Gralyn J. Photography

 Parents! It could be your first Christmas or your third with your little one- But photos are always so cute with them and they make a lovely lasting memory.  It’s our first Christmas with our little man and of course I wanted to do some Christmas themed photos with him (Usually I only have the dogs, cats and horses to bug for these).  The best part about these photos is they’re SO easy and if you want to do them yourself you don’t even need anything fancy.  I started at the dollar store. They have Christmas stockings, hats, boxes, bows, little ornaments- Anything you might want to make your vision happen. All I did was grab a handful of stuff I had from photoshoots past, set up a white sheet backdrop, and scatter some ornaments. This first photo was particularly tough because our little guy is sensitive to everything right now and took a long time to sleep soundly enough to get this shot.  You can play with coloured backgrounds, or just keep it solid. Remember,...

Photo by Krystina Lynn Photography  When Caleb and I got engaged the first question that many people asked was “Are you pregnant?”. Let’s backtrack a ways… Caleb has been my best friend since we were in grade 7. We met in middle school and became quickly inseparable. He moved away for about a year and it was one of the dullest years of my life. We went through high school together, branding pens, nights out, double dates (he with his girlfriend and me with my boyfriend). He was my short friend and I was his chubby friend (my words, not his).   After we graduated I stayed around the Okanagan and applied to schools there. He moved to Alberta. We talked daily, like we always had and the days we didn’t chat we always made sure to catch up later in the week. He came back to the Okanagan to visit his family and seeing him again made me realize that I didn’t want to be without him ever again. Life fell into place when he went back to Alberta and quickly realized the same thing about ...

  Let’s talk about dogs for a minute.   There’s a lot of judgement about dog people, and people who aren’t dog people. I think that’s a bit silly.  Digging a bit deeper into dog and non dog people for a moment… Some people had dogs when they were younger and decided they were a lot of work, so they will stick with just one. Some rescue. Some try to have a dog and can’t due to underlying medical reasons. Some adopt other people’s dogs because they couldn’t find their own. Some have many dogs. Some foster puppy’s until they find great homes. Some have no dogs. Some just don’t like dogs.  What I’m saying is, if you’re a dog person that’s wonderful and if you’re not a dog person that’s also wonderful. But if someone isn’t a dog person, or can’t find that perfect puppy, don’t pester them. Maybe there’s hurt around losing a puppy that you don’t know about.  You just never know.  If you’ve made it this far you’ll know I’m not talking about “dogs”. It’s so importan...

     In 2022 my husband called me crazy for second-guessing the trip of a lifetime. A friend I had met when she lived in the Okanagan for a brief time, was getting married- In New Zealand, in Hobbiton. She sent me a message to put a bug in my ear about the date.       I immediately got nervous. I couldn't be on a plane for that long, that's 13 hours. New Zealand is an island.  That's a long way from home. What about the funds? I felt sick and my brain went a million miles a minute. My husband stopped me in my tracks and said if the bride was serious and we could swing it, he would make sure I got to New Zealand. 

  This is a general plea to people getting started in photography, as well as those who are seasoned and branching into other genres they may not be familiar with.   I’m niching down to specifically Equine events here, if I went into the Weddings “rabbit hole” I’d be in Wonderland a long time.  PLEASE. Take some time to learn and know what you’re shooting. You don’t need to have 15 years of experience, but if you’re unsure- ASK. The equine world is fragile because of the animals involved.  Using rodeo as a prime example, we are never getting rid of the naysayers, and we will never be able to inform those who just don’t want to learn. Things get worse when those who are inexperienced or naive about these sports get cameras.  Keep in mind that the people in your photos have feelings and everyone sees things differently. Animals involved especially! I ask constantly if I can post buck-offs if they look rough, I will never post one if someone gets hurt and I won’t e...

 Long time no chat!  It's been a very busy last few months and there's no doubt been some feathers ruffled. I do my best to keep everyone happy and sometimes life doesn't work out the way everyone wants it to. I like to encourage and help as much as I possibly can, but there is only so much you can do when someone doesn't take advice- No matter how blunt.  Let's roll right into this. I spend time with a great number of photographers and have a good list of "safe" shooters. These are the people I will gladly be seen working with, representing their brand and recommending them to people in their areas, or if I am unavailable in my area. Recently though there have been the odd few that like to push just a bit too hard, so I thought I could tackle that in a way that wraps everything up with nice little bow, but doesn't sound rude or single people out in any way. If you are interacting with people and they have a photographer for something- Leave. Them. Alo...

  This may be a no-brainer to many, but for those new photographers, photographers who have never been asked, or clients who haven't heard of this moral no-no, here we go! In the past I worked for a number of companies where clients of photographers *who will obviously remain nameless* would come in and ask (beg) that we fix either very small or very large and obvious mistakes in their images. Examples of these issues would be crop lines, uneven colours, holes in the image (yes I mean an eraser tool), and so many other things. One of the worst ones I encountered was from a big name photographer in the area I was working in,  they had attempted to combine two images (I assume) and left a HUGE line down the side of the image. The bride stormed into the little shop and was in complete hysterics, telling us how they had ruined their special day and they paid X amount for horribly done images, unprofessionalism and poor editing.  If I had been on my own I would have said no......