Photo Fuel | The Vision, Art, and Business of Family Photography

Ever had a heart-stopping moment when you realize your camera is dangling too close to the ocean or you check your camera back 100 times on the way to a session because you irrationally think you forgot all your gear? Or show up to the wrong house?  Or loose images from a session? As a family photographer with over 15 years of experience, I've had my share of irrational fears and horrifying experi...

Sabrina Gebhardt is a long time photographer who’s made it her mission to coach family photographers through bettering themselves and building thriving photography businesses. Sabrina is doing all kinds of work in the education space for photographers right now, but she is also photographing families and has been for 14 years. In this episode, we talk about -the ebb and flow of business and balanc...

Can Black Friday be about more than just superficial discounts? In today's episode, I'm talking through the complexities of Black Friday sales, especially for family photographers looking to maintain their artistic integrity and profitability. Rather than crafting a sale for your services, I want to propose some more creative thinking about how you might use this time of increased buyer attention...

This episode is airing originally in the fall, and because this podcast is specifically for family photographers, I’m assuming a lot of you are in your busiest part of the year. You’re travelling to a lot of shoots. Even if you don’t have a ton of work right now, every time you do go to a shoot, it feels especially important. If you are finding yourself in the dead center of tons of editing or in...

Have you ever known you needed to make a change for your business but felt scared about what it would cost you?  Have you ever resisted taking risks or making investments or choices that you knew deep down were good choices but felt scary?  That’s the backstory of this episode - why I knew it was time to change my business name and how I went about making the shift after 11 years of operating and...

SEO expert Melissa Arlena is on the show today with her experience and best practices for moving your photography business to a new city, establishing brand presence online with SEO, and ways you can set yourself up for success.    We talk about things like:   How she excels and books as a photographer with a specific, repeatable look Tips to transition your business between states Tweaks to your...

Something that always comes up in the audits I do, in any mentoring call I’ve done in the last 2 years, and in conversations all the time with photographers is COPY - specifically, for your family photography website. In this episode, I have four simple copy tips for your family photography website that will take under an hour to tweak. Even though they're simple, they make such a huge difference...

You may have heard the concept that keeping a client is always easier than booking a new one - and there's a reason for that! Nurturing your existing family photography clients means making them feel seen and heard beyond the session itself. When you can find unexpected or particularly thoughtful ways to do that, you capitalize on the opportunity to not just build relationship, but to foster relat...

I asked my private facebook community what's got them stuck in business and what problems they're mulling through right now and the responses were so wide. Sometimes just talking through a problem and getting new perspective is the push we need to reimagine and tackle it so in this episode, I'm addressing 4 questions from the group with my take. Sometimes my opinions are counter-cultural to indust...

Our guest today is Caitlin of Caitlin Alohilani Photography. Caitlin is a family, wedding, and branding photographer based in Los Angeles, California. She was born and raised on the island of Oahu in Hawai’i, and credits much of her photographic eye, approach, and values to her upbringing in the islands and the eternal “aloha spirit.”  In this episode touch on:  How she made the leap to full time...

I asked in a group once what was everyone’s favorite thing about in-home sessions and someone responded with something like - I know this is shallow, but I only like them if they’re  a well decorated home, have interesting architecture, or have great light - otherwise not so much.    The truth is that even when you’re showing your best and favorite work, you may get hired by people who you don’t v...

In part two of the In Home Photography Series, I'm getting more technical and sharing exactly the gear (and tools!) I use for running my lifestyle family photography business.  Buckle up for a light, fun episode of recommendations and go behind-the-scenes of what it takes to run my business.    /// Links Mentioned /// Gear: Sony a7 III Mirrorless Camera Sony Alpha a7R IV Mirrorless Digital Camera...

We're kicking off a series all about in-home family photography and this week, it's all about the one little trick I do that's made all the different with getting more comfortable in a variety of homes.  If you've been nervous about lighting in home settings or the inability to location scout - this one's for you! Links mentioned:  Blog post : "tips for family photos with your dog" - https://leaho...

Right about now, many of you in the family photography world are probably starting to think about planning and marketing for your fall mini sessions. But do you *have* do them?? I am a family photographer exclusively and I do not offer fall mini sessions. Actually I don’t offer mini sessions at all. If you feel stuck hating fall mini sessions because you think you *have* to offer them or need the...

What a treat in today's episode - we have the legend Rachel Larsen Weaver with us. Rachel is an artist-educator and photographer joyfully living on the Maryland beaches of the Chesapeake Bay. A mother to five and creator of moments, her enthusiasm for details and self-love are infectious, infusing creative sessions with a buoyant reverence for the simplest pleasures. Her portfolio and practice is...

It’s pretty well understood that newsletters are a great form of marketing - anyone who’s had success with it will tell you that it is, but until you find your voice and your magic sauce with creating one, you’re likely to feel some dread around starting one, writing consistent emails, and generally feel a lot of resistance. Like many things in business marketing, it can bring thoughts of “am I be...

Developing a family photography business is rarely a straight path. Like most careers, it’s likely that there are some steps that are calculated and some that take us completely by surprise. That’s what happened to my guest on the show today, the lovely Morgan Williams, based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.   She focusses on in-home photography with families and newborns and teaches other photogra...

If you have “work on my website” on your to-do list for this quarter or this year, today's Photo Fuel is on point for you.  Whether you’re looking to improve it, working with a designer, using a template, or DIY-ing the whole darn thing, in this episode we’re talking through 2 major mistakes I see photographers (cough, me too!) make when tackling this project and what to do instead to prep yoursel...

When DC photographer Mary Catherine Wickman posted on instagram about her fears around being 35 and a family photographer without kids, her followers rallied around her in support, encouragement, and their own stories of relatability. In this episode, we talk about that caption - why she shared it, what happened, and what she (and all of us) can learn from it.    Read the post here: https://www.in...

What do you do when you're being hired to make family photos, but you don't feel like picking up a camera? When you don't feel inspired by making photos of your own family? When you feel tired or bored with life but you're preaching about joy in little moments and soaking up the precious people you love? The natural burnout of parenthood and relationship has a unique way of seeping into our work a...

Todays episode features a must-listen conversation for every family photographer! Morgan Miles is my guest and not only is she an incredibly talented family photographer, she is a full time marketing professor and studies consumer psychology at San Diego State University where she’s been teaching for over a decade. She has incredible insight into the growing trends of marketing in general and how...

85% of photographers quit within the first 2 years and a lot of those people don’t actually want to quit. I believe there’s one key factor that you’ve gotta have to succeed as a family photographer and it's totally possible or everyone. But it can't be taught and you can’t buy it and you can't make it... yet it’s the real bones behind your success in this field. In this episode we'll touch on comp...

A lot of times, when people share their business origin stories, we get the beginning hardship and grind then fastforward to the end when it all worked out and they have a happy healthy business. But there's a lot of the story that gets skipped and it's important to learn from both the hurdles and the shifts that helped that growth along the way.    In this episode, I'll share the 6 major shifts t...

What's the point? Why do you want to photograph families? What is the driving factor keeping you in this work? What keeps you coming back when it's hard and you want to quit?  In this episode, we'll talk about - why it's important to define your values - how it can help you influence decision-making  - a helpful exercise to drill down into what really matters and how you can use that knowledge to...

As a family photographer, it’s pretty common to have a standard checklist running through our heads of the “must-have shots.” It might be something - each parent with each kid, kids together, individuals, etc... Those baseline must-haves are important, but how do we go deeper? I'm proposing a part 2 to the basic session checklists as a way to take it up a notch. If you're bored with the same old s...