who we are

Passport Photo Toronto, (PPT) for short, is located inside of Offline Studios - A downtown Toronto photography and creative studio. It is locally owned and operated by Julian Ross - a professional photographer and entrepreneur with 7+ years of full-time working experience.

The founding story of PPT is a bit different then the founding story of other small businesses in that we never set out to build a passport photo printing company. The process happened naturally and organically. Potential customers would knock on the doors of Offline Studios asking for passport photo services. They were turned away for well over a year until Julian decided to research the feasibility of offering passport photo services to future customers.

At first, the plan for PPT was to offer only Canadian passport photo services, however, within days of opening, customers requested visa photos for international countries with requirements unknown to the studio. The visa photo specifications were quickly learnt by Julian and since then he has taken and processed over 500 approved passport and visa photos. Over 100 customers have also left reviews with an average star rating of 5/5! BlogTO has also recommended the studio to their audience as one of the top passport photo processors in Toronto. PPT also holds the distinction of ranking #1 in Google search for passport photo services in the Entertainment District of downtown Toronto. At this point you might be asking, how has PPT amassed a perfect review rating and a #1 ranking on Google search in less than a year?

The key to the businesses success was Julian’s initial research on the passport photo business and his continued insistence on listening to an informing himself of his customers needs. For instance, in his earlier research he discovered that many of the disgruntled customers from other passport photo services complained of feeling rushed by the photographer and not being given a chance to review the photo before printing. Julian sought to solve this problem by never making the customer feel rushed and to always review the photo and to even offer multiple redos to ensure the best result for the customer. This patient approach allows Julian to be flexible with the diverse range of personalities that walk through the studio doors. Some customers may be in a rush, and Julian can be alert to this need. Sensing that his customer doesn’t have the time and doesn’t care about the results beyond the photo being accepted by the government, he can move swiftly to have the process finished in less than 5 minutes. Others may not be in a rush, or may care deeply about the final result. Julian is also alert to this need. He understands that the photo will be a true representation of the customer for 10 years and for this reason the utmost care must be taken to produce results that are not only pleasing to the customer, but also compliant with government standards.

For more information regarding the business or if you have a question, please feel free to contact us.

Est. Apr 15th, 2024