Have you ever ever questioned the place influencers go to get their Instagram images taken — not less than, after they’re not partying at Coachella or lounging on the seaside? 

As of late, the reply is what is typically known as a “selfie museum,” a comparatively new kind of enterprise that gives influencers, in addition to common customers, entry to dozens of backdrops for a payment.

The Highlight, situated in Towson, is one such facility. With the opening of a second location on the Mall in Columbia on Friday, will probably be the primary chain of selfie museums in Maryland, in response to its homeowners.

Katoriae “Tori” Brown-Harding, a Baltimore native at the moment dwelling in Pennsylvania, began the store within the midst of the pandemic after quitting a high-pressure job in hopes of pursuing one thing extra artistic. (Each she and her husband, photographer Brian, are longtime trend and music trade professionals.) She got here up with the thought for The Highlight after remembering that she and her kids had visited a selfie museum on a visit to Miami, and solely a few month later, she opened the content material creation studio in Towson.

“I’ve three teenaged ladies, and so they do issues like put their cellphones up (on the shelf) within the meat part of Walmart” to take footage and movies, Brown-Harding stated with fun. “It hit me: You guys want a spot to go to create TikToks that has a cool background.” 

Katoriae “Tori” Brown-Harding poses with one of many backdrops at The Highlight’s Towson location. (Submitted picture)

Along with offering backdrops, The Highlight additionally provides in-house skilled pictures for an upcharge; coming in to make use of the backgrounds prices $25 per individual for half-hour or $45 for an hour, whereas knowledgeable picture session begins at $100. There are additionally props out there for purchasers to make use of all through the museum, from a make-up vainness to a functioning Pac-Man arcade machine. 

In case you’re questioning, ‘simply how massive might the influencer market in Maryland presumably be?’, you’re not alone. Brown-Harding stated it’s uncommon that The Highlight will get any main TikTok or Instagram influencers visiting the studio. However the state is rife with so-called “micro-influencers” — these with 10,000 followers or so, who might have a devoted native viewers all through the Maryland-Washington, D.C.-Virginia area.

Brown-Harding lauded the selfie museum idea as a manner for influencers to make their content material creation extra environment friendly; quite than having to scope out dozens of particular person areas for photoshoots, curate a wardrobe for every of them and journey miles to succeed in them, influencers can now compile months of content material in a single location. 

“It saves them numerous hours of getting to journey locations to seek out the look,” she stated. “It’s a one-stop store.” 

However offering an environment friendly and trendy photoshoot spot for influencers isn’t the one factor The Highlight does. Brown-Harding stated that, within the 12 months because it opened, the selfie museum has additionally been the set for a number of larger-scale productions, together with films, YouTube movies and commercials for native manufacturers. Additionally they host birthday events and different occasions comparable to karaoke nights and even a pace courting occasion. 

The brand new location in Columbia is very similar to its predecessor, with some additions primarily based on buyer suggestions. Brown-Harding heard criticism that there have been no rooms that includes stereotypically masculine aesthetics, so the Columbia studio options one devoted to gaming and one other targeted on bikes and vehicles. 

That is just the start of The Highlight’s progress, Brown-Harding stated. She hopes to open new areas in different states and even start franchising the studio’s mannequin, serving to franchisees design their very own selfie museums and connecting them with the distributors she used to deck out the Towson and Columbia areas.

“So long as the funds hold rolling in as they’re,” she stated, “we’ll proceed to open up new shops.”