When you’ve adopted the trajectory of DPReview over the previous few months, you realize that 2023 has been a wild journey.
First, Amazon determined to shut the location. Then, we operated in a surreal limbo world for a time, publishing previous our introduced closure date as if nothing had occurred. (Sure, that was bizarre for us too.) Lastly, on June twentieth, Amazon introduced the location’s sale to Gear Patrol.
Not solely did DPReview discover a option to reside on, however we could not have been extra excited to affix an organization that so carefully aligns with our values and mission.
So, right here we’re.
But it surely’s not fairly that easy. As we continued to publish over the summer time, many issues had been happening behind the scenes; some of the important impacts of the sale was that we would have liked to maneuver out of our longtime places of work and studios in an Amazon constructing. We had been excited to discover a new residence to name our personal, however I am undecided we realized simply how a lot work it might be.
Our new house is situated in a century-old constructing in a vibrant, historic space of Seattle and is so much totally different than our earlier residence. The place our previous studio felt a bit… company, our new one is extra informal, with brick partitions, lots of character, and the occasional scent of eating places wafting up from the road beneath. We’re nonetheless understanding one of the simplest ways to prepare the house, however we expect will probably be lots of enjoyable, and we stay up for having you be a part of us right here nearly.
Anybody who has ever moved (and is not that every one of us, actually?) is aware of the method can get difficult rapidly, and shifting an operation like DPReview turned out to be extremely advanced.
To begin, we needed to stock lots of of cameras, lenses and different picture gear in opposition to our gear database to confirm that all the things was accounted for, then pack all of it, together with equipment like batteries and straps, into retail bins. Many of those had been returned to producers as a part of our commonplace mortgage agreements, with the rest packed fastidiously for shifting.
Subsequent, we needed to bodily disassemble and pack all of the gear in our studios, together with lights, backdrops, stands, testing gear, product images gear, and even the furnishings for shifting. This required cautious work: Arri and Kino lights do not come low cost, and we wished to get to the opposite finish with all the things intact.
Lastly, we needed to unmount our studio take a look at scene from the wall and safe it for the transfer throughout city. However nothing is easy: understanding the take a look at scene may be out of fee for just a few weeks, we needed to shoot each accessible digicam ready to be reviewed earlier than taking it down.
Because of an amazing group of movers, the method went easily. We even hand-carried just a few significantly fragile objects throughout city to make sure they arrived undamaged. Notably, DPReview’s previous take a look at scene made the journey within the again seat of my Subaru, and I used to be cautious to not hit any potholes.
Over the following a number of weeks, we’ll arrange the studio in phases based mostly on a prioritized checklist of content material we have to create for you. (Jeez, I hope we will discover all the things…) In reality, Richard and Brendan have already arrange our new product images room so we will take images of all the newest gear coming by means of our places of work.
That is just the start, and we stay up for sharing the journey with you as we go. Keep tuned for extra updates!
