Kristina Svirskaite built her photography business from $150 sessions to an average of about $1,800 per client, all while keeping a full-time corporate career, raising three children, and working without a permanent studio. She joins Nikki Closser to explain how she made part-time photography fit the life she actually wants.

Kristina shares what happened when the referrals that had sustained her business slowed down, why she returned to SEO and Google, and how clear website copy and transparent pricing helped attract clients who were already prepared for her rates.

The conversation also gets practical about session fees and collections, selling albums and wall art in clients' homes, combining lifestyle and posed newborn work, creating relaxed family sessions, and building a proven pricing structure around limited time.

In this conversation:

• Growing from $150 sessions to an approximately $1,800 client average
• Balancing a corporate career, three children, and four to eight sessions per month
• Rebuilding demand through photography SEO, Google, and consistent marketing
• Showing pricing online and attracting clients who understand the investment
• Selling albums, wall art, and acrylics without maintaining a studio

Build your photography business with PortraitSystem.com. Use code PODCAST7 for your first month for $7.

Chapters

00:00 Part-time photography is a real business
01:13 From $150 sessions to a $1,800 client average
02:32 Natural family and newborn photography without a studio
05:34 Balancing a corporate job and four to eight monthly sessions
07:40 Starting a photography business after becoming a mom
10:45 Why referrals slowed and consistent marketing matters
13:54 Photography website SEO and Google leads
15:30 Showing pricing before clients inquire
21:44 Collections, products, and a $1,800 average sale
29:18 Instagram strategy for attracting paying clients
33:40 Creating relaxed family and newborn sessions
42:55 Building a proven pricing model around real life

Rejection, unpredictable income and self-doubt can be harder to manage than lighting or posing. Photographer and filmmaker Ajani Charles joins Nikki Closser to talk about the mental side of building a photography business—and the relationships, routines and practical business habits that help him keep going.

Ajani shares the story behind Project T-Dot, his long-running documentary project on Toronto's hip-hop culture, community and history. He explains why he stayed with it for 15 years before monetizing it, how commercial work supported him along the way, and what a personal project can offer beyond an immediate paycheck.

The conversation also gets practical about finding photography clients: being useful, solving a client's problem, defining an ideal client and following up. Alongside those business habits, Ajani discusses the role that meditation, therapy, journaling and a trusted support system have played in his own life.

In this conversation:

• Personal photography projects, long-term relationships and creative identity
• Rejection, financial uncertainty and clearer business goals
• Remembering your wins and finding support during difficult periods
• Marketing through usefulness, trust and client problem-solving
• Ideal client profiles, CRM follow-ups and consistent outreach

Build your photography business with PortraitSystem.com. Use code PODCAST7 for your first month for $7.

Chapters

00:00 The mental side of a photography business
01:34 Ajani's start in art and photography
04:10 Project T-Dot: photographing Toronto hip-hop
10:11 15 years to monetize a personal project
17:34 Rejection, money and creative-career uncertainty
22:15 Remembering your wins when criticism sticks
27:32 Meditation, therapy and journaling
33:58 Photography marketing: trust and usefulness
37:24 Ideal clients, CRM and follow-ups
39:46 Taking action after a no
45:27 Mentors and a creative support system
47:51 Four final questions: routines, gear and getting started

Drew Forsyth is an award-winning portrait photographer and director based in the North West of England, working with commercial and advertising clients across the UK and internationally. His work centres on people who've given everything to be extraordinary at what they do — from dancers with English National Ballet and musicians of the BBC Philharmonic and the Hallé Orchestras, to Nobel Prize-winning scientists, politicians, and performers at the height of their careers. His photography has been featured by BBC News, The Guardian, The Times, and Rolling Stone, and recognised by the Royal Society of the Arts. He's an AOP Accredited Photographer and Fellow of the RSA, and speaks internationally at events like Photo North, Pas de Deux Photo Conference, and the Royal Photographic Society.

In this episode, Drew and Nikki trace his path from a JCPenney-style family portrait studio to photographing world leaders, Nobel laureates, and major corporate campaigns — and he breaks down exactly how he prices that work today. They dig into setting boundaries on set (and how to say yes to more without losing your mind), why those early "conveyor belt" studio years became his real technical training, and why he believes his biggest competition isn't other photographers — it's being forgotten. Drew also walks through how he actually quotes corporate jobs (day rates, itemized breakdowns, and the cautionary tale of a client who blamed him for "cheap-looking" dresses), how personal passion projects like his "Breaking Ground" series and a helicopter shoot over Manhattan became his best marketing, and the "Helsinki Bus Station Theory" — his framework for why so many photographers give up on their style right before it becomes distinctive.

Topics covered:

• Setting boundaries with clients without losing bookings
• Why "conveyor belt" studio work builds indispensable technical skills
• The accidental path from individual sessions to corporate/organizational clients
• Pricing corporate shoots: day rates, itemized quotes, and scope questions
• Why past-client relationships and personal introductions beat cold outreach
• Marketing through consistent presence, not constant hard-selling
• Passion projects as a client-acquisition strategy
• The Helsinki Bus Station Theory: staying the course creatively

If you're building a photography business, want to grow your portrait photography income, or are curious about how to make money from photography online, this conversation is packed with actionable advice.

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