Photographer opens new studio in restored Broadway building

LORAIN — It took two years of restoration and remodeling, but Jason Shaffer finally opened his photography studio in downtown Lorain. Situated just south of the Lorain Palace Theater and the Jevon Terance boutique on Broadway, the Jason Shaffer Photography studio is housed in the building many remember as the location of the former Seymour's Jewelry Store and other businesses. The photographer and his cousin are partners in owning the two-story building, constructed in 1902. When he first walked into the space, he said it was well-maintained but looked like an office. Favoring the classic aesthetic of historical buildings, Shaffer looked to 1920s and 1930s design styles and ordered custom lighting from Vintage Lighting & Supply in Vermilion. "I just ripped everything out and started from scratch. Ripped all the layers of flooring out, restored the original floors," Shaffer said. Getting the hardwood back to its best possible condition required pulling out seven layers of flooring, removing 40,000 nails and sanding it with four different grits of sandpaper. The first floor of the building is now an open space with prints of Shaffer's work displayed on gallery-style walls. Bench seating is available for people who want to sit in on sessions. Above, three upstairs apartments were renovated to look like new constructions. Originally a portrait photographer, Shaffer got into food photography when acclaimed Northeast Ohio chef Dante Boccuzzi needed someone to shoot some food. He fell in love with culinary photography and has now done work for a number of restaurants and chefs while continuing his portraiture work. One photo he is particularly proud of falls at the intersection of those worlds — a black-and-white image of Boccuzzi using an umbrella to shield himself from a rain of pasta and flour, which hangs inside the studio. "It's my favorite, most iconic image I would think," Shaffer said. "… We had two people throwing flour, one person throwing noodles. It was crazy; it was a mess." With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the wallets of many restaurant owners, requests for pictures of food are down and he is back to focusing more on portraits for now. Other display pieces were created specifically to decorate the walls of the gallery. One, a sprawling shot of a mountain summit, was taken on a recent 12-hour hike. "I needed something for this wall, and I didn't want to put anything old, so I went to New York and me and my nephew climbed four mountain peaks and got this shot," Shaffer said. Seeing many of the businesses in downtown Lorain work together to revitalize Broadway has been a blessing for Shaffer. He said a neighboring business owner lent him a helping hand when he was finishing work on the studio. "A lot of people are excited because a lot of these buildings have been empty for so long," he said. "I wanted this to be one of the nicest-looking buildings in the place. Hopefully it inspires other people to maybe fix up some of the other empty spaces." The studio, located at 633 Broadway, is open by appointment only for now. Shaffer can be reached via a contact form at jasonshafferphoto.com. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.