Talma Studios opened in Sydney in March 1899 in a George Street premises next door to the GPO. It was a branch of Talma & Co., the studio established by photographer Andrew Barrie (1859–1937) and Henry Weedon (1859–1921) in Melbourne in 1892. Scottish-born, Barrie had taken up photography as a teenager in Melbourne, and had taken classes at the National Gallery School and with the Chemistry department at the University of Melbourne. Barrie later worked alongside Tom Roberts and Walter Barnett at Stewart & Co, one of many studios strategically located in the centre of Melbourne's entertainment district and a pioneer of the business model by which the portrait trade became increasingly commercialised, transitioning from small, owner/operator ventures to 'a new kind of photographic factory' employing multiple employees across different departments. Having risen to senior partner at Stewart & Co, Barrie acquired the business outright in 1892. The same year he formed a partnership with Weedon – a businessman and future Lord Mayor of Melbourne – and opened Talma & Co, which occupied rooms in the Buxton's building located on 'the Block', the fashionable promenade formed by the section of Collins Street between Swanston and Elizabeth. Along with various studios, the Buxton's building housed a gallery that in 1889 had hosted the legendary 9 x 5 Impressions exhibition. Talma & Co was the first commercial photography studio in Australia to use electric light, being fitted out with a '6000 candle power lamp' that reduced exposure times to two seconds and 'by which the most perfect photographs [could] be taken at night'. In 1895, Talma & Co availed itself of 'the largest camera in Australia': one which utilised huge (1270 mm x 1050 mm) glass plate negatives and was capable of taking almost life-size portraits at 1.5 metres square. Talma & Co emerged as one of Melbourne's foremost studios – rivalled mainly by Falk Studios, which Barnett opened in 1895 and which, like Talma, specialised in theatrical portraiture and the provision of a luxurious experience for clients.
With the economic downturn of the 1890s, however, many businesses relocated from Melbourne to Sydney, including the company run by theatre entrepreneur JC Williamson. Talma & Co expanded accordingly, opening the 'new and magnificent' Talma Studios at 374 George Street, Sydney under the direction of Edward Ernest Gray (1869–1911). Gray became managing director having spent fifteen years working for Falk Studios' Sydney branch. He was also Talma Studios' principal photographer and is likely to have had a financial interest in the business as well. Like its Melbourne antecedent, Talma Studios was a 'photographic factory' par excellence. 'The studios are replete with every modern convenience', said a report in Sydney's Evening News of the studio's launch in March 1899. 'The reception, dressing and operating rooms are especially designed to meet the comfort of patrons, and the walls present a veritable portrait gallery of theatrical favourites'. The English singer, actor and impresario Emily Soldene described it as 'a dream of a studio. Turkey carpets, Persian rugs and ottomans and cunning chairs that make one feel on good terms with all the world, and give one a charming expression … Everything thought of – nothing forgotten. I couldn't help thinking of the old days, when being photographed meant something stuffy, dusty and dreadfully tiring'.
When he died at age 44 in June 1911, it was said that few photographers in Australia had 'taken more celebrities than did Mr Gray, for his patrons included Governors, politicians, and almost every notable to visit Sydney for a number of years past', and that Gray was 'as well known and respected in theatrical as he was in commercial circles'. Talma Studios continued trading at 374 George Street after Gray's death, producing many photographs for publications including the Sydney Mail and the Town and Country Journal. It was reported in September 1923 that the 'new' Talma Studios had been taken over by a Miss Hilda Munro, 'who was for so many years associated with Falk, and Falk-Monte Luke Studios.' 'With Mr Myers, formerly of Freeman's and later of Melbourne, as chief operator, Miss Munro is sanguine of success.' The Melbourne business continued trading until Barrie sold Talma & Co in the mid-1930s. He died in April 1937.
