The Pet Photographers' Journal

A disappointing ordering appointment usually looks like one of a few things. They don’t show up. They turn up and say, my gosh, this is so expensive, or I thought this included all the digitals. Or you relied on them to book it in, and they ghosted you. It feels like it fell apart on the day. It didn’t. Something was broken earlier in the process, before the session ever happened.
In this episode I’m breaking down why the sale process shouldn’t start at the ordering appointment, what my own client journey looks like so there are no surprises, and a real planning call from this week where I knew exactly what formats I’d be shooting for before the session. Plus the consultation questions that plant the seed, the tells that show you who values artwork, and how I use AI to create the content that does this educating, without letting it write everything for me.
The episode covers:
Where the sale actually starts (and what your consultation, questionnaire, and nurture sequence are doing in the background)
What I ask on a planning call that shapes the entire shoot before I pick up my camera
How to make sure clients arrive at the ordering appointment already thinking about their wall, not being introduced to the idea for the first time
Where AI fits into building the content that does this education work for you, week after week, without you writing every caption from scratch

One thing to try this week: pull up your consultation questions and check whether any of them get the client imagining the finished photo in their home, not just what they want photographed.
Links and Resources Mentioned:
Free live Claude workshop
On Thursday 30 July (Wednesday 29 July in the US) I’m running a free live workshop where we build a slim context file so Claude knows your business, your pricing and your offers, then your own Brand Voice DNA document, so your content sounds more like you and can educate clients about the artwork long before they book. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST, replay available.
Register here: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop
🎓 The Pet Photography Marketing System Workshop, next cohort starts 13 August
My paid workshop for pet photographers who want a marketing system that brings in consistent bookings, not random ones.
Details and registration: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/the-pet-photography-marketing-system-workshop
💬 Join the Pet Photographers’ Collective (free community)
A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources. It’s also where you’ll hear about the next free training first.
Join here: https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1
🐾 Struggling with disappointing ordering appointments?
Ghosting, low sales, clients surprised by pricing. This is something I work on closely with my Mastermind clients, from the client journey to the consultation to the ordering appointment itself.
Learn more: https://www.inajphotography.com.au/mastermind
📲 Connect with me
Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo
Email: ina@inajphotography.com
Free Consistent Bookings Audit: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit
Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Back when I charged around $250 a session, my marketing sounded like every other pet photographer's. Pet photography pricing works differently now, and generic AI content can do the same damage that generic marketing always did: it makes you impossible to tell apart from anyone else.
In this episode I'm breaking down why generic content, including lazy AI-generated content, makes you blend in with the big ocean of photographers, and why that's the real reason you can't raise your prices, not your market, not your niche. I get into what AI slop actually looks like, the anchor line I keep coming back to (using AI isn't the problem, using it lazily is), and how consistent branding and positioning since 2023, not AI, is what actually lets you charge for the artwork instead of the files.
In this episode
Why generic content leaves price as the only thing left to compare you on
The mindset issue behind "nobody in my market will pay more"
What AI slop actually looks like: emojis, short sentences, "this is not X, it's Y," and em dashes everywhere
Using AI isn't the problem. Using it lazily is.
How I turn 15 to 20 minutes of voice notes into content with a human-first process, not a copy-paste prompt
Why consistent branding and positioning, not AI, is what let one of my mastermind clients land a $9,000 sale from a single client
Why I use AI in my own business, and where my line is
One thing to try this week

One thing to try this week: read your last five captions or emails back and ask honestly, could any pet photographer have written this? If yes, that's the gap.
Links and Resources Mentioned
Register for the free live Claude workshop, Thursday 30 July: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

Free Claude workshop
On Thursday 30 July I'm running a free live workshop. We build a slim context file so AI actually knows your real business, then your own Brand Voice DNA, so AI finally writes like you instead of like everyone else. Live on Zoom, 10am AEST (Wednesday 29 July, 8pm ET / 5pm PT), replay up for 72 hours.
Register here: inajphotography.com.au/claude-workshop

💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free community)
A free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm. Inside, I share practical marketing tips, business lessons and mindset shifts, and free resources.
Join here: skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125

📲 Connect with me
Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo
Email: ina@inajphotography.com
Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit
Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers: inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Not long ago, Stacey Sherman's pet photography business still felt like a hobby. It wasn't the real, paying business she wanted, and it frustrated her. A self-described procrastinator who struggled hugely with confidence. Today she's opening her second studio.
In this episode, Ina sits down with Stacey Sherman of BarkHop Studio, a founding member of the Consistent Bookings Mastermind, for an honest client story. Stacey shares what actually shifted for her: how she found the confidence to back herself and negotiate, how she started taking consistent action instead of putting things off, and how she built marketing she can turn on and off, including the community events that now bring her whole town out. If you know the marketing you should be doing to grow your pet photography business but keep putting it off, this one's for you.
Key takeaways
You don't need more information, you need to see it made real. As a visual learner, what unlocked Stacey was seeing Ina's actual assets, not another abstract course.
Your community events are marketing. Strut Your Mutt drew 400 people, 200 dogs and 30-plus vendors, and built partnerships that market her for free.
A campaign doesn't have to be a big scary thing. Build it once, keep the assets, tweak and repeat.
Confidence is the real product. From imposter syndrome to a second studio, a VA and 19 booked sessions. Her two words: motivation and confidence.
Turn the marketing tap on and off. A repeatable system lets you switch it on for bookings and pause it when life needs you.

One thing to try this week
Look at the events you're already doing and write down which ones are actually marketing. Get next quarter's one repeatable event onto your calendar now, before you're scrambling to pull it together.
About Stacey
Stacey Sherman is the photographer behind BarkHop Studio, a studio pet photography business she has built over two and a half years. A former family photographer, she found her way to pet work through fostering and rescue, with a second studio on the way. She is a founding member of Ina's Consistent Bookings Mastermind.
Connect with Stacey
Website: http://barkhopstudio.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/barkhopstudio
Work with me in the Mastermind
Stacey's story is exactly what the Mastermind is built for. The Consistent Bookings Mastermind is open for enrolment: a group coaching container focused on implementation support to help you build your repeatable marketing system, with full support across pricing, sales and mindset. inajphotography.com.au/mastermind
Not ready yet? Start with the Free Consistent Bookings Audit: inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit
💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective (free)
Join the free community on Skool
✨ Want to Be Coached Live? (Off the Record)
Drop a voice note or DM on Instagram (@inaj.thepetphotoceo), first name or anonymous.
📲 Connect with Ina
Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo · Email: ina@inajphotography.com · Mentoring & Coaching

If you've ever felt like you're posting and posting and still staring at an empty calendar, this one's for you.
In this episode I'm sharing a small change to the podcast (more solo episodes, and moving to fortnightly), and why that decision is actually the exact lesson I want to talk about: doing more isn't what gets you booked. Doing the right things, on purpose, is.
I break down the difference between passive marketing (your social media, your blog, your SEO) and active marketing (campaigns that actually create a reason to book), and I walk you through a real campaign I'm running in my own studio right now, Dogs of the Season.
I'm also launching a new segment called Off the Record. If there's something you're stuck on, send me an anonymous voice note and I'll coach you through it on air.
In this episode:
Why posting more often isn't the same as being booked
Passive vs active marketing, and why you need both
The Dogs of the Season campaign, start to finish
How a 12-month marketing calendar lets you plan once and repeat
Why marketing now is what fills your spring and autumn seasons
One active campaign to plan this week

Work with me in the mastermind
The mastermind is currently open for enrolment. It's a group coaching container focusing on implementation support to help you build your repeatable marketing system along with comprehensive support of your business from pricing, sales, and mindset.
Click here for more info: The Consistent Bookings Mastermind
📲 Connect with Ina
Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo
Drop me a voice note or DM on instagram for the "Off the Record Segment".
Email: ina@inajphotography.com
Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit
Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographers

Have you ever scrolled past a shelter dog and thought "that photo doesn't do them justice"? Adam Goldberg had the same thought, and he did something about it.
Adam is the founder of AGold Photos and the creator of Second Shot, a mission-driven adoption photography programme placing professional photographers inside shelters to give animals a real chance at being seen. What started as weekend volunteering has grown into a network spanning five shelters across the US, with a goal of reaching 50 in the next three years.
In this episode, Adam shares the full story of how Second Shot came to life, how the model actually works, and what he's looking for in photographers who want to get involved.
What We Cover
How Adam's photography career started inside a shelter and why he never really left
The transition from shoot-and-burn events to IPS studio and what he learned the hard way
Why he walked away from private clients to focus solely on shelter photography
What a Second Shot session looks like from start to finish, including how he photographs up to 50 animals a week
The three-person system he uses to keep sessions efficient and stress-free for the animals
How brand sponsorships fund the whole programme so shelters get the work for free
What he looks for in associate photographers and what the pilot programme involves
The tools and workflow that make the volume manageable (including AI editing)
Where Second Shot is headed and how you can apply to be part of it

About Adam Goldberg
Adam Goldberg is a professional pet photographer and the founder of AGold Photos, based in Tampa, Florida. He is also the creator of Second Shot, a programme that partners with animal shelters and brands to fund and produce professional photo sessions for adoptable animals. Adam has been photographing shelter animals for 10 years and has raised over $250,000 for animal charities through his work.
Links and Resources Mentioned
Apply to be a Second Shot associate photographer: secondshotpet.com
Adam on Instagram: @agoldphoto
Adam's email: adam@secondshotpet.com
Evoto AI editing software: Use Discount Code ADAM15 for 15% off on annual subscription plans and 20% off on 200 credits pay-as-you-go. Sign up using this link https://link.evoto.ai/goldberg

💬 Join the Pet Photographers' Collective
If you want to sign up for the workshop, join the Pet Photographers' Collective, it's a free community for pet photographers who want to build a profitable, sustainable business with less overwhelm.
Inside, Ina shares:
✨ Practical marketing tips
✨ Business lessons and mindset shifts
✨ Free resources to help you grow
Connect with other photographers who get it and start creating a business that truly supports your life, not consumes it.
Join here → https://www.skool.com/pet-photographers-collective-3125/about?ref=9c7b56d2963f48a791297a43a29109e1
✨ Want to Be Coached Live?
Interested in being featured on a future coaching episode? Apply here: https://forms.gle/oocMwawVB3de6aM29
📲 Connect with Ina
Instagram: @inaj.thepetphotoceo
Email: ina@inajphotography.com
Free Consistent Bookings Audit - find your gap in getting consistent bookings: https://www.inajphotography.com/consistent-booking-audit
Mentoring & Coaching for Pet Photographers — Learn More: https://www.inajphotography.com/for-photographer