Business + Marketing


How to Use Visualization to Manifest Your Photo Brand

June 27, 2022

By Abbey Pleviak

In this episode of The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Closser speaks with Lola Melani, a Miami, Florida-based photographer of pregnancy and mother-and-baby portraits, talks about how she used manifestation through visualization—or visualizing the success she wanted to achieve—to build the photo business of her dreams.


Melani came to the United States from Russia, working in hospitality until she secured a student visa for an MBA in New Orleans. After completing her degree, Melani worked in finance for a luxury hotel chain but was unhappy at her job. She began to save money and imagine a new life as a small-business owner. Melani had received a Canon Rebel for a graduation gift and had fallen in love with photography. It was 2009, and she couldn’t find photography courses online so learned from books and the tv program, America’s Next Top Model. When she had saved enough money to live for several months, she packed up and headed to New York City with a vision in mind of being in demand, bringing happiness to women she photographed, and receiving checks and cash from them. (She currently lives in Miami.)

[Read: Whitney Collin’s Transition to Dance Photography]

Says Melani on the process of manifestation through visualization: “You can create this visual frame that you can always put in front of your eyes. . . and whenever you feel you are getting caught in some negative thoughts, or something is worrying you, you put that frame immediately in front of you and feel how it makes you feel, how wonderful, how much joy it brings you.”

Melani visualized her first studio in this way and manifested it three years later. She says that although this might seem crazy to some people, for her, as someone who went from being a young immigrant from Russia to being a well-known educator and photographer, manifestation through visualization has been a major key to her success. You can learn more about Lola Melani’s photography and educational offerings at Lola Melani Photography.

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The Portrait System Podcast helps portrait photographers navigate the world of photography, business, money, and much more. Hosted by Nikki Closser, the podcast is powered by The Portrait System, a comprehensive, online educational platform that teaches all aspects of running a successful portrait photography studio.