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Photographer gives precious memories
as tribute to her grandfather

March 8th, 2017

Susie O’Connor has great memories of visiting with her Grandpa Herold Kern at Points West Living Cold Lake. She got to know and love the community, and after her grandfather passed away in July of last year, Susie wanted to give something back. Her gift is one of precious memories in the form of professional portraits. 

“I realized I had captured profound images…”

“Six months before Grandpa Kern passed away, I took his portrait,” explains Susie. “It wasn’t a long session but it was a meaningful one to me. Afterwards I realized I had captured profound images of my handsome 96 year old grandfather that we are going to cherish forever.” That’s when she decided to offer that same gift to other families at PWL Cold Lake.

Photo studio in a sitting room

So on March 2, accompanied by her father and business partner George Fraser of Images Studios in Cold Lake, Susie set up a portrait studio in the sitting room at PWL Cold Lake.

Volunteer Tanya Young took the day off work to help get residents looking their best. “Doing this feels good and is nourishing to my soul,” Tanya said, during the portrait sessions. “This is the anniversary of my mother’s passing and I wish I had a photo of my mom like the ones Susie is doing now.”

Susie will prepare the photos over the next few weeks and create complementary 5 x 7 prints from each of the 20 photo sessions. She offered us a sneak peak of one of the fun photos (photo above). It was Irene Axani’s birthday, so recreation coordinator Heather Mitchelmore whipped out to get the celebratory balloons Irene’s family had brought the day before.

Uplifting day

“It was such an uplifting day for me,” says Heather. “It was great to see the residents smiling and laughing and just enjoying themselves. We tried to incorporate the residents’ personalities into their photos. Nellie our cat even cooperated and sat with one resident while he got his picture. Husbands and wives were together and the ideas kept flowing throughout the sessions.”

“Please print your images”

Susie adds that with digital photos so easy to take and tuck away, we risk losing memorable ones, “Please print your images," she says. "Hire a professional photographer to capture your family’s legacy. You owe it to the next generation and generations to come.”

Photo: Images Studios' portrait day at PWL Cold Lake was also Irene Axani’s birthday

More photos at Flickr: Professional photographer gives precious memories as tribute to her grandfather

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