Beautiful photography is everywhere now. Every photographer in your town can probably make a pretty good image, which means the real question isn’t whether you’re skilled. It’s why a client should choose you specifically. Learning how to stand out as a photographer in a crowded market is one of the most common questions we hear inside the Motherhood Anthology community, and in this best-of episode, four voices from the TMA archive each offer a piece of the answer.
You’ll hear from Jen Olmstead on the reframe that changes everything, Anna Claire Collier on building an entirely new niche from scratch, Annemie Tonkin on why relevance is a moving target, and Suzanne Brown on what actually creates value for a client beyond a pretty picture.
Stop Trying to Be the Best
Jen Olmstead of Tonic Sight Shop opened with a quote from Kevin Kelly that reframed how she thinks about competition: “Don’t be the best, be the only“. Her first reaction was relief. Her second was a fair question. What does that even mean, when it’s genuinely impossible to be the only photographer in your market, and even if you managed it for a while, someone else would eventually show up?
That’s exactly her point. Most photographers market themselves around being the best, the best in their niche, the best at a certain look, the best value. But best is a moving target that can always be beaten by someone who works harder, charges less, or simply arrives after you. Only can’t be beaten the same way, because only is built from the specific combination of your story, your perspective, and how you work, not from a comparison to everyone else.
Building a Niche That Doesn’t Exist Yet
Anna Claire Collier of Born & Raised Studios is known today for heirloom photography, but she didn’t start there because it was a smart business move. She started because she took some photos of her own son with a $75 continuous light kit from Amazon, opened a window for natural light, and edited the images for close to 38 hours with no formal training. There was no course to take and no term to search for. She was, in her own words, ground zero.
Her friends saw the photos and wanted their own. Then their friends did too. What started in her own living room followed her from Louisiana to Texas as her life moved, until she was traveling to shoot heirloom sessions full time, eventually working roughly 37 cities and close to 500 sessions in a single year. She didn’t build a niche by studying the market. She built it by noticing what people responded to and saying yes when they asked for more.
Relevance Shifts, and So Does Value
Annemie Tonkin has been in this industry long enough to see patterns most people miss while they’re inside them. Her take is that trends in every industry are always shifting, but photography is shifting faster now because of how quickly people share and absorb new ideas online. When digital photography and Instagram were still new, professional photography felt novel to potential clients. Now, fifteen years later, it isn’t new anymore, even though the photographer’s own clients tend to stay roughly the same age and stage of life year after year. Staying relevant means paying attention to that gap, rather than assuming what worked five years ago still lands the same way today.
Suzanne Brown picks up a related thread: it’s getting harder to convince people to invest in something they don’t see value in, and a pretty picture on its own isn’t always enough to clear that bar anymore. Her suggestion is to get specific about what value you actually offer beyond the image itself, whether that’s a joyful, connective experience or something built around your own interests and gifts. Figuring that out, and building your work around it, tends to attract exactly the right people to you.
This is where community becomes less of a nice-to-have and more of a genuine advantage. Working through questions like these in isolation is slow. Working through them alongside mentors and other photographers who are asking the same things out loud tends to move faster, and it’s a big part of why the Motherhood Anthology exists.
Listen and Learn More
Every voice in this episode, Jen, Anna Claire, Annemie, and Suzanne, is connected to TMA as a mentor, featured educator, or guest who has shaped how our community thinks about this work. If you’ve been listening and wondering what makes you the only, this episode is worth a listen.
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.
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.
