NOTE: At the time of writing, the course was a different structure and as $800. It has since restructured and the price has increased to $2500.
The price tag is high, but is the value of Lost Creator Academy worth the $2500, especially if you’re not a Youtuber or are completely new to photography and videography?
I won’t lie, $2500 covers more than my rent and bills for months, so it was not a decision that I made lightly! I invested in LCA in November of 2020 (the cursed year) during the Black Friday sale, having thought about joining for several months. Note: At this time, the course was $800.
So having been a part of the community and worked my way through most of the videos, do I think that LCA is worth it?
The short answer of this Lost Creator Academy review, yes, I think it’s worth it for certain people.
Let’s dive into who and why!
Lost Creator Academy Review Table of Contents
- Quick Thoughts on LCA
- What is Lost Creator Academy (LCA)?
- Pros of Lost Creator Academy
- Cons of Lost Creator Academy
- Conclusion: Is Lost Creator Academy Worth the High Price Tag?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- More Creator Resources
- Follow Us on Pinterest
Quick Thoughts on LCA
- Price: About $2500
- Best For: New or experienced creators looking for an engaged community and a constnatly updated photography and videography course
- Discounts: Check for discounts here
- Free Trial: Check out the free hour long content creator training here for a taste of the course
- Worth It?: Yes. It’s expensive but a one time fee with constantly added value
What is Lost Creator Academy (LCA)?
Lost Creator Academy, or LCA as its affectionately known among its members, is a massive resource library with over 100 videos that teach both creative photography and videography in addition to business resources that are beneficial to those in the creative industry (bloggers, Instagrammers, vloggers, freelance creatives, and more!).
Lost Creator Academy LCA Discount/Coupon Code
At the time of writing, a 10% discount was available to those who attended the free 1 hour training (you have to wait until the end though). Sign up via the link below to access the Lost Creator Academy discount.
Lost Creator Academy Black Friday Sale
Will Lost Creator Academy have a Black Friday sale? Most likely but you’ll need a special link. Enter your email below and we’ll let you know when the sale is live!
Christian LeBlanc – Lost LeBlanc
Lost Creator Academy was founded and is run by Christian LeBlanc, who you might know as Lost LeBlanc if you spend any time on Youtube in the travel video realm. Christian LeBlanc is a self-made Youtube guru who started his channel with nothing more than a GoPro and within a few years turned it into a seven-figure business that we know and love today.
If you’re new to who Lost LeBlanc is, you can check out the video about his journey below (trust me, it’s worth the watch!)
What’s Included in Lost Creator Academy?
LCA is comprised of three main resources:
- Video courses
- Downloads/templates
- Community
Lost Creator Academy Modules Overview (Video Courses)
LCA is currently comprised of over 115 videos, most of which are around 20 to 30 minutes. These are videos that are unique to the LCA platform and cannot be found on Youtube.
The sections are divided as follows:
- Creative: Basics
- Creative: Photograph
- Creative: Videography
- Business: Monetization
- Business: Social Growth
- Content Creator Boot Camp
- Sell Your Own Product
- Reviewing Your Content
- Creator Coaches
Lost Creator Academy has lifetime access so once you invest, you’ll have access to all new content and features.
You don’t have the watch the videos in any particular order. If you’re already a whiz at photography and want to focus on the business side of things, hop on over to that section and dive on in! Go at your own pace or speed up the videos to get through them faster.
One of the best parts about LCA is that the goal is not simply to teach how to get brand deals. While this is discussed in detail, a big portion of the course is devoted to brand-building strategies and creating sustainable and diverse sources of income.
Additionally, a new feature is the recent addition of Creator Coaches. No one is a pro at everything which is why the LCA team are paying pros like professional models, Photoshop experts, and more to teach students advanced techniques.
The Creator Coaches include people and topics such as:
- Sydney Symons
- Working with models and shooting with brands
- Malthe Zimakoff
- Landscape photography
- Shaping light in Lightroom and Photoshop
- How to revive a colorless photo
- Advanced level drone photo editing
- Jakob Burkhardt
- E-commerce studio photography (shoot and edit)
- Stylize your lighting (studio shooting)
- Level up your gimbal movements
- Paris Verra
- How to change the color of your clothing
- Get the perfect photo (even when alone)
Lost Creator Academy Modules Review
This section provides the title of every model and video (that’s right, it took me ages) in addition to my personal LCA module review. There is no specific order you need to go in. I find that it’s best just to jump around the videos that are more relevant to you.
This list is updated as of September 2, 2021 but new videos are being added monthly!
Lost Creator Academy Downloads
One of the biggest draws to LCA for me was the materials that are provided.
Email templates. If you’ve ever wanted to reach out to brands but struggled to figure out what to say or how to negotiate, these email templates are invaluable. There are currently 10 unique email templates (plus more with modifications) that you can copy and paste to reach out to hotels, brands, and tourist boards. Here are a few examples of the Lost Creator Academy email templates you’ll receive.
- Photographers Hotel Collaboration
- Hotel Collaboration Email Template (Last Minute Proposal)
- Hotel Negotiation Template – Can be used for any business type (When a business asks for additional deliverables but we push back)
- Hotel Collaboration Email Template (Example 2)
- Hotel Collaboration Email Template (Example 3 – IMPORTANT Collaborations)
- Get Free Product (Someone contacting on your behalf)
- Hotel Collaboration Email Template (Successfully used for “Most Luxurious UAE” video)
- Hotel Contact Template (Template used for low to mid priority hotels)
- Tourism Board Contact Template
- Tourism Board Contact Template (Someone contacting on your behalf)
- Small YouTube Account HOTEL/BUSINESS Collab Template
Freelance photo and video pricing calculator. If you’ve ever struggled to price yourself, this Excel calculator will help you figure out a range of what you should be charging.
Instagram and Youtube post/video pricing calculator. What you charge is based on your following, yes, but it’s also based on your engagement and your niche. This video and this accompanying template help you figure out what to charge.
Recommended equipment list. There are so many cameras, tripods, and gimbals to choose from, Christian lays out exactly what he uses.
Video editing resources and hotkeys. A guide to learning exactly how to edit your videos like a pro and what keys will help you work faster!
Short, medium, and long-term goals template. Figure out what your goals are, how to divide them up, and how to actually stick to your timeline.
Lost LeBlanc’s media kit. While this is not a template, it’s incredibly helpful to see exactly what a pro media kit looks like.
Lost Creator Academy Accelerator Program
Price: $99 (on top of LCA membership)
Length: 4 weeks
Spots: 50
Lost Creator Academy has grown quickly in just the couple of years that it’s been active. As of March 2022 there are just over 3,000 members in the Facebook group. With that in mind, it’s harder and harder to get personal feedback from Christian himself although his team is still incredibly active.
Because of this, in early 2022 LCA launched the Accelerator Program. This program is only for existing LCA members and is an additional $99 (£76.76). The program runs for four weeks and only has 50 slots available at each time.
As you can see in the infographic below, each week has a different challenge that is assigned at the beginning of the week. Participants then have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to work on the assignment, and on Friday a live feedback session is held to go over everyone’s work. You then have the weekend to make changes before being assigned the next step on Monday.
Check back here in mid-April 2022 after the first cohort of the LCA Youtube Accelerator program has graduated to learn if members feel like it was worth $100.
LCA Community
While you may initially think that the videos and downloads are the biggest resource of LCA (and they are an incredible resource) the importance of the community might even be more valuable!
Here are the platforms that currently host LCA chats:
- Discord
- Clubhouse
The community is such an amazing resource, not just for professional networking opportunities but to also find travel buddies who also want to get up at sunrise to catch golden hour (a large group of people is currently planning on renting a house together when they move to Bali), collaborate with (we’re talking blog posts, Reels, TikToks, webinars, and more), and to find support. Having a community that understands that you can indeed make money as a creator is priceless, especially if your family and friends perhaps don’t understand what you’re doing.
Additionally, the Lost Creator Academy community is home to not just new content creators but pros with hundreds of thousands of followers who also share their skills in the frequent community events put on by the members themselves. These are all recorded so you can watch them any time.
Past events include:
- Lightroom Tips and Accountability Partners
- Tubebuddy/Youtube and How to Be a Weekend Warrior
- Light Painting and How to Move to Bali
- After Effects and Explosive Social Growth
Pros of Lost Creator Academy
For a quick overview of the pros of Lost Creator Academy:
- Community
- Collaborations
- Meet ups
- Clubhouse chats
- Extra webinars run by the community members
- Creator challenges (chances to win gear and get feedback from Christian himself)
- Opportunities to request new content
- Email & pricing templates
- Frequent course updates including guest speakers
- Student discount on Adobe Creative Cloud
Cons of Lost Creator Academy
That being said, nothing is perfect and there are a few chances for improvement in LCA.
- There are no notifications when new content is added (the LCA team is currently in the process of moving the course to a different platform so this may change)
- Comments within the course do not seem to be monitored (again, the team is currently updating the platform so this may change and it is made up for by the incredibly active Facebook group)
- Community size has gotten so large that questions aren’t always answered by a member of the team
- The Youtube Accelerator Program has caused a lot of debate in the community. Many feel that the program was what was promised in the initial pricetag of the academy and that an extra fee shouldn’t be charged on top of it
Conclusion: Is Lost Creator Academy Worth the High Price Tag?
If you’ve made it to this point of considering whether or not Lost LeBlanc’s Lost Creator Academy is worth it, you’re probably already taking your content creator journey pretty seriously and aren’t just looking for something to do this weekend.
LCA is so much more than just educational videos and downloadable resources. Lost Creator Academy is:
- A community of likeminded individuals
- A resource library with both creative and business assets
- A direct line to some of the best creators in the industry
Because the course has lifetime access and is a one-time fee, if you’ve been thinking about it for a little while, I highly suggest investing! New content is being added every month (if not more frequently) so the price is almost guaranteed to rise. Invest today before the price increases.
So to wrap up this Lost Creator Academy review, yes, Lost Creator Academy is worth the price tag if you’re serious about making content creation your full-time job and lifestyle.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
No. In fact, some of the largest brand deals that Lost Creator Academy has seen so far have been with creators who have less than 2000 or even 500 followers in one case, across all of their platforms. LCA teaches you to make the most of what you have and to start earning money while you grow.
There are no set dates for updates in Lost Creator Academy. New videos are added at least monthly (in my experience) but there are constantly other updates going on within the community, both by Christian and his team and by the community members. Recent additions include an unofficial Clubhouse room that always seems to be active, a Discord group with hundreds of sub-groups to find your niche (vegan and bloggers are two of my favorites).
No. LCA is for all content creators. The resources aren’t specifically geared towards Youtube, but instead, focus on teaching creative and business strategies that will help you no matter what your business is.
No. Your goal does not have to be an influencer to join. In fact, there are several members that have used the course to start up successful freelance businesses (myself included!).
No, but you will lose out. You can join and access the content without having a Facebook account, but in my opinion, you will be missing out on an immense resource. It’s worth creating an account if for no other reason than to join the Facebook Community.
Absolutely! As someone completely new to video but already advanced at photography, this creator course is fantastic. I skipped the basic Photoshop tutorials but have rewatched the Premiere Pro ones several times to learn the basics.
Within the course, you’ll get recommendations for tools, but to get started I highly recommend a good computer that’s large enough for editing and Adobe Creative Cloud (you can get the student discount as a course member).
Absolutely! This is what I use since I already subscribe to Creative Cloud and get Photoshop and Lightroom (the industry standard for photo editing) included.
Yes! Because the course is still relatively new (just over a year old in April 2021) the team stuck to covering the essentials for photography, videography, and business during the first year and are now working with other industry professionals to make more advanced tutorials.
LCA is geared towards aspiring photographers and videographers looking to be full-time content creators and monetize their work. As of right now, there’s not any content specifically tailored to bloggers. If you’re looking for a blogger-specific community and course, check out Wanderful and read our full Wanderful review.
More Creator Resources
- €349!? – The Freedom Lab by Club Life Design Review
- Influencer Reporting: 10 Tools to Track Your Campaign Analytics
- Wanderful Review: Is This Travel Community Worth the Money?
- Affordable Photography Gear for Travel Bloggers
- DJI Mavic Air Review – A Review You Can Actually Understand
- The Ultimate Photography Gear Guide for the Beginning Photographer and Traveler
- How to Easily Replace Your Sky in Photoshop & Find FREE Sky Overlays
What Camera Gear Do We Use?
- Camera body: Nikon d750
- Phone: iPhone 13 Pro
- Favorite Multipurpose Travel Lens: 24-120mm f/4
- GoPro: GoPro Hero 8
- Drone: DJI Mavic Air is no longer available so we recommend the DJI Air2S
- Camera Bag: Wandrd Prvke 31L
- Tripod: ESDDI Aluminum Tripod
If you want the full list of things we keep in our camera bag, check out the complete guide or browse our photography guides.
Free Resources
And as always, you can find more photos of our adventures on Instagram @VoyagingHerbivore, Youtube, and TikTok and to get updates straight to your inbox, enter your email below in the footer, or to the right on the sidebar. If you want to help us out even more, you can buy us a bit of fuel!
Follow Us on Pinterest
Leave a Reply