rail trail and very cold water...

We ventured out somewhere a little different this week. We took a walk along a different section of Okanagan’s Rail Trail and dipped our feet in the water (btw it’s still very cold).

I was trying to figure out how to best capture the view. It was so beautiful! The sun was shining and I love this side of Kelowna - the rolling green hills. It literally reminds me of a Studio Ghibli movie!

Fun fact! After she filled my shoes with sand she proceeded to take one and throw it in the water…

Details:

  • Camera: Canon M100

  • Lens: Canon EF-M 15-45mm

  • Lightroom: Edited using my ‘Golden Vibes’ Preset

coffee, park and lunch | photodump 06

A couple weeks ago we did a pretty big outing. We usually head out in the morning to just get outside but this was extra. We grabbed some coffee at Blenz, walked to the park, went to the stamp event at Kelowna Tourism, and then grabbed lunch at Kelly O Bryan’s. This was way more than what we usually do! I hadn’t posted these photos yet here so I thought I’d play around with some digital collaging to creatively display the photos.

a sea of yellow and a pop of red | photodump 05

We have come to this flower field a lot since the Arrowleaf started blooming here in the Okanagan. I love going for a walk through the trails, I love taking photos of V, I love watching her evolution of time here. Today I wanted to play around with contrasting colors. The field is full of green and yellow so I put V in a red dress and the whole trip brought me so much joy!

Details:

  • Camera: Canon M100

  • Lens: Canon EF-M 15-45mm

  • Lightroom: Used my ‘Golden Vibes’ Preset

what & why | episode one

The other day I was walking with Victoria and Parker to the park. We passed a girl that had a camera around her neck. Every now and then she would stop to take a photo. I noticed her meander through the park taking photos of things here and there. It made me wonder - what was she taking photos of and why (I was genuinely curious). I wished I had struck up a conversation with her. She made me think about my own photography and on that day I took two seemingly random photos that really stuck out to me.

The first was of these purple flowers and a cement brick. I took this photo because the little purple flowers (totally weeds) reminded me of the ones that grew at my grandparents place when they lived in West Kelowna.

The second was this home on the way to the park. I just liked it because of the shutters on the window. They were unique. At first I wanted a tight frame with just one of the windows but I was using my Canon M100 with the 15-45 lens and couldn’t get a tight enough zoom (we were on the other side of the street). So instead I went with a wide frame. I quite like the layers that I was able to capture - the paved road, the fence, the house and tree line.

I want this to be a new series that I work on, temporarily calling it What & Why. I hope you enjoyed the first instalment :)

Details:

  • Camera: Canon M100

  • Lens: Canon EF-M 15-45mm

  • Lightroom: Used my ‘Warm White Vibe’ Preset

if you don't like snakes look away | photodump 04

The other morning I took the kids out for a walk on Kelowna’s Rail Trail. We had stopped (so Victoria could fix her boot) and while we were standing I could hear this soft rustling beside me. When I looked over I didn’t see anything. It was confusing because I could still hear a soft rustling. I thought it was a small bird so I kept staring to see if I could spot it. I then realized…it was a nest of snakes…Thankfully they’re just little garden snakes so nothing worrisome. I picked Victoria up and pointed out the snakes. We kept walking a little bit before turning around and that was when I panicked. As we were walking back Victoria ran right towards the nest of snakes and all rationality, all calmness went out the door. I quickly picked her up and ran. In the commotion I must have dropped my phone but a kind gentlemen on a bike found me at the beginning of the Rail Trail and asked if I had dropped it (thank you a million to this rider - I honestly don’t know when I would have noticed it was gone.)

It was definitely a more eventful morning out with the kids.

family morning at the park | photodump 02

P did not sleep well last night. He was up until midnight and then only did 2 hour naps until morning. So we had a late start to the day. Nevertheless, we went to the park for a bit and I thought I’d dig out my Canon M100 for today’s shutter therapy.

In 01 | Shutter Therapy I was using my “big camera” the OM Digital Solutions EM1 Mark II with the 25 mm F1.8 lens. I love my Olympus but that thing is honestly bulky when you are already packing 2 kids and a diaper bag.

Enter the Canon M100. This is not the newest model but honestly I am always blown away by the quality of the images that come out of this thing. It’s small, it’s sharp and it’s perfect as an everyday small camera to chuck in your bag.

Here are some frames from today:

I wanted to play around with the frame sizes and post-processing in the photos. I almost always edit and post in a 4x3 format but I wanted to explore a horizontal, movie like frame size. So these are 16x9 horizontal frames.

With the edits I also almost always go for a light and airy vibe but I wanted to play around with some different vibes. Wasn’t going for moody but movie like (kinda turned out moody).

I’m happy with today’s experimentation!

getting back into daily photography | photodump 01

I don’t pick up my camera as much as I used to.

Back in 2020/2021 I was out with my camera everyday. In 2022, my daughter was born and I still took quite a few photos - the landscape of what I photographed changed. I went from doing mostly nature photography to family photography. Fast forward to 2023/2024 I stopped and only brought the camera out when I had paid shoots.

I’ll be honest it’s difficult finding the energy to take the camera out. My mind is already so preoccupied with getting myself and the kids through the day that I don’t want to think about photography but this year I am making a conscious effort to focus on myself. That includes doing more things that I love or used to love.

The process is far from perfect but on this day I took the kids to the park like I usually do but I brought my camera along for the ride.

Here is what I captured on this very normal Friday morning:

V loves planes so whenever we hear a plane we always look to the sky to find it.

She recently started saying “plane.” I love how she starts off strong with the letter “P” and then softens as she says the rest of the word.

While we were gearing up a gentlemen was out with maybe his grandchild and dog. Whenever I see babies/kids and dogs it makes me want to get a big lab to go on adventures with us.

I always love this house that we pass on the way to the park. I love the red door, it has a giant tree that reminds me of the tree in Harry Potter and I just adore all the windows.

Do you ever look at a plot of land and see the potential? This is also on the way to the park and whenever I see it I see a giant playscape for the kids.

Me loading up both kids in the car. I always baby wear P when I am out solo because it’s easier to chase V.

That wraps up our first shutter therapy session. I didn’t take any photos at the park because we were meeting friends.

I still have a lot to learn on how to do this with 2 kids in tow but baby steps.

The 2023 Grandparent & Grandchild Photo Session | Why It Was Important to Me

Recently this August I wrapped up my first Limited Edition Grandparent and Grandchild Photo Session in Kelowna, BC. This photo session was specifically geared towards grandparents having a memory and photos with their grandchildren. This photo session was also different in that 100% of the cost would be donated to two organizations: The Heart and Stroke Foundation and Hope for Dementia. I had a great time with these grandparents and kids!

Below, I’ll take you through a brief journey on why this session was so important to me. 

Why?

Back at the beginning of the summer I had started planning this Grandparent & Grandchild photo session. When I was growing up both my parents worked Monday to Friday and so my grandparents looked after us. To this day one of my fondest memories that I have with my maternal grandparents that I hope is recreated between my own children and their grandparents is weekend sleepovers at my maternal grandparents house. She would let us each pick a movie from Rogers to rent, we’d grab slurpees at the corner store, she would make all of our favourite meals and let us stay up as late as we wanted. On my paternal grandparents side I loved our annual family Salmon fishing trips to the coast. I’d often drive with my Uncle down and it was always an adventure - we’d pop a tire, get lost, end up in the US, miss ferries, take wrong turns, etc. I know it sounds awful but it was fun for us as kids. 

So because of these fond memories I knew summer would be the perfect time to take grandparent portraits and it’s because of these fond memories that I wanted other families to have treasurable photos that they can have forever. 

The Donation to Heart and Stroke Foundation and Hope for Dementia

When I was originally planning this photo session I had mapped it out to be similar to my Limited Edition Motherhood Session where 25% would go to a charitable organization. However, sometime in July I decided to make the whole session go towards a charitable organization for personal reasons. “Business wise” some would say this is a mistake and not very good “business practice” but in my heart I needed to do this session this way. 

A contributing factor to my family losing my paternal grandfather was a Stroke. He survived the Stroke but it did affect his way of life - he had to use a walker if he got around and couldn’t use one side of his body very well. After the stroke he lived for some time before we lost him in 2010. Then recently my own dad encountered a health scare with his heart. After some days in the hospital he was thankfully diagnosed and left with a pacemaker and defibrillator put in this chest. These two causes and relationships is why I decided I wanted half of the money from the Grandparent photo session to go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. 

The other half I decided I wanted to go to Hope for Dementia. They’re an organization that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Dementia and other Cognitive Disorders. For personal and privacy reasons someone close to my family is the reason why I included Hope for Dementia in where the money will go.

Grandparents Are Important To Me

Growing up my grandparents were very involved in our lives. They took us to school some mornings and picked us up, helped us with our homework, sometimes cooked us dinner during the week, treated us special during the holidays and birthdays, and with or without them knowing parted important lessons to us that stick with with me.

Do What You Love

One of the important lessons that my grandparents parted was doing what you love. My paternal grandfather that passed in 2010 loved fishing. It was one of his passions, his hobbies that he shared with his family. Majority of the photos that we have where he has a huge smile on his face was when he was fishing. I like to think he’s out there fishing right now. Although none of the grandchildren share the same level of love for fishing I am so happy and thankful that he shared his love for it with his family. I have great memories from those fishing trips we would take as a family and his love for fishing not only imparted finding and doing something that I love but to share it with your family too. Whether they take to it is up to them but you would be surprised what they remember and hold on to from the experience.

Spend Time with Family

I was raised in a very close family. I think part of why I was close to my family was also for a period we lived on the same plot of land together. My paternal grandparents owned an orchard and so my grandparents lived at the top, my uncle and his family lived at the top too, my other uncle and for a time cousin lived next door to us and we lived at the bottom of the orchard. The reasoning was because my grandfather needed more help on the orchard and so it made sense to our family. This resulted in seeing our family a lot, and on my maternal grandparents side we would see them regularly with family dinners, we also had sleepovers and in the winter we would spend almost every weekend at Big White. This family ecosystem parted to me the importance of family and how family supports you when you need them too. When my paternal grandfather passed I made a silent promise to myself to always try and make time for family.

This Limited Edition Grandparent and Grandchild Portrait Session is near and dear to my heart. Thank you to all the families that booked a session and I hope to see you next summer!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Why Use a Digital Camera for Memory Keeping | Digital Camera vs. Phone

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Back at the beginning of the summer I started carrying around an old Canon digital camera. When I’m taking professional photos I love my OM Digital Solutions EM1 Mark II but for everyday moments it was too heavy and bulky. By the time you pack the snacks, diapering stuff, water bottle; your bag is so heavy that adding even another pound is too much. Which is why I love packing my small digital camera. However, you might be wondering in the age of phones that make excellent camera’s why pack and use a digital camera. That is exactly what we’re going to unpack today!

*All photos you see in this blog post were taken on the Canon M100 and the Canon EF-M 15-45mm Lens unless otherwise stated.

Park play date with Nana and Cousin J

Swimming pool fun at our friends house

Random park we went to where we got chased by marmots

Benefits of Using a Digital Camera Instead of Your Phone

  1. Digital camera photos come out richer and creamier than phone photos: Phone photos are very sharp and vibrant but I just find the photos from my digital camera are better. This does partly have to do with the aperture that both camera’s use. For my digital camera I have it set to aperture priority so if I’m taking a portrait the background does have a creamy bokeh to it (it’s not the creamiest that a camera and lens could offer but it’s pretty good). On the iPhone (specifically comparing to an iPhone because that’s what I use) unless you have it on Portrait Mode it tends to put everything in focus and I don’t ever use Portrait Mode on my phone because I find it looks fake and you can typically tell around the edges of the person that you’re using a computerized software to create that bokeh.

  2. You have range with better quality: Depending on the digital camera you have you can probably zoom in and zoom out quite a bit and still have quite a quality image (it’s sharp and not super distorted). On the phone you can also zoom in and zoom out but depending on the available light and just the technical capabilities of the phone you lose quality in your image. The more you zoom in/out on something you want to capture the grainer and blurrier it gets.

Really adorable moment where my husband was cuddling the cat and Victoria came over for a hug. Unfortunately, it’s blurry because when I opened my camera on my phone to take the photo it took a while to focus and figure out the environment.

Adorable photo of Victoria wearing her cousins sunglasses.

3. It’s less of a distraction: On my phone I have my email, text messages, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc., I might simply go to take a photo on my phone but then get a text message from someone which leads to checking my email, then scrolling. When I just use my camera to take a photo, that’s it. I can’t do anything else on my camera so I find it’s less of a distraction. 

4. It’s less muddled: If I scroll on my phone’s camera roll right now I would find a mess of photos - photos intentionally taken for memory keeping, photos that I took just to add to my Instagram stories, exported photos from previous days that I edited, clips for Reels, snippets of videos and photos that my daughter took when she got my phone, screenshots of things and photos of prices. It’s muddled with so much other stuff that it feels messy. I only use my camera for memory keeping so there’s a chronology to the photos in my camera.

5. You love the creativity and art form of photography: One of the reasons I picked up my small digital camera in the first place was because I wanted to learn more about photography, more about shooting in manual mode, more about creating better more impactful photos. You can do a lot with phone photos but I did find limitations that I can overcome with a digital camera.

Although I do gravitate towards using my digital camera for memory keeping I do take a lot of photos on my phone. The biggest thing I find with my digital camera is that I don’t always have it on me, but my phone I do. For example, often in the mornings we have our routine where we eat breakfast, go for a walk and then play outside. Sometimes I’ll bring my camera along but a lot of time I just head out the door with my phone. It’s during these small, average days or moments that I’ll capture quick small things that I love - my daughter hugging the cat, something funny she did that I want to send to my family, her first time blowing bubbles. I will say that if I had a more compact point and shoot that I can fit in my pocket I would likely be more inclined to take that with me during these times when we’re just hanging around outside or doing something small.

Sweet moment captured on my iPhone between Victoria and our cat Binx

Something funny Victoria did that I just wanted to quickly snap

Victoria making bubbles for the first time on a average Thursday morning after our walk

My Everyday Camera

The digital camera that I use for documenting everyday moments like going to the beach, park, etc., is the Canon M100. This camera I had bought years ago when I first started my photography. I wanted a lightweight camera that I could switch out the lenses for and wasn’t too technical because I was just starting to learn manual. I believe I bought this camera for under $500 on a Boxing Week Sale at Best Buy. To this day I still use just the kit lens that it came with which is the Canon EF-M 15-45mm lens. 

This little guy takes one battery and one SD card, it’s fairly small and fits in most of my bags that I use for toting my daughter around. It even fits in my Tushbaby which isn’t that big!

The Canon M100 is a few years old now. Canon has since come out with the M200 and other models. There’s also Sony with their ZV-1, ZV-1 Mark II, the ZV-1F (has camera capabilities but is geared more towards video). Nikon has their Z30 which is fairly small but larger than the models I’ve mentioned so far. There’s also older models like the Canon Powershots and other point and shoot options. Fujifilm also has some great smaller options that I would definitely love to explore one day!

If you’re a parent that wants to kick their memory making up a notch then I highly suggest looking for a small digital camera. Keep an eye out for sales, check your local Facebook Marketplace, you might even get lucky at garage sales and thrift stores!

You can create beautiful photos with your phone but shutterbugs that love the look and feel of an actual camera will prefer this option! 

I hope this blog post inspires you to dig out your old digital camera to create some memory magic!

xoxo

Robynne

Grandparent Portrait Session | M Family | Kelowna, BC

When I think of summer I think about summers as a child. Schools out, you have two months of fun in the sun. We would spend a lot of time at our grandparents house. They had a pool and a big backyard so we would spend ALL DAY in the pool - making whirlpools, playing who can hold their breathe the longest, trying to swim underneath the ladder without touching it. It was so much fun! Our grandma would make us all our favourite foods and if we slept over we had our little routine - Rogers to each pick up our movie pick, slurpees at the corner store, favourite dinner and then movies. It was honestly the best and I loved it so much. They’re core memories that I have and hope my children will have with their grandparents.

So this summer I’m doing a lot of grandparent/grandchild photo sessions. 25% of each photo session is going to the Heart and Stroke Foundation because my grandfather had a stroke which altered his life afterward and my dad had a pacemaker/defibrillator installed after a series of heart episodes. If it wasn’t for the work of the Heart and Stroke Foundation to date I know their stories would have ended differently.

I kicked off the season with this first grandparent session at the beach! Grandma M came to visit from the East Coast so it was so special that we got to photograph them playing together at the beach. I imagine it’s so hard to only see your grandbabies a couple times a year so when Mama J inquired about gifting her mom a session I was so excited cause I hope they’re memories they’ll cherish forever!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Cake Smash Portrait Session | Baby K | Kelowna, BC

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I met Baby K’s mom at a Valentines mom walk. Turns out we were in the hospital at the same time! Baby K was born a few days after V and as we went on more walks it turns out our families are quite close and go pretty far back. So when Baby K’s mama invited us to her birthday party and asked me to photograph her cake smash I was so excited to be part of that special day!

Are you throwing your tiny baby a first birthday celebration? I’d love to be a fly on the wall and photograph the big milestone so you can be present and have memories to look back on. Give me a shout at robynnemacleod@gmail.com if you’re interested in booking me for a birthday and/or cake smash!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Cake Smash Portrait Session | Baby V | Kelowna, BC

My little girl is one years old! For her cake smash we went to the beach and I made her a pancake cake to smash with real whipped cream! She was more interested in eating the sand than the cake but oh well!!

The cake topper fit perfectly with her “One Wildflower” theme we had all weekend and created by KCandCoCrafts in Kelowna, BC. The floral plate with the gold lining I bought at Michaels. V’s birthday t-shirt I hand embroidered and said “It Is My Birthday.” and was inspired by one of our favourite TV shows The Office.

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Cake Smash Portrait Session | Baby B | Kelowna, BC

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Baby B you’re a wild one! He was more into the decorations than the cake but we still got some super cute photos for your first birthday!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Choosing the Time of Day for your Family Portraits Outside

Recently I had a mama ask me what time of day to book for family portraits outside, so let’s chat about it!

The Simple Answer - GOLDEN HOUR!!

The simple, straightforward answer is during what photographers call “golden hour”. It’s the time of day 1-2 hours before sunset and after sunrise where the sun is fairly low in the sky, it’s broken the horizon and it casts a beautiful glow on the earth.

When the sun rises too high in the sky as found later in the day it creates harsh shadows on your face which is why many photographers when shooting portraits outside will avoid this time of day.

Take a look at some examples of portraits taken outside during golden hour!

On this day there was very little cloud coverage so it was quite golden after sunrise.

On this day there was quite a bit of cloud coverage which resulted in a slight overcast morning so the golden light isn’t quite as strong.

Other Factors We Consider:

Type of Weather

The type of weather does play an influencing factor in the timing process.

You’re trying to avoid those harsh lines from the sun so on overcast days the lighting is quite even and you don’t encounter those same harsh lines as you would if you were to shoot at the same time of day the next day but in direct sun.

So, on overcast days you could photograph later in the day.

Take for example these examples of photos. The first row was taken around 10:30 in the morning and the second row was taken around 2:00 in the afternoon. Generally, on sunny days I would avoid this time of day because the sun is very high in the sky and we would get those really harsh shadows but on this day it was overcast so we had nice even lighting. It also helped that we were photographing at a beach so the sand acted as a natural reflector to lighten some of those shadows you do get.

Weather in the Okanagan

I was born and raised here in the Okanagan. Out of the almost 28 years that I’ve been walking this earth, 26 have been in Kelowna.

The fall and winter is full of overcast days with the fall spotting more and more sunnier days. The spring is a mix bag of days - one week you’ll have pure hot, sunshine from day break to the end. The next week you’ll encounter dark, rainy days. Then you have the combination days where it pours in the morning but sunshine in the afternoon.

Summer is where I find the weather gets a little more consistent. Spring is spotted with confusing weather patterns but summer is when the days are long and beautiful. Sunshine far outweighs the rainy days.

One caveat, however, is…smoke in the summer.

The Okanagan is susceptible to smoke from wildfire season. Being a valley the smoke tends to sit and settle unless wind or rain dampens it.

I do like to look for the silver lining and although a heavy smoke day is not ideal because we have beautiful mountains and lakes but when the smoke lightens it can create at atmospheric effect to the portraits that are quite beautiful.

Your Tiny One

I have an almost one year old and when she was about 10.5 months I did a set of portraits for my dad that featured my mom and her mom (my grandma). We aimed to meet for 8:00-8:30 in the morning. It was very difficult getting us out the door that early and she wasn’t very happy during her portraits (except when she was on the swings or the slide).

Her happiest time is typically after her first nap or second nap but not in the morning.

Knowing this I understand that getting out for golden hour in the morning or staying out late for golden hour before sunset is tricky sometimes.

I also understand that when you’re trying to work your day around your tiny one’s nap schedules it can get really difficult.

We have to do what’s best for your family and your tiny one so if portraits in the middle of the day is what is required then we’ll make it work. Maybe we’ll look for a location that offers some open shade, maybe we’ll reschedule the photoshoot for a day that offers more overcast than sunny.

I want to make the family portrait experience fun for you and your tiny one so coordinating a time that is best for you and your family is important!

Don’t worry if this is a lot to consider! The quickest way to figure out what time of day for your family portraits is to ask your photographer and work with them.

I hope you found this article helpful in your search for answering what time of day should I book a family portrait session outside!

If you’re curious about booking me for a family photo session please send me an email at robynnemacleod@gmail.com. I’d love to answer any and all questions you may have.

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

What to Wear to Your Family Portraits | 5 Tips on Planning your Outfits

What do I wear to my upcoming family portrait session?! 

Choosing an outfit to wear can be both difficult and fun. Here are some tips for picking out outfits for your family photos.

Tip #1: Be Intentional with your Color Scheme

Most people are aware of ‘complimentary colors’ on the color wheel - they are colors that compliment each other. For example, blue’s compliment oranges.

On the other side you have ‘monochrome colors’ these are colors that are in the same palette. For example, different variations of the same color.

If you want a classic, timeless look to your photos sticking with a neutral color palette is always a great place to start. Think color palette that doesn’t make a huge statement or largely timestamp when the photos was taken - white, creams, blue’s, blacks, navy.

If you want to get creative and adventurous with your families outfit play around with complimentary and monochrome colors.

Tip #2: Start with One Person

Some like to plan their own outfit first and then plan their child(rens) outfits around theres. I personally do the opposite, I like to start with my daughter. There’s usually a dress or sweater that I really want her to wear for the photos. After I know what she is going to wear I’ll work my outfit around hers and then work on my husbands.

Tip #3: Wear Something You Feel Confident and Good In

If you’re sorting through your wardrobe and you find some pieces that could work but you’re not sure if you’re ABSOLUTELY LOVING IT ON like you feel good, you feel amazing, you feel like it is highlighting the parts of you that you love and you’re not self conscious about the parts you don’t love then my honest advice would be to get something that you do ABSOLUTELY LOVE ON. I know that if I’m self conscious in what I’m wearing then I’m likely not going to love the photos so I’d rather go and get something I do love. 

Tip #4: Coordinate vs. Match

Do you coordinate your outfits or match? This is super tricky because I love both!

If you’re going to coordinate go back to the earlier tip about starting with one person. For example, if Person A is wearing denim and a blue patterned top then maybe put your first child in denim and a solid blue top and your second child in a blue patterned outfit and maybe your partner is wearing denim and a solid blue top.

On the flip side you have matching. I’m sorry but matching mama and baby girl dresses or outfits are super cute.

If you want a mix of both coordinating and matching then put the focus somewhere. For example, I love for our family portraits (especially seasonal ones) to put my husband and I in matching outfits and then our daughter in a complimentary outfit.

Tip #5: Layer

Layering pieces is always a great way to mix up your photos during a session. For example, at the start of the session maybe mama is wearing a jacket or cardigan and the kids aren’t, towards the middle you pop your jacket/cardigan off and pop one on your kids.

Have fun planning your outfits for the next family photoshoot. Hope you found a useful tip in todays article!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

Mama's for Mama's | A Community of Moms and Caregivers

I knew when I was brainstorming for my Motherhood portrait sessions I wanted a component of the session to support Mama’s for Mama’s. So, I hopped on a phone call with their Director of Marketing and Partnerships to get more details on who they are and how they help the community of mama’s in the Kelowna area. This is our chat…

What is Mama’s for Mama’s?

Mama’s for Mama’s is a non-profit organization that is designed to provide help to caregivers and mom’s. The organization is growing across Canada with Kelowna being where they started.

Every Mama’s for Mama’s is slightly different because they’re grown from the bottom up. First, they’re invited into a city where one of their first steps is to figure out what resources are already there and refer out first. After they may build a program around a gap and existing resources. They do it this way so they don’t duplicate resources.

Mama’s for Mama’s in Kelowna

Kelowna is where Mama’s for Mama’s started!

In Kelowna, they have four locations - clinical space (where their social workers work), Karma Market (kind of like a donations storefront), the Farm (where they seed to harvest produce), and the Warehouse (where they sort larger donations for distribution).

Kelowna’s Mama’s for Mama’s has some pillar programs that run throughout the year such as their Fill the Gap Program and the Back to School Program. Along with some groups that are currently online but are working out different ways to bring them in-person such as their Young Mama and their Grief and Loss Support Group.

You then have seasonal programs such as their Christmas Program, Sustainable Nourishment and their part in Mothers Day where they take on a third party role in a lot of events.

Admin Rate

Something that is important to me whenever I am looking into supporting a non-profit is figuring out what their funding structure looks like. Specifically how much of my donation is actually going to the program or cause that I’m trying to support.

With many non-profit’s there is some sort of ‘Admin Rate’ that takes care of accounting, utilities, and overall keeping the establishment running. Non-profits that have 100% of the donations going into the program usually have private donors that cover their operating costs.

Mama’s for Mama’s admin rate is 17% which means 83% of the donations received go into the programs that help moms in that community.

The 2023 Limited Edition Motherhood Portraits and Mama’s for Mama’s

When I was creating my Motherhood portraits it was really important to me that I give back. That I help where I can.

So, for this years Motherhood portraits 25% of each session will be going to the Kelowna - Mama’s for Mama’s as a general donation. I’m making it a ‘general donation’ so Mama’s for Mama’s can identify where the money is the best fit.

Update: Thank you for the mamas that supported the 2023 Motherhood portrait sessions! A donation of $75 was made to the Kelowna Mamas for Mamas on May 11th.

If you want to learn more about Mama’s for Mama’s, become a volunteer, or maybe you have a program, offering or want to form a partnership with Mama’s for Mama’s check out their website!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!

How to Download Your Photos from Cloud Spot

Cloud Spot is an online gallery that delivers photos from me to you in a really fast and easy way. 

I do my very best to get your gallery to you within two weeks of the photoshoot date. 

When your photos are ready you’ll receive an email from me. To download your photos from Cloud Spot when they’re ready follow these steps:

1) Open the email from me

2) Scroll and hit ‘VIEW GALLERY’

3) At the bottom center of the screen a button should prompt you to ‘ENTER’

4) Enter your first name, last name and email address.

5) On the main screen you have three options - share, favourite and download.

6) To download, select the download button

NOTE: I recommend downloading all the photos from your gallery when you receive the email. Galleries on Cloud Spot are not permanent and do expire.

7) You may be prompted to enter the download pin (pin is in the email that was sent to you)

8) Select either ‘All Photos’, “SOCIAL MEDIA” or “HIGH RES” to download and enter your email address.

Voila, that’s it! Enjoy your family photos, post them on social media for family to see, print your favourites and just treasure them forever!

Kelowna Family Photographer

I’m a Kelowna Family Photographer. My mission to you is to document your motherhood and create treasurable memories for yourself and your kids. To get in touch about all things motherhood and family photography head to my contact page!