Frame & Field Studios Business Plan — Important Notice and Basis of Preparation

Confidentiality terms, basis of preparation, published benchmarks and the corrections carried through the Frame & Field Studios business plan.

Important Notice and Basis of Preparation

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This business plan has been prepared for Frame & Field Studios (Pty) Ltd, a proposed commercial photography and content studio in Gauteng building to 7.5 photographers and 4.5 editors over five years. It sells corporate and executive portraiture, property and architectural photography, event and documentary coverage, brand and editorial campaigns, and motion content — and it deliberately does not chase catalogue product photography.

Basis of the figures. Revenue is built from photographers, working days, billable utilisation and the blended day rate, with output capped by editing capacity where that binds. It is not a growth rate applied to an assumed base. The income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement are fully articulated: the balance sheet is derived rather than plugged and balances to the rand in every year, and the closing cash position reconciles exactly to the cash flow statement.

Day rates, utilisation and the editing ratio are modelled. They are the assumptions on which this plan turns and they are specific to a team, a client base and a city. A studio should trade for a full year and measure its own billable utilisation before anyone relies on these numbers.

The exposure scores in Section 2 are a judgement rather than measured data. They are offered as a framework for thinking about which photography survives generative artificial intelligence, and a reader who disagrees with a score should re-run the analysis with their own.

Published benchmarks. Traditional product photography is reported at US$85 to US$250 per stock keeping unit against US$3 to US$12 an image for AI alternatives, falling to US$0.05 to US$0.25 at subscription scale; a traditional footwear shoot runs US$5 000 to US$15 000. Adobe reports that 83 per cent of surveyed creative professionals use generative AI in their work and 20 per cent say their employers or clients require it; Salesforce reports 62 per cent of marketers using it to create image assets; JungleScout data shows 67 per cent of top e-commerce operators allocating budget specifically for AI imaging tools. Amazon launched its AI Studio in the third quarter of 2025, allowing third-party sellers to generate lifestyle imagery with AI models. SHEIN generates over 10 000 new product images daily; Inditex has committed US$400 million to AI photography infrastructure across eight brands by the end of 2026; ASOS reported a 340 per cent increase in product page conversion after implementing AI-generated model imagery. An estimated 40 per cent of e-commerce apparel listings will feature AI-generated images by the end of 2026. South Africa’s e-commerce market is expected to reach US$41.86 billion in 2026, growing at 8.54 per cent annually, with roughly 18 000 Takealot marketplace sellers and more than 10 000 Amazon South Africa sellers. The national minimum wage is R30.23 an ordinary hour. Rand figures are converted at R17.85 to the dollar. These are cited where used.

Taxation. Small Business Corporation rates are applied while turnover remains below the R20 million threshold, and the standard corporate rate of 27 per cent thereafter, with the Year 1 assessed loss carried forward subject to the section 20 limitation.

Confidentiality. This document is delivered in confidence to the named recipient. It may not be reproduced or circulated in whole or in part without prior written consent.

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