Do any of the following sound familiar?

  • You’ve no idea how to make family photography profitable or where to start with pricing and packages

  • You love shooting weddings but you’re burnt out and exhausted, desperate for more weekends off

  • Since having your own family your priorities have changed and now you want to pursue work with more sociable hours, more flexibility, less stress, less travel and more time at home with your own loved ones

  • You hate selling and worry that family photography means relying on cringeworthy in-person sales consultations with piles of tacky sample products

  • You’ve seen a lot of cheesy family photography and don’t want to ‘sell out’ or compromise your artistic vision and creativity

  • Past wedding clients keep asking you for family photography but you don’t know how to respond and sense this is an opportunity missed

  • You’ve created a family photography package but hardly anyone buys it

  • You’re unsure how family photography would sit alongside your current photography brand

  • You’re happy with your photography but you struggle with the ‘business’ side of things and charging your worth

  • You’d love more family photography work but are stuck for ideas on how to market yourself

My dodgy journey into family photography

Family photography is my absolute biggest passion and something I now find easy and profitable… but as a mother, previous wedding photographer and self-confessed ‘crap salesperson’, I spent years struggling with ALL of the above. 10 years ago I built a respected wedding photography business and enjoyed a happy decade of throwing myself into this crazy, fast-paced joyous whirlwind of a job. Photographing kids at weddings always brought me huge amounts of joy, and when I started regularly shooting families 5 years ago, I quickly realised this was my true passion and calling. HOWEVER...

  • I was only really booking past wedding clients for family photography and struggled to find new families prepared to pay me

  • I tried to recreate cheesy family photography poses (yes, I do remember asking a poor family to peek out from behind a tree – please don’t hate me!)

  • I spent years sourcing an elaborate range of wall art and products I didn’t even like, as I thought that this was what family photographers had to do

  • I bought a projector and screen, and spent valuable evenings sitting uncomfortably in clients’ living rooms, dying inside as I flailed around awkwardly showing them their images, toting my samples and ineffectively trying to sell to them whilst desperately wishing I was somewhere else

  • I was only making a nominal amount per family shoot and knew there was no way I could make a living from it other than it being supplementary to wedding photography

  • Still shooting lots of weddings, I felt burnt out and was desperate to enjoy more weekends with my own friends and family – lazy Saturdays in pyjamas, barbeques and Sunday roasts… all the simple pleasures that somehow had become such a rare treat

GOOD NEWS!

Through years of trial and error I worked out methods and approaches to overcome all these problems, so that eventually I became proud of my work artistically, charged my worth, enjoyed more free time with my family and earned a solid reputation as one of the country’s leading creative family photographers, with loyal clients who truly valued what I offered and regularly returned for more. In 2017 I stopped taking wedding bookings to focus purely on family photography, and in 2018 I shot my last ever wedding and fully completed the transition to full time family photographer. Over the years I’ve found that it’s completely possible to strip it all back, keep it simple and build a profitable, ethical business that puts families under not one ounce of pressure to purchase anything they don’t want to, whilst giving them not just beautiful, emotive, unique photography but also a meaningful, memorable experience with their loved ones. It’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.

I'd love to help you!

I designed The Roost in 2016 in response to frequent demand from other photographers who wanted me to share with them how to make a success of creative family photography. Since then I’ve run 7 in-person Roost workshops all over the UK and have a thriving Facebook community of past attendees (the lovely ‘Roost Gang’) who all continue to support each other today as their family photography businesses grow.

I’d love to share everything I’ve learned with you too so that you don’t spend years faffing around working it out like I did and immediately feel confident:

  • Photographing families creatively

  • Booking more ideal clients

  • Producing rewarding, meaningful work

  • Enjoying more time at home with your own family and friends

  • Increasing your family photography income with a simple system and not one ounce of hard selling

Course curriculum

Click on each module below for details of content

    1. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING THE ROOST!

    2. Welcome to The Roost Online!

    3. GROUP ZOOM CALLS - important information

    1. 1/3 - Cheese-Free Zone

    2. 2/3 - Keep It Together

    3. 3/3 - Soulful Sales

    1. MODULE 1 INTRO

    2. UNIT 1: MY 'WHY'

    3. Unit 1 task

    4. UNIT 2: STYLE + VOICE

    5. Unit 2 task

    6. UNIT 3: BRANDING + IDENTITY

    7. Unit 3 task

    8. UNIT 4: ATTRACTING IDEAL CLIENTS

    9. Unit 4 task

    1. MODULE 2 INTRO

    2. UNIT 1: EQUIPMENT + KIT

    3. Unit 1 task

    4. UNIT 2: INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT PICTURE - LIGHT

    5. Unit 2 task

    6. UNIT 3: INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT PICTURE - COMPOSITION

    7. Unit 3 task

    8. UNIT 4: INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT PICTURE - MOMENT

    9. Unit 4 task

    1. MODULE 3 INTRO

    2. UNIT 1: PREPARING FAMILIES FOR THE SHOOT

    3. Unit 1 task

    4. UNIT 2: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PHOTOGRAPHING DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS

    5. Unit 2 task

    6. UNIT 3: LOOKING AFTER YOUR FAMILIES

    7. Unit 3 task

    8. UNIT 4: TROUBLESHOOTING COMMON PROBLEMS

    9. Unit 4 task

    10. UNIT 5: FORMAT OF A TYPICAL SHOOT

    11. Unit 5 task

    1. MODULE 4 INTRO

    2. UNIT 1: WORKFLOW

    3. Unit 1 task

    4. UNIT 2: NAVIGATING THE SALES PROCESS

    5. Unit 2 task

    6. UNIT 3: PRODUCTS + PRICING

    7. Unit 3 task

    8. UNIT 4: MARKETING + LEVERAGING DIFFERENT CLIENT SOURCES

    9. Unit 4 task

About this course

  • £375.00
  • 50 lessons
  • 18 hours of video content

Testimonials

Joanna Nicole Photography

“I’m now booking a lot more family shoots and overall earning probably at least 50% more than I was before, and in some cases double. The Roost was the best workshop I’ve done in terms of clear advice and practical learnings; I came away knowing exactly what my next steps should be.”

Ash Davenport

“The Roost workshop was GREAT! I found myself leaving with a wealth of knowledge, confident booking in family shoots and a solid pricing structure that would work for me and my families. Since the workshop I’ve seen a real improvement in converting shoots into real cash! Anna taught us there is no reason other than self-doubt why family shoots shouldn’t pay good money – we are worth it if we pitch it right. The whole day was full of gold dust. It would take you years to learn what Anna teaches in one day, it’s well worth the investment and you will earn that back in your first shoot!”

Janni Atherton

“Anna’s workshop was jam packed full of so much valuable information that I just couldn’t find elsewhere. It was well worth the investment, not only did I learn more in that one course than I have in the last 6 months, I've also come out of this with a stronger focus and a renewed confidence that I CAN and WILL be successful. Since completing the workshop I’ve stopped procrastinating, I know what’s important to focus on and what’s not, what I need to organise now and what can wait, what I need to invest in and what I don’t, how to work with different age groups, how to attract my ideal client and build a business with longevity. But most of all I have learned that this is absolutely 100% my passion and I'm so excited about the future.”

Robbie Venn

“Probably the best workshop I’ve attended, and that’s no exaggeration.”

Sally Thurrell

“Such an inspiring and useful course – I’ve never come away from a workshop armed with such extensive and practical information. Amazing stuff and wish I could do it all again.”

About me

I’m Anna, a family photographer and mentor living in sunny Manchester, proud mum to hilarious 13 year old chatterbox Joe and loopy 3 year old Huey. My images are inspired by my love of people, their character and their stories, and I specialise in honest, creative documentary family photography that celebrates real life, spirit, emotion and individuality. As a past secondary school teacher, I’m hugely passionate about education and supporting others, and for several years now I’ve regularly run Roost family photography workshops and mentoring sessions for other photographers, helping them to develop and grow their own family and wedding photography businesses, as well as guest speaking at photography events, colleges and universities. Today I’m lucky enough to work with amazing families and wonderful photographers from all over the UK and overseas.

FAQ

  • WHAT LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE SHOULD I HAVE?

    Photographers of all levels of experience are very welcome and have happily attended Roost workshops, including... people just starting to build their photography business from scratch... established professional photographers who already specialise in other areas (eg. weddings), who want to establish, grow and gain confidence in family photography... and established family photographers who want to take a fresh look at their business, photographic work and approach

  • HOW LONG DO I HAVE ACCESS TO THE COURSE?

    Forever! The Roost may increase in price and may occasionally be revamped with new resources and advice. But you'll never have to pay any more for those updates and will have permanent access to the course and any extra additions.

  • WHAT FORMAT IS THE COURSE CONTENT DELIVERED IN?

    Each module is delivered in a series of units. Each unit has a short video containing voice-over slides. At the end of each unit there's also a task for you to complete so that by the end of the course you'll be fully up and running to crack on with your family photography business!

  • WHAT IF I'M NOT ABLE TO ATTEND THE FORTNIGHTLY LIVE GROUP ZOOM CALL(S)?

    Don't worry at all - although the Zoom calls are live, you don't have to attend them live if you're not able to or don't want to. You'll have the opportunity to submit your own questions for me to answer beforehand, and then the recorded replay of the call (including my responses to your questions) will be available for you to watch afterwards :)

  • WHAT IF I'M BUSY AND MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO DEVOTE CONSISTENT/ENOUGH TIME TO THE COURSE?

    This is no problem at all - you can work through the modules completely at your own pace. You don't have to begin on the day the course starts either, you can start whenever you want and move at whatever speed you want - guzzle it all in one day, mooch through it slowly over several months or anywhere in between! As there are 5 modules and 5 fortnightly live Zoom calls, you might like to work through roughly one module a fortnight, but it's entirely up to you. All the content is yours to access forever (including recorded replays of the Zoom calls), so you're also able to revisit any of it at later dates if you want to :)

JOIN THE ROOST GANG!

Ready to make a success of your very own family photography business?

Get started now