At 1073 Gainsborough Rd, a compact black and white building sits next to a large apartment complex, newly painted with hints of Victorian-era architecture. The Snap Lab logo is present on the two front windows, with a LED logo sign resting at the top of the building. The building appears to be small from the outside, but when you step inside, the interior feels spacious and well-loved. Fresh flowers and a tray of macarons greet you at the entrance while warm studio lighting give off a welcoming ambiance.

Snap Lab Studio is the first self-portrait studio in London. Inspired by the sea of self-portrait studios in Toronto and surrounding cities in the greater Toronto area, Egyptian Canadian entrepreneurs Yousef Mahmoud and his sister Mariam Nadeem brought the world of self-portrait photography to London.

When you enter the studio, the first thing you notice is the wall full of monochrome portrait photography of different frame sizes and models, greeting visitors with a collage of familial photos. Dynamic art pieces are displayed throughout the interior and a music speaker sits next to the check-in desk, prepared for photo sessions. The photo session room itself is spacious, offering props, a professional camera, two screens, a mirror and a coat hanger. The studio offers two types of services: Monochrome, which are black and white photos and panchrome, which are photos with different color backdrops.

Yousef, who graduated from Fanshawe in accounting and Mariam, a recent graduate from Western and Fanshawe’s collaborative nursing program, have different work experiences and career paths. Running a local business, however, isn’t new to either of them.

Yousef says he has always been an entrepreneur. On top of managing Snap Lab, he operates a jet ski company in Grand Bend. He says working on his own time and creating his own schedule is a constant in his life. Similarly, Mariam has been co-running her mother’s Egyptian food truck business, Koshri Express, for five years. She manages the business social media and administration and established her marketing experience there, which are skills that translate into her current co-ownership role at the studio. She says her time working for the food truck business is a big part of who she is.

But neither Mariam nor Yousef had professional photography experience when they had the idea to establish a self-portrait studio, which gave them a learning curve that they needed to address before offering their services to the community.

“Starting this business has been a challenge in general because we’re stepping into something we’ve never done before,” says Mariam. While preparing the studio, professional photographers in London helped Mariam and Yousef with the camera set-up and routine. The siblings both feel more confident in what they have to offer now. “We’re learning every single day as we go,” she says with a laugh.

But why open a self-portrait photography studio in London now?  With the number of self-portrait studios in the Greater Toronto Area, Mariam and Yousef say they want to bring something interesting and trendy to the city, contributing to London’s photography and art scene.   

 “A big part of [our goal] is to bring a little bit of that big city life here to London and make it a more exciting place,” Mariam enthusiastically says. Rather than having to make a trip to the big city to have a good time, she hopes their studio is a step forward in the right direction towards making London a more vibrant and interesting city.

The sessions are remote-based and are entirely self-orchestrated. “When you’re in there on your own, you have that space to express yourself without anyone watching,” says Mariam. Yousef explains how clients get a 30-minute photo session to take as many photos as they can, at $70 for two people. At the end of a session, they receive two prints of their favorite photos, two retouched photos and the option to get all the digital pictures if they mention the studio on their Instagram.

The studio being self-operated doesn’t mean Yousef and Mariam aren’t there to guide clients through the session if they need help. “People sometimes struggle with not knowing how to pose, so I’ll try to help them be more comfortable and talk them through different poses and ideas,” says Mariam.

But the journey to opening day was not without its challenges. Most notably the renovation difficulties Yousef and Mariam experienced under a time crunch.

 “You’re going to be surprised,” Yousef says with a laugh, referring to the length of the planning and renovation process. The building was built in the 1800s, which conflicted with their vision reminiscent of a modern photography studio in Toronto.

They signed the lease on Nov. 1. The renovations were done by Nov. 25.

Typically, starting a new business, signing a lease for a building and managing interior renovations take weeks of planning. But Snap Lab was a quick decision from its beginning stages to its grand opening, born from a single suggestion.

“It wasn’t a long-term plan,” Yousef says. “My fiancée suggested the idea after we went to a studio in Toronto for our engagement party and we proceeded with it right away. We put in a lot of work,” he says.

He gestures to a wall outside the photography room with vertical mirrors, where clients touch up before their sessions. “There was no wall here,” he says, walking through the interior changes they made. Details that may seem small were challenges in the renovation planning process. He tells a short story of one single shelf that took three different people to fix because it had to be custom-made and built from scratch. “Every time I made a deal with someone, it fell through,” Yousef says.

An unfounded Instagram suspension also caused them some difficulty for a short period. After creating their official business account, Instagram temporarily took it down. “It happened at a tough time because the beginning of a business is the ideal time to market,” says Mariam. “People thought the business wasn’t legit because some booked a session and all of a sudden couldn’t find the Instagram.”

Opening day on Dec. 1 came quickly. Yousef and Mariam said the community’s reaction to their services is the most rewarding part of the business. They mention that families, kids and people coming in with their pets came to the opening and all had glowing reviews.

Farah Shohib, a Masters student at Western University and friend of Mariam and Yousef, did a studio session on opening day with a group of her friends. “It combined every fun activity into one experience,” she says. “If I’d support anyone, it’s these two. And the fact that [a self-portrait photography studio] is here now is amazing. It’s something everyone in London should experience,” says Farah excitedly.

With the success of the studio so far, Yousef and Mariam have big plans for Snap Lab. “Our goal is to make this into a brand that everybody knows,” says Yousef. If all goes according to plan, Snap Lab will expand into the greater Toronto area in the future. But for now, London is its home, introducing a new concept to many.