FINE ART MAGICAL SANTA 

PHOTOGRAPHY ACADEMY  

with LARRY HERSBERGER

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL AND PROFITABLE CHRISTMAS PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS 

 

 
$45 /MONTHLY
$399 /YEARLY

READY TO GET STARTED? BECOME A MEMBER TODAY. YOU WILL GET ACCESS TO THE FINE ART MAGICAL SANTA ACADEMY COURSE + FULL ACCESS TO LARRY HERSBERER OTHER ONLINE CLASSES. WITH YEARLY MEMBERSHIP, YOU WILL SAVE$ AND GET BONUS DOWNLOADS.

FINE ART MAGICAL SANTA ACADEMY INCLUDES:

SET UP, LIGHTING, POSING

Learn what it takes to actually make the image itself. Do it right and the rest is easy. 

MAGICAL DIGITAL EDITING

Understand and Learn how to digitally make "The Magic".

  • STRUCTURAL EDITING IN LIGHTROOM
  • PHOTOSHOP APPLICATIONS 
  • SEEING AND PAINTING THE LIGHT
  • CREATING CUSTOM VIGNETTE
  • PROFICIENT USE OF DODGE AND BURN
  • PAINTING MAGIC AND AMBIANCE
  • GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS
  • TOPAZ ENCHANCEMENT
  • CROPPING AND COMPOSITION
  • LEADING YOUR VIEWER
  • STORYTELLING

 

 

MARKETING, SALES AND PROFIT

Choose not to be a starving artist. Learn the system to market and sell with ease. 

Ted and Rachel Linczak

"Took a breather in the midst of the chaos of Santa season to look at our numbers so far this holiday cycle, and they are looking really great!. Our 2019 Santa revenue is sitting at $87,390 so far, and we have 17 more sessions to proof before we wrap things up for 2019.

My goal was to hit 6 figures with Santa for 2019 (we did just over $80k in our first year 2018) and I think we should hit that and surpass it a bit by the time the book is closed on this year.

My many thanks again to Larry for his educational insight into how to make Santa a winning formula for our studio. Its hard for me to imagine fine art Santa not being a huge part of our brand even though we have just been doing it a little over a year. It continues to be a real game changer for our studio. My thanks again!"

Patti Reed

I woke up this morning overflowing with gratitude! I am one of the few photographers totally blessed to have attended "The Santa Summit" with Master Artist Larry Hersberger. What an incredibly gifted and generous human being.
What was intriguing to me was how he was able to direct my questions to bringing out my creativity. It was very clear to me when leaving his beautiful home studio yesterday, that this was an opportunity for my inner 5 year old to reappear after decades of being suppressed. How exciting to finally get his vision for all of us after 3 days of positive energy!
Thank you Larry Hersberger  for your generous, loving spirit! God bless you! 

Chris Smith, Ivey Photography, Midlothian, Texas 

“If it helps to know your students are successful, we ran just shy of $450,000 through the studios this year in Santa Biz. Thanks so much for your gift. Honestly, can't thank you enough."

Lizz Pyatt

I decided to take the plunge and get Larry's Online Workshop. It's been amazing and worth every dime especially since we couldn't attend the Nashville seminar live. It filled in all the missing pieces to make our Santa sessions truly amazing and I know we will more than make up for what we spent. It was a stretch for us to come up with the money but it's been so worth it. If you haven't done so, consider it - it will change the way you see your Santa sessions in ways you never imagined!!! I can't thank Larry Hersberger enough for making this available! 

Brandy Caldwell

"Honestly, I can’t believe I pulled off Santa Sessions this year with everything going on; moving my studio and throwing it together so quickly. I couldn’t have done it without learning from you Larry, thank you so much. I captured some truly magical images this year. Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Anna Thielen 

"Thank you for the critique Larry. This session did go well, as the kids were so great to work with. The parents ordered a 30x40 framed portrait of this image, a 24x36 of another image and a 12x12 story book with the photographic box, along with some ornaments and 8x10's for gifts. They sent me an image of it hanging in their home saying how much they love looking at it every day. So rewarding to be creating these beautiful Santa portraits for families. Thank you again for all you taught me."

 Kelsey Ryals

"I just want to say this workshop is SO worth it. Larry Hersberger is amazing and I walked away from this with a new sense of business. And I can honestly say because without this workshop my business wouldn’t be where it is!"

"Larry Hersberger we started our Santa sessions this weekend. We took everything you taught us and we had over 10k in sales for a few clients. Thank you so much for teaching us this. Our families this weekend were amazed and loved every minute of it. I never ever thought I could do this with just a few clients."

Brian Gregory Wilson

"I didn’t know what to charge for my work so I took Larry’s rate card and put my name on his and printed it out. First client wrote a check out for $3350 without batting an eye. My average sale last year was $2230, a figure achieved only because I had something unique in my market. Biggest change for me? Saying no to a client that just wants digitals. Thank you Larry, you changed my life!"

Sue Brown

"Thank you so much for the opportunity to attend your Magical Photography Workshop! You have developed a wonderfully thought out system of engaging the children, their families and Santa to ensure success and great sales at every session..while also adding in a lot of fun! I can’t wait to implement all that I learned during the workshop!!!"

 Laurie Warta

Finished the season with 30 sessions total. Taking SMW on the road was a HUGE undertaking but worth it. I learned a ton that will bring about changes from here forward.

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Ted Linczak

"I wanted to give a quick shout-out to Larry!

My wife and I have run a full-time wedding and portrait studio for 13 years now, and we are slowly making the move to more and more portrait work. I’m pretty selective about the educational workshops I invest in, but we knew we wanted to start offering a Santa Christmas portrait event, and who better than to learn the ins and outs of this system than from the CREATOR of the system!

We even built out a new studio on our property for the large purpose of hosting this kind of session. It was important for us to learn the profitable way of how to make this a benefit for our business, and that’s where Larry came in. 

What I most appreciate about Larry’s approach is that much of his process relating to sales is not only applicable to the Santa angle, but to all kinds of portrait work. With so few people out there teaching photographers how to make an actual living selling art work for respectable prices, his workshop was a breath of fresh air.

Aside from the in-depth look at the Santa process itself, here are the two big takeways from Larry’s class that have really changed our approach to the portrait sales process:

1) The focus on ART over PHOTOGRAPHY. Ditching the typical photography mentality of selling photographs and instead focusing on selling unique and custom artwork created with the client in mind. It really changes the ballgame completely, and allows for much higher sales averages in the end.

2) How much money are you leaving on the table by NOT selling all you can?

That was a question that Larry asked that literally made me sick to my stomach when I really thought about it. The ramifications are staggering! Could it be that we were missing out on a few thousand dollars from each client because our system wasn’t as good as it could be?? At the end of the year, that can add up to tens of thousands of dollars! What an eye opener!

Personally, we have been on a journey whereas 6-7 years ago we were selling digital files for nothing. We slowly began making the transition to learning how to sell in person, and going from $500-750 sales to $2000-3000 sales averages in the past several years. This current summer portrait season has seen our average climb to $3940.

Just this past week we had our largest single portrait sales session total of $7640, with a $4300 sale that morning, and a $3500 the next day. That is the power of selling from an ART perspective!

I give much kudos to the new perspectives I’ve gained from Larry’s class. It’s definitely making a positive impact on our sales approach. Don’t just think this class is for Santa alone. Sure, that is the focus, but the principles are applicable to a whole slew of photography genres.

My apologies for the long winded post, but I think you get the idea. Larry’s course is a great investment for those serious about building a sustainable and profitable portrait business!".

Teresa Compton Arthur  

"I started my Santa sessions 6in July, finished up in October...what a good feeling. My clients are advertising for me. And loved the fact that they didn't have to deal with crowds or the rush. Already have 5 on my waiting list for next year. I'm so glad we took your course!"   

Jeanine McLeod

"I attended one of Larry's Santa Magical workshops at his studio in North Carolina. This workshop changed the way I create at my studio. I have been photographing children for 10 years and while I have created themes and sets throughout the years, I never really thought about "why" certain themes worked while others didn't. Larry walked us through the how and why of parents booking sessions, the story they are looking for and the art they want hanging on their walls. Come prepared to work! We started before the sun came up and learned until way after dinner. This is exactly what I needed to be inspired to create with a different eye. Since taking Larry's workshop I have totally renovated how I design my sets and what I sell from the sessions. People will buy wall portraits and albums from a theme if you do them correctly! Larry teaches from the heart and you will leave a better artist and business person then when you arrived! If you are on the fence about the investment in this workshop, stop thinking and just sign up. You will make back the investment in one session with the knowledge you gain!"

Jennifer Heatwole Bailey, Memories by Jen Bailey, Garden City Kansas

"We saw the magic happen before our eyes and were able to discuss it afterwards. This showed us that we could all do this in our studios since Larry used a Santa he had never worked with before and clients that he met right before the session. He could have made it look easy by choosing an older child or model, but he instead chose a real family with 3 children ranging in age from 2-8."