PUBLICATION CENTER

That’s how one potential customer described Chuck Honek’s booth at a recent wedding show, and for good reason. Chuck’s booth touting his studio’s wedding photography and printing capabilities was a super-strength attention-grabber.

“It definitely drew in the brides. Whatever you do for advertising, and that includes a trade show booth, it has to do draw people in to talk to you, and then it’s your job to sell them. The booth did what it was supposed to do,” says Chuck, who owns Valhalla Photographic in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Departing from past booth setups, Honek employed a number of different elements to make his booth stand out. However, lighting has always been a consistent and important element of all of his displays. “I don’t care where you are, you have to have it lit correctly. I use intense quartz halogen lights, and I know they’re good from past experience. In this case I only used two lights on the side, instead of three, since I had the LCD panel in the middle of the booth,” Chuck explains.

The LCD panel with a picture frame around it was built as the centerpiece of the display, flanked by framed prints on LexJet Sunset Photo eSatin Paper and canvas, and backed by images printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

Honek also created a cabinet under the LCD panel showcasing samples of his wedding albums. Ultimately, the display brought more attention to his booth and was much easier to transport than his usual display, thanks in large part to the ease of transporting the lightweight and rollable Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

“Two or three really good large images are a better sales item than 12 or so smaller images, and the LCD gives you the smaller images as it goes through the slideshow, so it’s a great combination,” Chuck says. “While the big images and the flat screen TV attract people to the booth, they all want to see the albums. A big part of the interest comes from brides wanting to see what other brides are doing.”

Honek used telescoping display hardware reinforced with PVC piping for the three backdrops, which were taped to the display structure. Honek printed the material on his Epson 9880 with an Onyx RIP. Since the printer is 44 in. wide and the material comes in a 42 in. width, Honek says he had to “trick” both the printer and the RIP to get it to print properly, basically right-justifying the image and the material.

Honek plans to transfer the booth concept to backdrops for group photos, and will try the concept out in December at an upcoming Christmas party. Honek will reproduce his shots of Giant Sequoia redwoods for a wedding party, with a 10-ft. back panel comprised of three 42 in. panels seamed together and two 48-in. side panels that overlap on either side, all printed on Water-Resistant Satin Cloth.

“It’s the same concept in a different venue. If you’re a good photographer shooting special nature scenes, you can print these and use them as backgrounds for group shots,” he says.