private Homes – Personal and Unique. In addition to the traditional studio setup, you can utilize private homes for unique photo sessions in New York. From historic mansions to luxury penthouses, each room can serve as your canvas and inspiration. These venues are ideal for family portraits, engagement sessions, newborn shoots, and more.
Theaters and Galleries – Filled with Character. New York City is home to a number of creative spaces, such as theaters and galleries, that you can use for your photo shoot. From vintage auditorium theatres to bright and modern gallery studios that can fit all your crew and equipment, it's easy to get inspired.
Shooting in a photo studio in New York has many advantages, one of them being the easy-to-control environment. But there's more to do to ensure everything goes according to plan.
Make a Plan – Before you search for a photo studio rental, you need to know the subject and purpose of your photo shoot. Build a detailed shot list that will keep you on track and help save money and time. Planning includes anything from model poses to professional lighting to extra equipment, props, photography post-production, and much more.
Location Scouting – Photographers know that finding the perfect background is crucial. The right photo studio can easily complement your creative vision and help you capture quality photos without much effort.
Prepare the Equipment – For a successful photo session, you'll need the right equipment. That includes anything from lighting equipment to white walls and CYC walls and beyond. Make sure the studio has everything you need before you start your session.
Hiring Crew – Unless you're shooting still life, you may need the help of a professional crew, like hair and makeup stylists or wardrobe assistants, to prepare your models. You may also need an assistant to run errands, but this can also be a friend.
Despite New York's high cost of living, it's possible to have a successful photo shoot and save money without cutting quality.
Choose equipment carefully.
The right equipment is everything in photography shooting. It can make or break the final image. But you don't have to buy expensive cameras, lenses, tripods, or artificial lighting equipment to make quality photos. NYC is not short of rental businesses that can help you get all the equipment you need without breaking the bank.
Can you make your backdrop and props?
To cut costs, you can build a DIY Cyc wall for your photo studio. Props are also easy to make on your own. Consider balloon garlands for birthdays, baby nests for newborns, and giant paper flowers for baby showers or engagement sessions.
Work with what you have.
If you want to save money, sometimes you have to make the most out of what you already have. You don't need expensive backdrops or a large CYC wall to make fantastic professional photos. Use natural light and plain walls to make excellent portraits, or add objects that you can shoot through for more depth.
New York has no shortage of photo studio venues, and with Giggster, you can easily find one that complements your concept and vision. From bright art studios and lofts in Lower Manhattan to exposed brick warehouses in Brooklyn and beyond, organizing a photo shoot in the Big Apple has never been easier.
One of the nation's first metropolises, New York City has always been a center for commerce and culture. The 1920s were a vitally important decade in the shaping of the city, in that those years affected everything from industries to population makeup to the physical layout of its streets.
By the end of 1929, the city's population had almost topped 6 million. Although immigration restrictions were put in place in 1924, the tide of newcomers hardly stemmed, and nearly 35% of the city's residents were foreign-born. These residents—who largely came from Russia, Italy, Ireland, Germany, and China—brought with them years of experience and expertise in dozens of fields, but primarily in apparel. It was their contributions to the clothing and textile industries that helped to solidify New York as the fashion capital of the world.
The arrival of all these new folks, as well as the business and industries they brought with them, also meant New York found itself in dire need of more space to house families and companies. So the city built up, and the 1920s saw a skyscraper boom—the Chrysler Building was erected around this time. It wasn't just Midtown that underwent these massive changes, but Harlem as well.
The First Great Migration (which hit its peak during the '20s) brought some 200,000 Black Americans from the Deep South to Harlem. The Uptown neighborhood became something of a mecca and inspired a renaissance in Black music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship that the city is still benefiting from to this day.
It's hard to paint a true picture of how greatly the 1920s changed New York City in words alone, so Giggster scoured historical archives to compile a collection of 20 photos that best illustrate what life was like in the city that never sleeps 100 years ago. From aerial views of neighborhoods to street-level glimpses of daily life, these photos bring the city to life in a whole new way.
Taken in 1923, this aerial view of Lower Manhattan features Battery Park, the South Ferry Terminal, and, in the distance, the Woolworth building, which was the tallest building in New York throughout the 1920s.
Named after the New York Times building that was erected on its southern end in 1905, Times Square didn't become the hub it is today until the 1920s—when all of the subway lines, elevated railroad lines, and bus lines added stops along 42nd Street.
Near the northern end of Times Square lies the Palace Theater, one of New York's oldest and most popular Broadway playhouses. Pictured here in the 1920s, the Palace would have been a thriving vaudeville theater, considered the flagship destination for the genre's performers.
By the 1920s, the elevated train—one of New York's first attempts at a borough-connecting public transit system—was on its way to extinction. With the development of the underground subway (which, by this decade, connected Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens), the slower-moving above-ground trains were quickly becoming relics of the past.
Arguably the most iconic New York City yellow cab, the checkered taxi, first began picking up passengers in 1922. Unlike later iterations of this famous line, the original yellow cabs were mostly black, with the now-iconic yellow in evidence only on the cab's doors. In that decade, there were some 7,000 yellow cabs rolling up and down the city's streets.
While the city was largely still segregated throughout the 1920s, Harlem had become the Black capital of the nation. Between 1910 and 1930, the Black population in the neighborhood grew by a whopping 40%, transforming into the flourishing center of Black culture and art.
Another of the city's most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the 1920s was the Lower East Side. For decades, the neighborhood had been welcoming many of the city's immigrants, and in the early parts of the 20th century, it became home to thousands of Eastern European Jews, many of whom were fleeing conflicts in their home countries.
New York has long been considered the fashion capital of the world, and in the 1920s socialites like Cornelia Prime (left) and Katrinka Suydam (right) were setting trends with their simple lines, shorter hemlines, and cloche hats.
The late 1920s ushered in a skyscraper construction spree. As the city's population boomed, more space was needed for apartments and offices. Here, several workers take a break, stories above street level, while working on a Vesey Street tower.
In the late 1800s, Herald Square (located in Midtown Manhattan along 34th Street) was known for the various newspaper headquarters that were scattered around it. But by the 1920s, those newspaper buildings were gone, replaced by some of the city's biggest department stores—Macy's, Gimbels, B. Altman & Co.—making it one of the city's premier shopping destinations.
New York City's oldest street, best known for its "skid row" reputation, was packed with speak-easies during the 1920s. With prohibition in full swing, bars offering a cocktail called Smoke (a mixture of water and fuel alcohol that cost just 15 cents) were crammed in the back of ordinary shops and frequented by the area's most shady characters.
Many of the immigrants who settled in the Lower East Side were unable to find jobs in line with the ones they had held in their native countries, so they turned to pushcarts. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, you could buy anything—from food to eyeglasses to dishes—from the hundreds of pushcarts that lined the neighborhood's streets. Here, Jewish New Yorkers peruse the wares as they prepare for Passover.
Due to pollution and litter, today's New Yorkers would never think to take a swim in the dirty East River. However, 100 years ago, the river's chilly, mostly clean water was the perfect remedy on a 100-degree day.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh left New York City in his plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, to attempt to become the first man to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. His departure and successful arrival in Paris were celebrated far and wide, including by these young men in Central Park who competed in a rubber band airplane derby.
New York City treated Prohibition like a mere suggestion rather than a hard-and-fast law. While the city shut down its various bars and champagne rooms, an equal or greater number of speak-easies popped up in back rooms and down back alleyways. Occasionally, these underground spots would be raided (as pictured here), with the city claiming possession of the illegal wine and spirits.
Millions of people flock to New York City desperate to make their dreams come true. Israel Miller—the Prussian immigrant behind I. Miller & Sons (a shoe company worth $8 million in 1929)—was one of the lucky few who succeeded. Above, several women lust after his footwear in the window of a retail shop near Grand Central Station.
When it first opened in 1913, Harlem's Apollo Theater was named Hurtig & Seamon's Music Hall. Shown here with its original name and marquee, the famed theater hosted burlesque shows throughout the 1920s and wouldn't become a hot spot for Black musicians and performers until the early 1930s.
A massive movie palace, Loew's State Theater opened up in Times Square in 1921. Here, moviegoers flock around the theater's front entrance, hoping to get a glimpse of Leo, the MGM lion.
The Cotton Club—Harlem's premier nightclub during the 1920s and the launching pad for dozens of the era's greatest Black performers—opened its doors in 1923. Although nearly all of its performers and staff were Black, the club initially only admitted white patrons.
Now considered a staple as essential as the turkey and mashed potatoes, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade isn't actually as old as the holiday itself. The department store sponsored the first event back in 1924, and it has run (nearly) every year since. Here, Santa Claus closes the festivities, ringing in the Christmas season just as he does today.