Rangefinder Magazine
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April 2000


Profile: Rita Loy
by Jane Taylor

Rita Loy is the co-owner of Designing Portrait Images, along with her husband, Doug Loy, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This successful team started their gen-eral, portrait studio in 1980, special-izing in weddings, bridals, and chil-dren’s portraiture. Rita does the ma-jority of the photography, while Doug runs the business end of the studio and meets with clients.

Because Rita was born an only child, throughout her youth, she was photographed regularly by pro-fessional photographers, at the re-quest of her mother. In high school, she joined the yearbook staff, was handed a camera, and discovered how much fun it was to be behind the camera. It was then that she fell in love with photography, and de-cided she wanted to be a profes-sional photographer when she grew up. Rita graduated from the Art Institute of Atlanta, Georgia. Today, she holds a Master Craftsman Degree, and serves as Vice President of the South Carolina P.P. of A.

Her husband, Doug, holds a Photographic Craftsman Degree and serves as the current President of South Carolina P.P. of A. Rita has been repeatedly honored by that or-ganization, being named “Photographer of the Year” five times. She has also received 13 Kodak Gallery Awards of Photographic Excellence and is a member of the Kodak Pro Team program. Rita’s beautiful portrait ti-tled “Bride of the Orient” was ac-cepted in the PPA’s National Loan Collection.

Rita and Doug present themselves as laid-back and unpretentious and feel this is part of the reason their studio is regarded as one of the most successful in the state of South Carolina. The couple wants clients from all walks of life to feel at home when doing business with them. They strive to portray this atmosphere in the studio without losing the subtle elegance. The walls of their 2000 square foot studio are decorated with 24x30 and 30x40 framed portraits. Rita says: “If you display 8x10s and 11x14s, people will buy those sizes. But, if you dis-play 24x30s and 30x40s, that’s what you’ll sell, because people buy what they see.”

Word-of-mouth and referrals bring most of the clients to Designing Portrait Images. Rita and Doug at-tend several bridal fairs each year, where they show their work and talk one-to-one with perspective brides. Having a soft spot for children, the Loys give back to the community by running a studio promotion for the Children’s Advocacy Center, donat-ing a portion of the proceeds to help fight child abuse.

They also display wall portraits at the bridal shop next door to their studio, and another bridal shop across town. “Having a bridal shop right next door that allows us to display our portraits is wonderful. Their busy times are our slow times, and so, we feed off each other,” Rita says. Her local gynecologist also displays Rita’s work in his office. To remedy the problem of turning away so many brides, they recently opened a second studio. Rita and Doug also travel around the nation judging print competitions, giving lectures on wedding and child photography, as well as sharing their marketing techniques.

Readers may contact Rita Loy via phone (864) 587-2211 or via e-mail at [rloy@aol.com].

Jane Taylor is a freelance writer based in the Midwest.