Best Photography Studios in Minneapolis (2026)

Introduction

The 10 commercial photography studios and practices below are strong Minneapolis options in 2026, ranging from a full-service campaign studio downtown to food and product specialists in Northeast Minneapolis. Most are small and led by one or two photographers.

The market is shaped by the consumer and retail companies headquartered in the region. Target, General Mills, Land O’Lakes, Best Buy and Hormel all generate steady demand for food, packaging and retail imagery, some of it handled by in-house teams and the rest by local studios and agencies. Useful markers include Luke Studios now trading as Illumination Photography, Bruce Schlehuber’s feature in Production Paradise’s July 2026 food and drink spotlight, and a 2025 American Photography selection for Ackerman + Gruber.

Every firm here shows a Twin Cities base in 2026, though several publish no studio address and often shoot on location. Rental-only spaces were left out. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, because the right choice depends on what you are shooting and at what scale.

The best photography studios in Minneapolis

1. Krizia Studios

Founder-led · Downtown Minneapolis · kriziastudios.com

Krizia Studios is a commercial photography and full-service production studio that Krizia Gaile started in 2020. It works from 1313 Chestnut Avenue, with on-site parking, and covers casting, location scouting, wardrobe and styling coordination, shot lists, crew sourcing and on-set art direction. That suits a brand that wants a single point of contact for a whole shoot.

The studio lists IBM, Nintendo, Zeiss, Hormel and Google among its clients, and has photographed Simone Biles and Suni Lee at the 2024 US Olympic Trials. A Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis session is labelled 2026 on its site. It also runs a corporate headshot line, so check that your project will get the campaign team.

2. Illumination Photography

Part of Illumination Brand Marketing Agency · Northeast · illumination.photography

Illumination Photography is the in-house photo and video production arm of Illumination Brand Marketing Agency, and until its rebrand it was known as Luke Studios. Allen Luke founded the business in the early 2000s. It now works from 1828 NE Jefferson Street, covering conceptual advertising work, commercial portraiture, product photography and hybrid photo and video shoots.

Past clients cited for the studio include The Home Depot, The Hershey Company and Rosetta Stone. It also uses partner studios in other cities and takes travel commissions. Because a branding agency sits alongside the studio, it can suit clients who want identity and imagery from one team.

3. soona

Venture-backed · Minneapolis · soona.co

soona is a product photography and video studio built for e-commerce brands, with physical studios in Minneapolis, Austin and Denver. The Minneapolis site is at 1621 East Hennepin Avenue, open on weekdays, and has kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room sets plus a natural light space. Clients can join shoots virtually and direct them in real time.

The brands shown on its site include Crocs, Bloomers and Each & Every. soona raised a $35 million Series B in January 2022. It suits high-volume catalogue and lifestyle content better than a bespoke campaign with a custom build and a dedicated art director.

4. Bruce S Photo

Independent · Minneapolis · brucesphoto.com

Bruce S Photo is the practice of Bruce Schlehuber, a commercial advertising photographer who shoots food, beverage, product, beauty and interiors, in the studio and on location. He has more than a decade of experience, including seven years as a photographer at Quad. Production Paradise featured him in its July 2026 food and drink spotlight.

Clients include McCormick, Sam’s Club, Organic Valley and Amazon Fresh. Recent work includes national grocery and consumer-brand campaigns, which makes him a sensible first call for packaged food and beverage projects. He also shoots room sets and pets.

5. Bre McGee Photography

Independent · Northeast · bremcgee.com

Bre McGee Photography is based at 607 22nd Avenue NE and focuses on food and product work for e-commerce, packaging and marketing, with stop-motion animation alongside the stills. It serves CPG and food and beverage brands. Documentary and sports photography round out the offer.

Named work includes Cooks of Crocus Hill and a product series for the hemp gummies brand Nothing But Canna. The scale suits emerging and regional brands, and the stop-motion option is useful for social content that needs to move without a full video shoot.

6. Cords Photography

Independent · Northeast · cordsphotography.com

Cords Photography is run by commercial photographer Jeff Cords from studio CA 110 in the Casket Arts Building. It concentrates on product and brand photography for clients across Minnesota and the Midwest, including food and cosmetics.

The firm names no clients on its site, though portfolio files reference Target, Schylling and Aladdin products. The homepage was last updated in 2021, so ask to see recent work before you commit. A small studio like this tends to suit clear, repeatable product briefs.

7. Ackerman + Gruber

Independent · Minneapolis · ackermangruber.com

Ackerman + Gruber is the partnership of Jenn Ackerman and Tim Gruber, who have worked together since graduate school across editorial, photojournalism and advertising. Their work was selected for the American Photography 41 book in 2025 and American Photography 40 in 2024. Earlier honours include a 2009 Emmy and a McKnight Fellowship.

Clients include National Geographic, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Nike, Target, Delta and T-Mobile. Recent stories include the Iron Range for The New York Times and the World’s Largest Ice Fishing Contest for Field & Stream. They are the most documentary option on this list and fit brands that want real people and places, with licensed drone work available too.

8. Sara Rubinstein

Independent · Minneapolis · rubinsteinphoto.com

Sara Rubinstein is a commercial advertising photographer and director who shoots stills and motion as a single production. Her subjects run from lifestyle and medical to agriculture and industry. She received awards from Communication Arts in 2025 and APA National in 2023.

Clients include BASF, American Standard, 3M, DuPont, Edward Jones and Family Dollar, for which she also directed a broadcast commercial. Her agriculture and industrial work is relevant to the region’s food and manufacturing companies.

9. Chad Holder Photography

Independent · Minneapolis · chadholder.com

Chad Holder Photography has been running commercial advertising and corporate shoots for more than 20 years. Holder trained at Brigham Young University, assisted established photographers and went on to co-found a studio. The range covers lifestyle, healthcare, workplace, agriculture, architecture, product and video.

Clients include Adobe, Boston Scientific, Starbucks, Kodak and BP, and his project pages include local names such as Best Buy and Target alongside Logitech and Aveda. He suits organisations that need people photographed in their working environments.

10. David Ellis

Independent · St Paul · davidellisphoto.com

David Ellis is a St Paul portrait and lifestyle photographer and motion director. He studied at the University of Minnesota and began as a staff photography assistant and retail product photographer before moving into people-focused commercial work. He received awards from APA National and APA Chicago in 2022 and 2025.

Clients include ESPN, American Airlines and Discovery Channel. His background in stills and motion makes him a reasonable choice for lifestyle campaigns that need both from one shoot.

What to look for in a Minneapolis photography studio

Start with the subject. Food work needs a kitchen, a food stylist and experience with how a product behaves under lights, and a healthcare team on location needs something else again. The food and product specialists here (Bruce S Photo, Bre McGee, Cords) work in a different way from people-led photographers such as Sara Rubinstein or David Ellis, and most briefs clearly suit one group.

Ask what the studio does itself and what it hires in. Small practices often work with freelance stylists, assistants and retouchers, building the team to fit the job. Krizia Studios offers a broader production service. Ask who will be on set, and whether food styling and props are in the quote.

Check experience against retail and CPG requirements. With clients of the size of Target or General Mills, that often means packaging accuracy, brand colour checks, multiple crops per image and legal review. Local credits and awards help here, including The Show, AAF Minnesota’s annual programme, but a recent project close to your category tells you more. Also agree usage rights up front, since licence terms affect the fee and can matter more than the day rate on a national campaign.

Finally, ask how selects, retouching rounds and final files will be delivered. A single shoot can produce thousands of RAW frames, and comments on retouches can scatter across email threads. A studio with a clear gallery, a clear review process and one place for final assets will save a client’s marketing team time, especially when the same images feed packaging, retail and social.

How Fabric helps photography studios

Fabric gives a studio one workspace for its image library, client feedback and project knowledge, with AI search across all of it. Small teams moving between studio shoots and location work can start with Fabric for photographers.

Large RAW libraries can sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, where files stream on demand and take no local disk space, and shared team folders keep the latest versions in view. A retoucher or producer can open heavy files without waiting for a full download.

Past shoots are easier to find with search, which works by meaning across images, documents and transcribed recordings, and includes colour search for visual assets. Search for a brand’s packaging red, or select a frame and use similar search to find images with a comparable composition, colour and subject. This is useful for pulling references for a repeat client.

For review rounds, share a folder of selects or retouches with the client as a commenter. Shared links work without sign-up, and annotations let commenters draw on an image and attach a comment to the drawing. On video and audio they can leave timestamped comments, and on video add a drawing on the frame. The team marks each comment completed as it is dealt with, so feedback works like a checklist.

For final delivery, any folder can be published as a web page, which works well as a client gallery; published links are view-only, with optional download. Password protection covers embargoed product work and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link. Fabric uses AES-256 encryption, holds CASA Tier 2 and does not use data to train AI models; whether that meets a specific client’s requirements is a question for that client’s own legal and security teams.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best photography studio in Minneapolis?

There is no single answer, as the right studio depends on the subject. Krizia Studios offers a broad production service, Bruce S Photo is a strong fit for food and beverage campaigns, and Ackerman + Gruber had work selected for American Photography in 2024 and 2025.

Which Minneapolis studios specialise in food and product photography?

Bruce S Photo, Bre McGee Photography and Cords Photography all focus on food and product work. Krizia Studios also shoots product campaigns and lists Hormel as a client, and soona handles high-volume product imagery for e-commerce brands.

How much does commercial photography cost in Minneapolis?

Most firms on this list quote per project, usually combining a creative fee, crew and styling costs, and a usage licence. Usage is often the largest variable, since a national packaging licence usually costs more than a regional social one. Ask for the quote to be broken down by these items so that bids can be compared.

Can a brand direct a Minneapolis product shoot remotely?

Yes. soona is built for this: clients join a shoot virtually from anywhere and direct it in real time while the crew works at the Minneapolis studio. For other studios, ask at the quoting stage whether a live tethered view can be shared.

Do Minneapolis photography studios also shoot video?

Several do. Illumination Photography runs hybrid photo and video shoots, Sara Rubinstein and David Ellis both direct, and Chad Holder Photography offers video too. For projects led by motion, see the list of video production companies in Minneapolis.

Related lists

Photography studios in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

More in Minneapolis: Creative agencies · Video production · Content studios · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Advertising agencies

Run your studio on Fabric: Fabric for photographers · Best cloud storage for photographers · Moodboards