Heirloom portrait photography is having a moment, and few people have done more to shape what it looks like than Anna Claire of Born and Raised Studios. In Episode 164 of The Motherhood Anthology Podcast, TMA Community Manager Ali sits down with Anna Claire — a former nurse turned heirloom photographer, educator, and entrepreneur — to talk about how she built a thriving business from scratch, what she wishes she had done differently, and why she believes now is one of the best times to start offering physical products to your clients.
Whether you’re brand new to heirloom photography or you’ve been shooting families for years and are ready to take the next step, this conversation is full of the kind of hard-won wisdom that only comes from doing the work.
What It Really Takes to Build an Heirloom Photography Business
Anna Claire’s story doesn’t begin with a business plan. It begins with a $75 continuous light kit from Amazon, an open window in her house, and a determination to create the composite portraits she wanted for her own children — portraits that, as she put it, nobody else seemed to be offering anymore. She taught herself everything, spending nearly 40 hours editing a single image, and shared the results with friends who immediately wanted the same thing for their families. From there, word spread organically, and what started as a side project during maternity leave grew into a business that eventually took her across 37 cities in a single year, completing close to 500 sessions.
But Anna Claire is candid about the cost of that kind of growth. “From the outside it looked like I had this sprawling heirloom business of volume,” she says in the episode, “and it just happened quickly… it was not sustainable and I was not building structure.” The volume was real. The success was real. And so was the burnout. She was traveling alone to every session, raising young children, and saying yes to everything — which meant, as she puts it, saying no to the parts of her life and business that actually mattered most.
That tension between visible success and behind-the-scenes sustainability is something a lot of photographers will recognize. It’s easy to look at someone’s feed and assume they have it all figured out. What a conversation like this one reveals is that the path forward almost always requires slowing down, making hard choices, and building with intention rather than just momentum.
Building a System That Other Photographers Could Use
The turning point for Anna Claire came when her own clients began approaching her — not just as subjects who wanted their children photographed, but as women who saw themselves in her story and wondered if they could do it too. One client in particular kept reaching out until Anna Claire finally said yes to mentoring her. Around the same time, a friend in the photography community encouraged her to take what she knew and share it more widely. Add in a pregnancy that made traveling for sessions impossible, and the circumstances aligned to push her into education.
She began teaching her assistant Allison the full heirloom method during her pregnancy, watching closely to see whether what she did could actually be replicated. It could. Allison’s work moved clients to tears. That was the proof Anna Claire needed.
Today, the Heirloom Academy is the formalized version of everything she has learned. It’s structured as an ecosystem: a foundational course called the Heirloom Method, individual modules photographers can purchase based on where they are in their journey, in-person workshops for hands-on refinement, and consulting with Anna Claire and her team for those ready to go deeper. One of her consulting partners went from a shoot-and-burn model at $300 for five digital images to an average sale of $2,500 — not by changing her client base, but by learning how to present and sell physical products with confidence.
The through-line in everything Anna Claire teaches is that education alone isn’t enough. “You can take education all day long,” she says, “and… if you don’t have some support and someone holding you accountable and backup… you need that.” That belief in community and accountability is exactly why her work resonates with TMA members, and why she was TMA’s Featured Educator for February.
Why Products Matter More Than Ever
One of the most practical portions of the conversation centers on a question many photographers quietly wrestle with: how do you start offering physical products when it feels so overwhelming? Anna Claire’s answer is direct. Find one person, one method, and one support system, and commit. She’s not prescriptive about where photographers find that support — she just believes firmly that trying to figure it out alone makes the process far harder than it needs to be.
She also offers something worth sitting with: the idea that the cultural climate right now is actually primed for heirloom work. “People are wanting something to hold, wanting something tangible,” she says. “They’re wanting to slow down… and I think now is the best time ever” to offer physical products. There’s a growing appetite among families for images that live on walls and in frames, not just on phones — and photographers who can meet that desire with confidence and a clear system are in a genuinely strong position.
Speaking of systems, Anna Claire also shared two significant announcements in this episode. The first is the Born and Raised Frame Shop, which opened in September and is now accepting applications from TMA members on a limited basis. The frame shop offers a curated product line — including lockets, which Anna Claire enthusiastically cautions photographers not to attempt on their own — shipped with the attention to detail she brings to every part of her work. The second is a fully built heirloom operating software she has developed over the past two years, designed to serve as a complete business-in-a-box for photographers learning the method. Both are exciting next chapters for what she’s building.
Listen and Learn More
If you’re thinking about adding heirloom work to your business, or you’re already shooting heirlooms and wondering how to make it more sustainable, this episode is a great place to start. You can hear the full conversation in Episode 164 of The Motherhood Anthology podcast, available wherever you listen.
Find Anna Claire and learn more about the The Heirloom Academy at bornandraisedstudio.com/heirloom-education or on Instagram at @bornandraisedstudio.
Ready to build a business that reflects your own creative voice? The Motherhood Anthology membership gives you access to expert mentors, live coaching, monthly marketing suites, and a private community of photographers who are invested in your success. Learn more and join at themotherhoodanthology.com.
Episode Sponsor: Willow Canvas
This episode of The Motherhood Anthology Podcast is brought to you by Willow Canvas. Speaking of creating work that is distinctly yours, every Willow Canvas is a one-of-a-kind, hand-painted backdrop created by artist Sara Bywaters-Baldwin. No two are alike, and they bring something truly unique to every studio session. If you want your work to stand out in a way that no mass-produced backdrop ever could, check out Willow Canvas.
The Motherhood Anthology is a community and educational resource for photographers who want a profitable and sustainable business they love. With 15+ expert mentors and 7+ years of proven content, TMA helps portrait photographers build confident, thriving businesses through monthly education, mentorship, and a supportive community of 700+ members.
