Gralyn J. Photography

This recipe is better than salt dough! I’ve been looking for something for the last few years and this year I finally found one.  1/2 cup corn starch 1 cup baking soda 3/4 cup water Put it all in a pot over medium-high heat. Mix continuously until a dough forms. When all of the water is absorbed, put it onto a cutting board and use a spatula to squish it into dough.  Wrap it in Saran Wrap and let it sit about 10 minutes to cool.  Then you can roll it out on parchment paper and make your ornaments! Don’t forget a straw to make a hole if you want to hang them.  Put on parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 170° for an hour to an hour and a half.  Flip and repeat to get rid of moisture.  When they’re done and cooled you can paint them or leave them as is. I painted this one and sealed it with Mod Podge.  You can use this for babies, pets or just use cookie cutters to have some new ornaments to paint!

 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......

 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 ...

This piece is going to be all about Maternity! Maternity sessions are so much fun and so beautiful, but they can be stressful to plan. I have started to get more inquiries for Maternity sessions this year and have been getting more and more questions from my expecting Mumma's.This post should clear up a lot of questions that you may have so that you go into your session feeling excited and prepared. Here are some common questions: 1. When should I book my session for? This is a *very* big questions, especially from first time Moms. You will want to book your session between 30 and 34 weeks of your pregnancy. If you are having twins you will not want to wait until you're ready to pop, for my Twin parents I would recommend around 20-25 weeks. Every woman is different and we need to keep that in mind. Some may be uncomfortable and not up for a shoot at 34 weeks, while others may want to do theirs closer to their due date so their bump shows more. Pay attention to how you...

I have learned a lot in the ten years that I have been doing professional grade photos. I could go on and on about how I got started but then I would be contributing to the blogs that make you scoll endlessly until you find the actual information in them- That's not this blog. I had a family photo session at the Armstrong pumpkin patch and after having an absolute BLAST with these wonderful people my sister-in-law, who was involved in the family photos, started posing for me. I took a handful of photos and went through them, not really sure what I was looking for, but just wanting them to be as beautiful as they were in my head. After capturing this one, I looked over it and wasn't happy with how it looked on my screen. I moved, got down into the dirt and told Tamieka to do exactly what she had before, but look down instead of out over the patch. It changed the entire "feeling" of the image! Instead of losing my subject in the background I was able to fixate on he...

Anyone who says that you need a studio to be a photographer is trying to sell you a studio- But in all seriousness, you do not NEED a studio in order to be a good photographer. A perfect example of this is a shoot I did back in December of 2020. My cousin and his wife had a baby! They wanted some baby photos done, and as per my motto "I'll Shoot Anything", I thought I would try my hand at newborn photos. This is a tough example to work with, and I am just realizing that now, because babies are SO particular during their shoots. Crank the heat and play Hawaii for a bit, because babies like it warm! Any guesses on where I took the above photo? In my cousin's home, on their air hockey table- Yes, you read that correctly, AIR HOCKEY TABLE. I didn't have any fancy light systems, a special room for it all, or my own private studio. I was winging it. Baby was only 7 days old when we did the shoot, which is right in the window of when you want to do newborn shoots, u...