Gralyn J. Photography

  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......

 Last weekend I was photographing a wedding and my husband was invited as a guest. Often times he will help me with switching lenses, packing my bag or backgrounds etc. He kept me laughing all day, as did the wedding party, and on our drive home I looked at him and said, “Don’t ever change”. It took me a moment when I really stopped and thought about that phrase, “Don’t ever change”. I had meant it in a kind way, a way of love and appreciation as he makes me smile and keeps everything light even in stressful situations. But as I thought more about it I realized how confining that term was.  Don’t Change. That’s scary. As much as I’d like to think that change is scary, not changing is even worse. I look back at myself even just two years ago and recognize how much I have changed for the better since then. I am far more outgoing, can strike up conversations with just about anyone, and business practices- Forget about it. I wouldn’t be where I am in my business if I hadn’t grown ...

I have come across a lot of different situations while taking photos but there is one thing that everyone neglected to warn me about when I continued on with taking clients. It came as quite a shock to me when I realized it, as it had never crossed my mind before, photography was always such a happy occasion for me... A few years back I was looking through a newspaper (wow, I know, people still read!), and I was about to set it down when I noticed a photo that looked very farmiliar to me. My mom had taken it, it was a smiling older gentleman who I just knew as "grandpa" from my first bride (My first time photographing a wedding was with this lovely woman). He was a kind man from the small amount I had gathered from his family and it broke my heart when I noticed that this lovely photo was placed in the Obituary section.    At this point, however many years ago, it did not hit me all that hard, people age and eventually they pass on. Grandpa had lived an incredibly full lif...

  Let's dive into the questions I get the most on a weekly basis! I do have a FAQ space on my website but I like to have things posted in more than just one spot so that they are easy to find. Starting from Least to Most popular; 1. Will my Wedding Photos have watermarks on them? NO. You have already paid for my services to capture your special day, this means that no watermark will be present on the high-resolution images that you receive from me. I do (with the clients consent) post some watermarked images on my social media for other couples to see, but your images from me are yours to print and share logo free. 2. Will we receive all of the images taken from our wedding? How many are included? Yes! I believe that clients should receive all of the images taken on the day (this goes for family, equine, lifestyle etc.). The number of images you receive will depend on how long you have allotted to have me at your wedding. Most of my couples end up with between 400-600 images a...

Many of you have seen my Slogan on one page or another, but the vast majority of people assume that I only photograph one genre or another. I am not exaggerating when I say "I'll Shoot Anything". I have an absolute love of all photography genres and am always up for new and exciting angles. This will be for all those who are new to my page, all those who are curious, and all those searching for a passionate photographer. I’ll just jump right into EVERYTHING that I shoot based around people. Aside from this list I also photograph barns, both wild and domestic critters, macro images including flowers and snowflakes, landscapes, arachnids and much more. Babies Boudoir Branding Couples Commercial Engagement Family Graduation Headshots Lifestyle Maternity Modelling Fur Babies Rodeo Sports/Teams Volunteer Events Weddings Whimsical And anything else you could imagine! I love what ...