119: Heirloom Portraiture with Mallory Shelton

Sabrina: On today’s episode of the shoot it straight podcast. I’m interviewing my friend, Mallory Shelton. Mallory is a family lifestyle and newborn photographer in the DFW, Texas area near me. And a few years ago, she added a unique offering to her existing business to help add revenue annually and to support her existing clients in the off season.

And we’re diving into that specific offer today, what it looks like, how she got the idea, how she’s fine tuned this offer. And she’s also giving us specific numbers for what it has done to her business and overall revenue. And you guys, it’s really, really inspiring. So if you’re a family photographer or a newborn photographer, and you’re wondering how you can spread out your income throughout the year and continue to serve your clients.

So you’re not just seeing them for the annual family mini session. This episode is a great listen for you. So let’s dive in. Welcome to the shoot it straight podcast. I’m your host, Sabrina Gephardt. Here I will share an honest take on what it’s like to be a female creative entrepreneur while balancing business, motherhood, and family.

And life myself, along with my guests, we’ll get vulnerable through honest conversations and relatable stories because we’re willing to go there. If you’re trying to find balance in this exciting place you’re in yet willing to talk about the hard stuff to the shoot it straight podcast is here to share practical and tangible takeaways to help you.

Shoot it straight.

Welcome back to the shoot it straight podcast. My friends today is week number five in the series where I am featuring the expertise of brand new educators. And just like I have said every other week, I’m really excited about this chat. It’s just so fun to get to hear from all of these new educators that are friends of mine and they all have such unique perspectives and expertise.

And this has just been a really fun way to end the year with the giving all of these women a chance. To kind of grow their platform. So today I am joined by my friend, Mallory Shelton. Mallory is local to me, so I actually get to see her from time to time. Although shamefully, not nearly enough for how close we live.

I mean, I feel like we should see each other way more than we do. Cause we’re really not that far apart, but Mallory, do you remember how we met?

Mallory: I think it was when I first mentored with you. Okay. Like in 2017, 2016. Gosh. Okay. Yeah.

Sabrina: Okay. Time flies. And it’s funny. I, we’ve been friends and we’ve worked together so many times.

I have totally lost track of like the order of what things have happened. So okay. That, that makes sense though. I love, uh, you are one of the people that’s in our like daily Voxer group, which is awesome. Like so filling for my soul to have like our little business bestie chat group. So that’s really fun.

But before we dive in, before I share with the audience, what we’re talking about today, which is really going to be a fun topic. My friend, will you introduce yourself?

Mallory: I’m Mallory Shelton. I am based out of Aledo, Texas, which is right outside of Fort worth. I’m a mom to three little boys. I have been a lifestyle newborn and family photographer and heirloom portraits as well for about 11 years.

And then I went full time with that about three years ago and just love working with my little families.

Sabrina: Yeah. Your work is so timeless. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Okay. Today we are talking about adding an additional stream of income of revenue to your family photography business by adding heirloom portraits.

This has made a really big impact on your business and so I’m really excited to get into that today. The listeners know that generally I like to start with like a foundational basic question so that make sure that we’re all on the same page. So in case somebody’s never heard of this, what are heirloom portraits?

Mallory: Yes. So traditionally, heirloom portraits are the black and white portraits you see of a child that showcase kind of their chest and face with a slight heirloom vignette around the edge. It usually captures their personality, sweet little smiles, um, all their little smirks. Most people have seen these in like their grandparents or parents day and age, like back, probably hanging in their grandparents homes, maybe of their parents.

But they’ve really made a comeback, I feel like, in the past. Five years more so in the south probably than certain parts of the country, but Yeah, they’re, um, a really sweet portrait of your child.

Sabrina: Yeah, they, they do have that really, like, old, tiny vibe without being weird. Yes. Um, but you’re right. They are something that’s, that is making a comeback, which has been really cool to see.

I would love to know a little bit of the backstory here. When did you add heirlooms to your business and kind of how did that come about?

Mallory: Yeah, so I back in 2018 had a client reach out to me about these portraits and at the time I did not offer them. I’ve always admired them. I have a picture of Or my parents have a picture of my dad hanging in their home from when he was young.

That’s a simple black and white portrait. So I began offering them actually in 2020. I started testing out the waters in 2019 after like doing my research and going back to my client that had originally reached out to me. There are very few people in the Dallas Fort Worth area that offered them, so I thought it was something that I really liked and could offer that went along with my family and newborn portraits, and this was a way for me to continue serving my clients.

So really in December of 2020, I began offering these to clients that I already had that were interested and launched my formally launched them in 2021. So yeah, that’s kind of when it started. It really all started from a client reaching out to me and then over a couple of years doing my research and testing them out and learning.

More about them. I was able to add them in 2020 officially or 2021.

Sabrina: I love that. I love that. I guess I didn’t realize that part of the story that a client. actually kind of sparked that idea for you. First of all, I love that a client like straight up asked, you know, like, can you do this for us? That’s amazing because a lot of clients wouldn’t ask, they would see that you don’t do it and they just wouldn’t even mention it.

So I love that. And then I also love how you took that idea and kind of sat with it. You didn’t immediately veto it and say you weren’t going to do it because You know, that wasn’t something you currently offered. I love that. So she asked you about it and then you immediately were like, Oh yeah, that does seem interesting.

And so then you started the research.

Mallory: Yeah. So I originally, I sent her somebody else’s. Instagram handle that I found that I thought served the Dallas Fort Worth area, um, cause I used to be in Dallas. And so I think she may have recently had a third child and was willing to like wait and see if I ever wanted to offer them.

She wasn’t like jumping on it immediately. And so once I kind of did my research and found out there really weren’t many people here in Dallas, I thought it was a great way to start serving clients. Yeah, so it really all stemmed from her sending me an email with pictures to see if it was something that I would do or offered.

And looking back on it, it’s It’s been amazing because like I said, I’ve, we have a picture of my dad. One is full length. One is the more timeless like heirloom portrait, but I mean, these go back for years and it’s a such a piece of art that parents can hold onto and pass down. That I really love.

Sabrina: Yeah. I love that so much.

And it really does. When I think about your body of family and newborn work, like it fits right in with the style. What a cool way to expand on your offerings, but staying within your niche and your specialty. So I’m curious, since you added heirloom portraits to your business three years ago, almost four years ago now, would you be willing to share some like real data here?

Do you have like an average revenue or what it’s. What’s happening every year in your business? I would just love to know that data.

Mallory: Yeah, absolutely. So when I began offering them, I say the beginning of 2021 officially, I have averaged about 20, 000. Added to my revenue each year. So over, I would say the past four years, cumulatively, it’s been about 80, 000, which is huge.

And my pricing has changed. I’ve tried to figure out my sweet spot. I’ve tried to figure out what I want to offer specifically. So it’s the amount. Of heirlooms I’ve done each year has changed just because my pricing has changed. I love being able to serve my clients this way. And it’s been a huge revenue increase for me that I can fit in during my slow seasons, you know, during the times when there’s not so much going on as far as like babies or families.

So it’s really been a huge addition to my. Revenue.

Sabrina: I mean, that is a huge addition. $20,000. And I know these sessions aren’t long. It’s not like adding a bunch of family sessions to your calendar. They’re short and sweet and you do them, correct me if I’m wrong, you do them as like events or days where there’s several stacked together, right?

Mallory: Yeah. So I do them. Usually maybe twice a quarter, once a quarter, depending on the, um, need for them and depending on the time of year. Um, I’ve also traveled for them, but yes, I do them. I stack usually about six, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the time of year again, but it’s, it’s an event because I want to showcase the products that I offer with them.

And I want to be serving my clients and focus on those. portraits that day and not have like a bunch of other things in between.

Sabrina: Yeah, I love that. Gosh, that’s, that’s incredible. And I love the, the fact that it’s like an off season offering, right? That it’s not something that’s also getting crammed into fall, like, Santa or Christmas trees or anything like that is something that you can do the rest of the year.

So that’s really fantastic. And it’s so impressive and so inspiring that one little offer that doesn’t take a ton of your time has made such a big impact on your business. I know that the listeners hearing this love the thought of having another way to serve their, their clients outside of just those family photos.

When I see heirloom portraits, one of the big things I noticed is that the editing is different. It’s different than a traditional family photo or even a children’s portrait, right? The editing is one of the things that’s really unique about heirloom photos. Would you say that that was easy for you to figure out or was there a learning curve?

Like how did that go for you?

Mallory: Yeah, there was definitely a learning curve. Um, it was a lot of trial and error to kind of figure out my style. There was at the time when I started it, there was no formal courses that I could find. I mean, there was YouTube videos probably. I really wanted to make sure my style reflected and representative of like my other portraits.

So it was very much natural light, no artificial light. Um, so really trying to take those early clients and figure out my style from them, creating my own look, my own preset. It took a lot of time, which is why, I mean, my first session that I officially did was in for my client was in 2019, but I didn’t officially launch them until 2021.

So I was like figuring out my style through that. And since I only news use natural light and no artificial light, I shoot them in a studio in a natural light studio. So I’m not somebody that is. Going to often have a pop up somewhere just because I want to make sure I have the right type of natural light.

So I don’t have to use artificial light and stay consistent with my style.

Sabrina: Speaking of that, knowing that you do use a natural light studio and that you, you know, veer away from those pop ups and the settings where you’re not sure what the lighting situation is going to be. Do you have, like, a list of supplies that you need for these?

Like, are you bringing a backdrop with you? Are you relying on a place that has a backdrop? Have you had to purchase anything special for this?

Mallory: Yes, so I do have a list of supplies that I keep with me, um, so to speak. I do try to find a studio that has a simple white wall, but when I have done pop ups, because I have, I have traveled to certain places, Midland speaking of one.

Where I don’t know what I’m going to walk into necessarily. So I have a, I’ve used white paper before you can use a reflector. I have various things that I’ve used depending on the situation. Um, when we were in Dallas, I was able to offer them in my home every once in a while, but I knew I had natural light and I knew I had the right setup to do that.

Because of where we’re located now, not as many people will probably drive out here. So I haven’t offered them in my home, but my home would be a great place for them. Cause I know how much natural light I have and I know I have the space for it, but yeah, I definitely, I mean, I use the same camera that I would use on a normal basis, but the roll of white paper or a reflector are both things that I have used as backdrops.

When I don’t have a natural light studio,

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You can go in and search for exactly what you’ve been looking forward to and dive right in. You’ll find trainings like this one. Pricing, editing, goal setting, website reviews, social media, behind the scenes videos, and so much more. You will also gain instant access to our intimate Facebook community.

Consider this your space to ask all the things, get all the support and make real life business besties. In addition to the vault and the Facebook group, you’ll get three new trainings or resources every single month. And These include guest experts, live coaching calls, and more. I really do pride myself in giving you just enough education every month to keep you growing and moving forward while not overwhelming you with content.

If you’re ready to join us, you can head over to Sabrina Gebhardt. com backslash membership and enroll today. Now back to the episode. Okay. So this is a smaller offering. You see, Stack it, uh, with several sessions back to back to make it worth your while and worth the setup and everything. And you’ve got the editing nailed down.

Do you feel like this offer is like easy for you start to finish now? Like it’s just really dialed in or is there, are there kind of like surprise things that throw you off every once in a while?

Mallory: I definitely, when I walk into a new situation, if I am doing a pop up somewhere, it is. That can throw me off a little bit just because I don’t know what to expect.

If I am using a studio I’ve used before, it’s pretty simple because I can use it even if it is overcast outside. If it’s not a sunny day, if it’s pouring down rain, I know I’m going to have enough light in there, but with. Any type of photography, um, kids can always surprise you.

Sabrina: Right. Right.

Mallory: So just being able to get a smile out of them may not always happen.

So that can always be kind of a little hiccup in the day if, um, they don’t want to be away from mommy. So more so working with the kids than like. necessarily a setup or my lighting. It’s always a surprise.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with that. Do you think there’s a type of photographer that this offer would make the most sense for, or do you think it’s something that everybody could potentially play with a version of this and make work?

I’m curious.

Mallory: I definitely think that a more traditional photographer that has either a light, bright, airy type of shooting style or just a more like traditional portrait style photographer is it’s great for. Anybody could offer something like this whether it be a vignette or just a simple black and white portrait.

I know there’s photographers that offer the personality type portraits of kids which I think is still very sweet and some people are going to favor that versus this more traditional form of a black and white portrait. Nowadays, you’re seeing a lot of, and one thing that I offer is like the color version, but if you’re wanting just a simple black and white portrait, I think.

Photographers that aren’t necessarily your traditional either light, bright, or a Southern style portrait photographer, you can offer just the personality portraits in black and white. And that’s a great offering that you can add for your business.

Sabrina: Yeah. That would be like a similar kind of added revenue in the off season.

Yeah. I love that. I do personality portraits. Once a year. So I don’t do them as often as you do heirlooms, but I do them once a year and it’s a great off season offering, but it’s similar in that they’re very quick. They’re short there. I’m only deliver a few photos, but the style that I do versus your heirlooms is totally different.

And different clients want, um, those two things, but. They both have the same goal for our business of adding in some of that off season revenue and serving clients outside of just busy season. So I love that.

Mallory: And I think there’s a lot of people that don’t want the traditional vignette style. So I think the, the, the other personality is a great offering that you can add.

Sabrina: Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I agree. So I love to make sure that each episode of the podcast has some like practical steps, um, some applications that the listener can walk away with. If somebody is listening to this and they’re interested in kind of trying out or adding heirlooms to their offerings next year or in the future, like where do they start with this process?

Mallory: Yeah. So if somebody is listening and interested in adding these heirlooms. I would definitely say start with a model call, start with past, past clients or friends. Friends and past clients are a great place because you might know them, you know their kids and they would love pictures of their kids. I mean, people love pictures of their kids.

So from there you just begin practicing your style of how you want to shoot, what editing style you’re looking for, are you wanting to stay within like your already natural colors, or are you wanting to change it up a little bit to make it unique to you, and figure out whether you want to do everything in Lightroom, which is something that I do, but a lot of people take these portraits into Photoshop and do.

More to them or edit them a different way. So you kind of have to figure out your editing style and what makes sense for you based on, you know, what you already know. Um, you also need to kind of figure out whether you want to include digitals or only print products. or a combination of them. I mean, there’s all sorts of things that you can think about when you begin trying to add something like this to your offerings, but heirloom portraits are such a specialty product.

You definitely want to make sure that your clients are printing them on the right paper and being able to display them appropriately, whether that’s in framed prints or albums. But yeah, so you, I would say the best thing to do is to start with a model call or current or past clients, friends. And then take it from there, work with your editing to figure out what you want your end product to look like and Be able to create something that is an example to market these offerings.

Sabrina: Yeah. So it sounds like it’s, it’s kind of like starting your business over again, where you’re, cause this offering is so different and so unique, getting those models, practicing, practicing the workflow, the editing, the post, just the whole thing, fine tuning it before you launch it to the public.

Mallory: Yes, you definitely need to do that.

I mean, even Figuring out how you want your models or your child to sit and angles and all the different things. Yeah. I think that’s the best place to start is just a model call. There’s definitely courses out there now or maybe one or two, but just practice. And like you said, Sabrina, it’s like starting something completely new for your business.

So

Sabrina: yeah, I love that. Listeners, if you are really intrigued by this and you’re like, okay, I’ve always been interested in heirlooms or I’ve never even heard of this, but it sounds interesting. Mallory has a free guide called the simplified guide to heirloom portraits. My friend, would you explain to us a little bit, what is this guide all about?

Mallory: Yes. I would love to share about my freebie. I have created a guide. It’s called the Simplify Guide to Airline Portraits, like Sabrina said, which includes products and gear. So we touched on this earlier. I didn’t want to spill the beans. Um, but it does include my list of gear and products that I utilize for my airline portraits.

It also includes my 12 steps to booking airline portraits. So from start to finish, when a client inquires, to sending their gallery, all of my steps. So if you’re interested in adding an offering like heirloom portraits that can provide additional income Essentially during a slower season. This is a guide to help you get started and just you know, figure out your process

Sabrina: Okay, I love that Everybody we will have that link in the show notes for sure I love to end these interview episodes with some kind of fun questions just so the audience can get to know you a little bit better.

So first and foremost, Mallory, what is your current favorite guilty pleasure?

Mallory: It is probably going to get not at Starbucks cause they don’t have it, but a lavender oat milk latte. I don’t know. Love that right now. Um, so there’s a little local Um, coffee shop in town that I love to go to and get that from.

So,

Sabrina: yeah, I love a good latte and that’s so fun. So on, on this route that I walk most days, we go along the Trinity river, which you know, that the audience isn’t going to know that, but, um, on the walk, I walk past. Coming home. I walked past like a coffee shop. And so I don’t do this every day because it would be just too much, but I’ve been treating myself on Sundays on my walk back.

I’ll make sure to bring my debit card and I treat myself to a lavender latte on the way home. And I walk at the rest of the way home, which is like such a fun little treat. I love it. That’s great.

Mallory: Yeah.

Sabrina: Yeah. Okay. I’m curious. What is the next vacation that you have planned?

Mallory: Well, this is bad. We don’t currently have any vacations planned.

We haven’t even thought about summer yet, but I know the mountains is a place we would love to go soon. We may go back to the beach like we’ve done in the past few summers. Even just an adult’s only getaway would be nice. So I would probably say either the mountains or the beach would probably be our next vacation.

Sabrina: Okay. I love that. I am curious. Um, is there something that you have up your sleeve professionally or personally for later this year or 2025?

Mallory: So I have been offering some one on one mentoring, but I’m really going to focus on offering that for heirloom portraits. If people are interested, which I love, um, I love working with other photographers and creatives.

I also at some point would love to create a course for heirloom portraits for people to utilize in the future.

Sabrina: Yeah, I love that. So I definitely, obviously I’m going to have your contact information in the show notes. So if anybody’s listening and you’re interested in working with Mallory to get like inside perspective, kind of the fast track for getting started with heirloom or maybe you’re already doing them and they’re not optimized or they’re not selling and you need some eyes on your business.

Definitely reach out to Mallory for that. That’s awesome. Okay. Last question. What is a business tool or hack that you are loving right now?

Mallory: I am currently loving Imagine AI. I used this last year, especially during the fall for my editing. Um, I don’t like to outsource editing. I don’t know something about it, but using just the AI tool for editing from fall.

Many sessions has been huge for me to survive the fall with three little boys and all the sessions.

Sabrina: Yes. Yes. I love that. Um, you are not the first person to you to say that for your answer. Um, I love that. I love that. It’s helping save you time, but yet keeping the cohesiveness of your images together. I mean, that’s just It’s like a little magic.

It’s like a little magic wand for your business. So I love that. Um, okay. This has been such a great chat today, my friend, thank you for being here. I can’t wait to get the feedback from everybody on what they think about this.

Mallory: Thank you so much. It’s been so much fun.

Sabrina: All right, friends, that’s it for today.

We’ll see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the shoot it straight podcast. You can find all the full show notes at And details from today’s episode@sabrinagehart.com slash podcast. Come find me and connect over on the gram at Sabrina Gehart Photography. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be honored if you hit that subscribe button and leave me a review.

Until next time, my friends shoot it straight.