For photographer Jess Paul, the search for the right studio space on the North Fork took a few years. She was looking for a space with good natural light and room to work year-round (and hopefully a reasonable rental price). When she stepped into the upstairs rooms of the H.M. Hawkins building on Beckwith Ave. in Southold, she knew she had found it.
“I came in here and I [thought] ‘This is my studio,’” Paul said.
Landfall Studios (85 Beckwith Ave., 2nd floor, Southold, [email protected]) officially opened last month, following an open house in the space on October 23. Paul, who moved to the North Fork full time from Concord, North Carolina in 2023, grew up spending summers in Cutchogue and named her new business after her grandmother’s house on Nassau Point.
The studio came together through a connection with Brigitte Quinn of Liza’s Lace Atelier, a vintage clothing and accessories store on the ground floor of the Hawkins building that opened this June.
Paul and Quinn had worked together on a series of vintage clothing pop-ups the previous fall, and Paul’s involvement was her introduction to the building. She eventually took the space upstairs from the vintage shop, and the two business owners began to collaborate on various projects.
Landfall Studios’ open house on October 23. (Photo credit: Kathy Paul)
After a new coat of paint and some minor repairs, Landfall Studios was ready to welcome visitors. “It’s great to have my own place,” Paul says. “It’s a dream come true.”
Until now, Paul had been working on location and out of her small Cutchogue home and wanted a dedicated place to create, meet clients and host workshops.
Paul’s photography includes portraits, wedding and family photos, newborn and maternity sessions, vintage fashion, events and author photographs. Paul plans to use the studio for workshops and gallery shows as well.
The changing light is one of the studio’s defining features, with morning sun from the east and warm afternoon light from the west. The space also gives Paul room to keep her equipment set up and work on her Polaroid emulsion lifts, a photographic process she is currently experimenting with. Before opening the studio, she often did that work at her kitchen table.
Paul has taught photography workshops, including at Ore + Earth Studios on Shelter Island, and says that meeting other artists and teaching have helped her develop her practice. She hopes to host her first workshop in the new space in December.
The gallery space, in a separate room from the studio, will be used to show Paul’s own work, as well as local and regional artists.
Paul has also been learning about the building’s history through visits to the Southold Library and the Southold Historical Museum. The H.M. Hawkins building dates to around 1900 and has served as a bank, a store, the Southold American Legion and, at one point, the library. Its second floor once housed an Odd Fellows Hall, where members of the fraternal organization met until 1929; the doors still have distinctive pear-shaped peepholes from that era.
Left, Landfall Studios in the H.M. Hawkins building in Southold (Photo credit: Kathy Paul); right, one of the pear-shaped peepholes in the studio’s doors that date from the 1920s. (Photo credit: Jess Paul/Landfall Studios)
The North Fork’s creative community has helped make Paul feel at home. A member of the North Fork Art Collective, she began showing her work there in 2023 and held her first solo Polaroid show in 2025 at Greenport Harbor Brewing Company on Carpenter Street in Greenport. She says local photographers and artists have been welcoming and supportive.
“There’s a lot of room for all of us,” she said. “It’s very positive.”
For the holidays, Paul is offering Winter Mini Photo Sessions on November 21 for those who want new portraits for their Christmas cards.
She also plans to take part in the Southold Holiday Stroll, which will be held in downtown Southold on Friday, December 11 from 5-8 p.m.
Upcoming dates for Landfall Studio’s first gallery show and a Polaroid emulsion workshop will be announced soon.
Landfall Studios is open by appointment only; for the latest news, sign up for the business’ email list here or follow along on Landfall’s Instagram.
