I am thrilled to welcome my friend Kirsten Lee to the blog today! She’s going to give us some amazing tips on how to grow your business by venturing into being a preschool photographer. Go for it, Kirsten!

Hey everyone! I’m Kirsten, of Kirsten Lee Photography, based in Atlanta, Georgia and I’m here to give you some pointers on how becoming a preschool photographer helped grow my business. Are you a child and family photographer? Looking for ways to grow your business? Well if that’s you, this blog post might be perfect for you! 

School photos are a rite of passage and something that all parents love seeing. About five years ago, I approached my first preschool in my community about being their preschool photographer. As a result, I’ve been able to grow my business and save myself some free weekends. Now, first let me tell you, I’m not the “backdrop” school photographer {nothing wrong with that!}. I’m a natural light photographer that works outside in the beautiful outdoors. Because of this, my pitch was slightly different than your typical school photographer.  Needless to say, my style of preschool photos was well received by parents. Here are things I do that have helped in that area:

• Using nature as my backdrop. 
• Using a simple wooden bench or chair with no props! 
• I include siblings for those families that have all their children at school. 
• Taking the time to get those genuine smiles {more on that later}. 
• Most importantly, I make it SUPER EASY AND AFFORDABLE for parents to order! 

Now that you’ve seen how I’ve gotten the parents to love my preschool photos, let me show you HOW I did it and how I work with each preschool to benefit them. In other words, please steal what works for me and make it work for you!

How to find schools in your community that need a preschool photographer

• Ask your clients! Where do their children attend preschool? 
• Learn about the church-based preschool programs in your community.  They are your ideal audience when it comes to school photos. 
• Network and reach out to the preschool directors to see if they are interested.

How to make picture day a success 

• I believe an open line of communication is key with the Preschool Director. For example, we plan together on the date, time, rain/make-up dates, and ordering afterward.  
• Picture day flyers and stickers for each student are provided by me.
• I ask for a teacher to assist me on Picture Day. Sometimes preschoolers don’t know me and become shy towards me.  I want them to be comfortable with me and having a familiar adult with them can help get those genuine smiles. 
• I come READY to be a GOOFBALL!! 
• Over the years, I’ve interacted with the same preschoolers and as a result, they remember my silly tricks. I have a talking cookie monster and you better believe they ask where he is!! He is a super popular tool to get my great smiles! 
• Provide positive rewards. I always bring stickers and candy.  I, of course, ask the teachers permission but a little positive reinforcement can go a long way to help get a child to sit and take a photo. 

Business: How can you increase your sales as a preschool photographer? 

Now, we as photographers know we can capture preschoolers and their great smiles no problem! But how can we make this a great addition to our business? There are two parts to this: First, we need to work with the preschool and how it can benefit them. Secondly, we also need parents to place print orders so we can profit as well.  

The relationship between the preschool and the preschool photographer:

• It is NO COST to the preschool to hire me as their school photographer. 
• All the information, flyers, and letters home for the parents are provided by me.
• I offer FREE headshots to all staff at the preschool on picture day and foster goodwill as a result. 
• I offer a 5% kickback to the school in form of a donation for total sales.
• All orders are completed online, so the director doesn’t have to collect orders or deal with the money. 
• I offer individual, siblings, class, and graduation photos for the school. 

How to bring in profitable SALES from preschool picture day:

• I don’t print proofs ahead of time! 
• Each preschooler gets 3-5 individual images, which includes 1 black & white image to view online. 
• All orders are done through Shootproof  
• Easy online ordering for parents to navigate 
• No paper and pencil orders 
• Payment is due when they place the order! 
• Everything is AL LA CARTE!! 
• Yep, it is just a $25 order minimum and they can choose which size prints they want.  
• I offer digital images for a set price and it is one of my most popular options! 
• I provide a discount if they spend a certain amount of money. 

Currently, I work with three church-based preschools in my community. I’m their preschool photographer and photograph them in both fall and spring for picture day. Consequently, with over 150 preschoolers, I bring in a profit equivalent to 10 full family sessions.  This is just 8 hours just twice a year of shooting time. If you ask me, it’s well worth it. 

Best part about being their school photographer? I LOVE IT!! I truly find joy in bringing smiles to these little client’s faces, and my business is growing as a result.  Similarly, I’ve come to see these little clients and their families again as they have booked me for family sessions. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my blog post today and it’s encouraged you to ADD “school photographer” to your business.  It is a great way to add income to your business, make yourself and your business known in your community, and bring joy into your life with those cute little smiles!! 

XOXO – Kirsten 

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Thank you so much, Kirsten! Your insight is invaluable to our community and I can’t wait to see what our Sparkles do with your ideas on preschool photography!

Are you ready to take Kirsten’s ideas and RUN with them? Ready, set… GO! But don’t forget to learn how to make your preschool photography offering SHINE online so you can get more bookings! Check out my FREE “30 social media posts for your photography business” to get on your way to making that algorithm work for YOU!

Hello! I’m Kirsten,  a lifestyle photographer specializing in children, family, and seniors in Atlanta, Ga.  I’m an on-location photographer, where I love to come to your home or a beautiful outdoor location in the Atlanta area.

I completed my Studio Art and Psychology degrees from Saint Louis University. I felt called to be a Special Education teacher and completed a Masters Degree in Special Education at Georgia State University.  After 8 years of teaching, I felt called to start my own photography business and put my art degree to use!