Album of Cartes de Visite

PEETA MELLARK

Portrait Studio Owner · New Orleans, Louisiana
peeta@example.com· (504) 555-0187· doeportraits.example.com

I own and run Mellark Portrait Rooms on Royal Street, a 4-chair studio that sits about 1,900 portrait clients a year. Before opening my own rooms in 2019, I spent 11 years behind other people's cameras, printing, posing, and keeping the books. I still hand-finish every heirloom print myself, which my accountant considers a character flaw.

· from the sitter's own hand ·

Plate I · Studios of Recordeach carte mounted with the studio's imprint

MELLARK PORTRAIT ROOMS
Royal Street · New Orleans
Owner & Principal Photographer
2019 – Present
  • Grew annual revenue from $86K to $412K across 6 years while keeping a 4-person staff.
  • Booked 1,900+ sittings in 2025 with a 62% repeat-client rate, tracked in a ledger I built myself.
  • Launched a wet-plate heirloom line that now brings in 28% of profit at 34 plates a month.
BEAUREGARD & DAUGHTERS
Magazine Street · New Orleans
Studio Manager & Second Camera
2014 – 2019
  • Ran daily operations for a 7-person studio shooting 2,400 sittings a year.
  • Cut average retouch turnaround from 9 days to 4 by rebuilding the proofing queue.
  • Trained 5 apprentice photographers; 3 went on to open their own studios.
CRESCENT CITY DAGUERREAN CO.
Chartres Street · New Orleans
Portrait Photographer
2011 – 2014
  • Shot 30 to 40 sittings a week, mostly family and mourning portraits.
  • Held the studio's lowest reshoot rate 3 years running, at 2.1%.
MAISON LUMIÈRE DU SUD
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Darkroom Assistant, then Printer
2008 – 2011
  • Printed and spotted roughly 11,000 frames a year across 2 enlarger stations.
  • Standardized the studio's toning recipe, reducing wasted paper by 18%.

Plate II · Verso Inscriptionsschooling and honors, as engraved on the card backs

B.F.A., Photography

Gulf Coast College of Art · 2004 – 2008

Thesis on ambrotype portraiture; graduated with departmental honors and a very stained apron.

Honors of the House

selected mentions

Vieux Carré Portrait Prize, 2023 · Louisiana Small Business Guild "Studio of the Year" finalist, 2024 · Juror, Delta Photographic Salon since 2022.

Plate III · Services of the Housea tariff of accomplishments in place of prices

Large-format & wet-plate work
17 years
Studio lighting, tungsten & strobe
daily practice
Archival printing & hand toning
house specialty
Bookkeeping & small-staff management
4 employees
Client posing & sitting direction
1,900 sittings/yr
French & Louisiana Creole
conversational

· references furnished upon application at the studio ·