The Photography Mentor

The Photography Mentor Sustainable growth.

Helping photographers & small business owners grow online. ✨
📸 13+ years full-time photographer
🎥 Content Studio Owner & Business Coach
🚀 Teaching content, Meta Ads & sold-out mini sessions
🤍 Real strategies.

11/09/2026

It was one of my regular families who’ve been coming for 6 years. Family photos done, everything running perfectly.

Then Santa came in.

The girls sat down. Santa walked over to say hello…

And their 4-year-old PROJECTILE VOMITED.

Straight. At. Santa. 💀🎅🏼

By some Christmas miracle it missed him, missed the set and landed on the floor basically in front of my face.

And then… IT KEPT COMING.

She’d eaten an entire punnet of blueberries in the car, so not only was it vomit…

It was BLUEBERRY vomit. 😭

The colour. The smell. The sheer volume. 💀😂

Poor Mum eventually lifted the bottom of her dress to catch the rest because at that point we were no longer following any parenting handbook. We were simply surviving.

They headed outside. Session OVER.

Thankfully we’d already got some gorgeous photos.

Then I looked at the time.

MY NEXT FAMILY WAS DUE IN 5 MINUTES.

Suddenly I wasn’t a photographer anymore.

I was a crime scene cleaner. 😂

Doors open. Disinfectant everywhere. Glen 20 being sprayed like my life depended on it. Mop moving at a speed previously unseen by mankind.

Meanwhile Santa is standing there completely untouched like the luckiest man alive. 🎅🏼

The next family waited a few extra minutes, I slowly made the time back up and somehow the rest of the day ran normally.

And THAT is why systems matter.

When you’re photographing hundreds of minis back-to-back, you need a workflow that can handle things going completely off the rails.

Even an unexpected blueberry exorcism. 💀😂

I also learnt one VERY important business lesson that day:

SANTA NEEDS A BACKUP SUIT.

Another 30cm and Christmas minis would’ve had a very different ending. 😂

This is exactly why I created The Mini Session System, the exact system I use to sell and run hundreds of profitable minis every year, even when absolute chaos hits.

Comment MINI SESSION and I’ll send you the details 👇

10/09/2026

Feel free to comment any other advice or experience you have with this! So frustrating 😭

09/09/2026

If you’re a photographer who thinks you’ve “tried Meta Ads” because you paid $20 to boost a post once…

We need to talk. 😅

Boosting a post and running a properly structured Meta Ads campaign are two VERY different things.

One is essentially asking Meta for more eyeballs.

The other is telling Meta: go find me the people most likely to actually BOOK.

Different objective. Different strategy. Different optimisation. Different result.

So if you boosted a post, got a bunch of likes and zero bookings, please don’t walk away thinking “Meta Ads don’t work for me.”

You probably haven’t actually tested them properly yet.

Comment META and I’ll send you my free guide breaking down 5 reasons your Meta Ads aren’t working 👇

09/09/2026

If your entire marketing strategy is posting on Instagram and hoping the right people see it… you’re leaving your bookings up to chance.

Meta Ads let you put your work in front of new people who are actually looking for what you offer…every single day.

You don’t need to post more. You don’t need to discount your sessions. And you definitely don’t need to immediately assume “the economy is bad” when bookings slow down.

You need a reliable way to get your business in front of more potential clients.

I’ve used Meta Ads to consistently book my photography calendar, and once you understand how to run them properly, they can completely change how you market your business.

Comment META and I’ll send you my free guide: 5 Reasons Your Meta Ads Aren’t Working 👇📈

09/09/2026

Most families aren’t going to naturally know what to do in front of a camera and telling them to “just act natural” doesn’t exactly help 😂

That’s our job as photographers.

Instead of asking everyone to look at me and smile, I give them something to DO walk, skip, squeeze, whisper, race, cuddle, move.

Because the prompt isn’t really about the action. It’s about creating a reaction.

That’s how you get the laughter, movement and connection that makes a photo feel candid without standing there hoping a moment magically happens.

And if you’re ever behind your camera thinking “okay… what do I say next?” I made something for you.

Comment PROMPTS and I’ll send you my FREE Family Photography Prompt Cheat Sheet with the prompts I actually use during my sessions 👇📸

09/09/2026

The photo looks candid… but I actually created the moment 👀

The prompt was ridiculously simple:

“Skip towards me holding hands.”

That’s it 😂

Instead of asking everyone to look at me, smile or “act natural”, I give families something to DO.

The skipping creates movement. Holding hands keeps everyone connected. And because they’re concentrating on the action instead of the camera, you get the REAL smiles, laughter and little in-between moments.

Good family photography isn’t about memorising 100 poses — it’s knowing what to say to create the reaction you want.

Want more of the exact prompts I use in my family sessions?

Comment PROMPTS and I’ll send you my FREE Family Photography Prompt Cheat Sheet 👇

08/09/2026

After selling 300+ Christmas minis year after year, this is what I’m teaching hundreds of photographers:

You need to create demand before you open your calendar.

You need an offer that feels like a no-brainer to the right families.

You need content that makes people think, “I NEED to book this.”

You need to know how to use urgency without constantly posting “only 3 spots left 🤍”

And you need a marketing plan that doesn’t rely on crossing your fingers and hoping Instagram shows your post to enough people.

That’s exactly what I teach inside my Mini Session System — the strategy I use to plan, price, market and sell my own minis year after year.

Because the goal isn’t just to create beautiful sessions.

It’s to create beautiful sessions that BOOK.

Comment MINI SESSION and I’ll send you the details 👇

07/09/2026

Because here’s what I’ve learned after selling 300+ Christmas minis year after year:

The work to sell your minis starts before you open bookings.

It’s not about having the fanciest set.
It’s not about being the cheapest photographer.
And it’s definitely not about posting your booking link 47 times and hoping Instagram saves you 😂

You need to know how to create demand before launch, price your sessions properly, market them to the right people and give people a reason to book now instead of “thinking about it.”

That’s exactly what I teach inside The Mini Session System™.

I’m giving you the actual system I use in my own photography business to sell hundreds of minis — including my marketing strategy, pricing, emails, client experience, contracts, lighting/setup and more.

So this Christmas, instead of chasing bookings…

build the demand first.

Comment MINI SESSION and I’ll send you the system 🎄📸

07/09/2026

Maybe you bought it because a little part of you thought… I’d love to actually learn photography.

Then you switched it to Manual Mode, saw ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focus modes and approximately 700 other buttons 😂 and went straight back to Auto.

The problem isn’t that you’re “not good at photography.”

Nobody has actually shown you what you need to know in a way that makes sense.

You don’t need months of theory before you can take beautiful family photos. You need to understand:

📸 what settings to use — and WHY
☀️ how to find beautiful light
🤍 how to pose and prompt a real family
📷 what to actually do during a session
💻 how to edit without spending hours fixing every image

That’s exactly why I created The Family Photography System.

After 14+ years photographing families professionally, I’ve stripped away all the complicated stuff and teach you the actual process I use — including taking you behind the scenes of a real family session so you can watch me do it.

Because that camera you bought?

It could be the beginning of something much bigger than you thought.

Comment FAMILY SYSTEM and I’ll send you the details 🤍

07/09/2026

Maybe you bought the camera thinking this could become something… but now you’re overwhelmed by Manual Mode, you don’t know what settings to use, posing families feels awkward and editing takes you HOURS.

If I had one hour with you, I wouldn’t overwhelm you with photography jargon or teach you 100 things you don’t actually need.

I’d show you how to:

📸 Understand Manual Mode and choose your settings without guessing
☀️ Find beautiful light and know where to put your families
🤍 Prompt and pose families so they look natural instead of stiff
🎥 Watch exactly how I photograph a REAL family session from start to finish
💻 Cull and edit efficiently instead of spending your entire night at the computer
✨ Create consistent, professional-looking images you can actually feel proud of

Because you don’t need to know everything before you can start.

You need someone to show you the actual process.

After 14+ years photographing families professionally, I took the things I actually use every single session and put them into The Family Photography System.

No fluff. No assuming you already know what you’re doing. Just me showing you exactly how I do it, from camera settings to the finished gallery.

And it’s just $47.

Comment FAMILY SYSTEM and I’ll send you the details 🤍

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7/12 Victoria Street
Hall, ACT
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+61421354268

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