A little about me

Hi, My name is Mandy McLelland, Im a mom to 3 beautiful kids, and a wife to my high school sweetheart. I have an absolute love, and passion for capturing brilliant lifestyle photography. My style is laid back and fun. A go with the moment kinda girl.

Going back to the heart of my passion, I was recently asked by one of my teachers, why? What is you're why? Why photography, and it has really got me thinking. I took pictures before I had kids, I loved photographing things, scenery and animals etc... But it wasn't until my kids were born that I wanted to document every little crinkle and roll in their skin, the tiny hairs on their backs, the tiny little toes on the chubby little feet, The first time they made a huge mess with spaghetti, the first smile, the first steps... the magic of being little, seeing, hearing and learning things. 

I was good with a camera, I took nice pictures but I wanted more. I wanted to be better, I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to capture moments for families. I wasn't good at posing people but I was good at directing and setting the mood.

I grew up in a family of 4, mom dad, me and my older sister. We never had professional family photos done, and it was a very rare occasion that we had any photos of the 4 of us together.... in fact other than my wedding I don't think we did.

February of 2010 I was in Coquitlam visiting my family, My mom, dad, sister, my brother in law and my niece. I had my camera and I insisted we go to the beach for family photos. I would take them, my husband would take some of the 4 of us and we would just have fun. Let me tell you know how much I value these photos. 2 months later my dad became terminally ill, diagnosed with leukaemia. Let me just say "FUCK YOU CANCER" pardon my language, but cancer is a real BITCH. I am me, I am real, I am not typically foul mouthed but that needed to be said. Anyway here is my "WHY" ... why? Because these is nothing more precious in this world than our lives and our loved ones. We will never be as young as we are today, this moment. I have gotten so lost in the perfect poses that I have forgotten entirely why I am doing this. I don't want poses, I want emotion. I want feeling, connection and genuine real moments. I will guide and direct but never want to ask kids to " Please just look and smile" ever again. These photos I am sharing with you below are part of my WHY. The first one is my family of 4, My mom, my dad, me and my big sister. It is the only family photo we have and the only family photo we will ever have. The 2 following it are us digging the hole for my dads memorial tree, and us heading to the river to release his ashes. The last 2 are my mom and dad on the day we did the family photo. The ones in-between are the loves of my life

Recently I realized my dad is my why.. My kids, my family, you, your family, it is all my why. I encourage you, please make family photos a priority. I thank everyone of you for your loyalty and support, and love. You are not my clients, you are truly my appreciated friends