It started, as is so common, when a business gets too big for the garage it started in. In 2022, photographers Cass Klepac and Rick Cortez had outgrown their home photo studio and were looking for a rental space, but nothing was clicking. They didn’t want another white box space in a strip mall or to have to construct comfort in a converted warehouse. “We were looking for something a little more open,” Cortez said.
“We wanted something that inspired us,” added Klepac. They both already had successful careers, even if they had taken different routes. For Cortez, it was about fulfilling his childhood dream of becoming a professional photographer, while Klepac had fallen into it through her time in Austin’s music scene (“I realized I was better at documenting this stuff than being in the band”). Now they’d grown beyond moving the living room furniture out of the way for shoots. From the first moment they entered the Baker Center, Klepac recalled, “I felt it in my bones.”
This wasn’t a boring box, but a gorgeous former schoolroom, with perfect natural lighting through gigantic north-facing windows, wooden floors, and even the blackboards still in place. And they weren’t getting the usual suit-wearing realtor as a guide. Instead, it was Karrie League, fresh from tending the gardens. Klepac recalled, “She walked up in her gardening gloves and went, ‘Well, this is the place,’ and we’re like, ‘Well, this is great.’”
Klepac described Good Friend Studio as “the kind of space we wish that we had when we were first starting. … A photo studio where people don’t feel intimidated to come into, a safe space for creative photography and for the photo community to come together.”
For the first year, their client base was, well, themselves. But the more open houses they hosted, the more interest grew and the more rental requests they started fielding. Klepac said, “Texas Monthly has shot interviews in here, Whataburger did a shoot in here with Santa and a little workshop. We had an underwear commercial in here. Anything you can think of.”
The studio has also contributed to a boost in Cortez and Klepac’s careers as photographers, in part because Good Friend has raised their professional profiles. In the last couple of months, Klepac shot the cover for Tribeza and Cortez photographed Woody Harrelson for Austin Monthly. Klepac said, “Our own work has not just got better, but we’re available to be involved in the community in a way we weren’t able to before we had this space.”
The pair have applied lessons from their own experiences at other studios, both positive and negative, to make the space as well-equipped, well-prepared, and welcoming for professionals and amateurs alike as possible. Cortez added, “We wanted it to feel … good.”
Thus the name – Good Friend Studio. Photographers can rent the space for individual sessions, but there’s also a membership program in place. The duo have also added workshops and hope to add more. Cortez said. “It’s a lot, but we have big ideas for this space.” He grinned. “Coming soon.”
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This article appears in January 23 • 2026.