Before Christmas Michael spent an evening with the Douglas family, which is a pretty huge extended family! He even ended up staying for a big family dinner with them. This family didn’t want only ‘normal’ family photos, they wanted to have something fun and show off their warm personalities.
Quite a few new babies joined us in studio just before the holidays! Owen marks the 5th time we’ve had the pleasure of photographing Amanda & Foster in their young lives, and we’re looking forward to more family photos in the spring.
This darling girl just turned 1! She is the apple of her mommy and daddy’s eye, and she’s growing into such a little lady. Happy birthday Kennedy!
This is one of my favourites from the shoot – Kennedy had a little cry at some point (as kids are known to do) and Mom was there. Such a sweet moment between the two of them.
The Parker family were the lucky winners of a package that we donated to Fashion With Compassion last year. Along with a portrait session and print from us, they also received dinner and drinks at Zaika Bistro, a style session with L2 Style, and hair and makeup by Sunita Sumaru. This was such a fun session, and everyone looked fabulous. Like us, they operate a family business and that keeps them very busy, so capturing memories of their kids is really important to them.
I’m going to squeeze in one more blog post for today – these kids were very cute with very spunky personalities as I’m sure you can see.
Here is an extended family shoot from earlier in the summer. We’ve loved working with so many extended families this year! It is also reminding me that we need to get one done for our family soon… This shoot was done right near the parents’ house, which will hold special memories for this family.
Families come in all shapes and sizes. When thinking about how we can give back, we thought about our own family, and issues that have been important in our lives. Through our business we’ve donated to the Stollery, the Cross Cancer, and our local neighbourhood playground. We decided this year to highlight adoption, and newly formed families.
This is something that is personal to me (Haley) because I am actually adopted, although not in the conventional sense. My dad has been my dad since I was very young. I love him as a dad, I call him dad, but legally he was my ‘step-dad’. I cringe at even typing that because it doesn’t describe the relationship we had. When I was 25, we found out my dad had cancer. Before he passed away, I filed all of the paperwork for him to legally adopt my brother and me. It’s just a piece of paper, but it is so important to me to know that we made everything official, especially now that he is gone.
Adult adoptions are just one form of adoption, and we want to celebrate all of the newly formed families in Edmonton! Along with Edie from Small Miracles Adoption and JoyFoley Sweets we have planned the Shandro Photo Adoption Celebration, with proceeds going to Adoption By Choice. As it happens, November is Adoption Month!
How it works: Pre-book your portrait session by printing and completing the registration form here. We will have 15 minute spots available between 10 am and 4 pm. The cost of $25 includes a portrait session in our studio, and an 8×10 print.
* YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE ADOPTED A CHILD TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS FUNDRAISER CELEBRATION * We still have a few spots available.
Before and after your portrait session we invite you to stay and mingle with other families. Refreshments will be provided along with gift bags for the kids and a sweets buffet!
In addition to our November 3rd sessions, for any family who pre-books a portrait session with us in the month of November (the session can happen later than that) we will donate an additional $50 per booking to Adoption By Choice.
If you have adopted a child, or know a family who has, please let them know about this event.
*This event is now open for all families to book!* Please note that in order to ensure the comfort of all of our families sessions are by appointment only.
This adorable young family bid on an item we donated to a silent auction, and Michael was delighted to photograph them!
If you’re thinking of booking family photos, the time is now! We only have a few dates left available for fall family session. Please contact us (info@shandrophoto.com) to secure your date.
Tina is gorgeous, confident, and funny. And did I mention she’s a model? She wanted a portrait session just for herself, which I think is an awesome idea. We were even able to turn a freak hailstorm into something useful – she loved shooting in the rain.
Here is a look at some of the families we’ve been photographing this summer!
