Photographer Feature: Q&A with Brittany Olander

Photographer Feature: Brittany Olander

Hi, I’m Brittany.  I’m a mom of three, married to my high school sweetheart.  We live in chilly Minnesota, but I dream of summer all year round.  I’m a big believer that motherhood deserves more than a selfie. As moms, we are often so busy doing all the things for our family, and yet we’re often left out of the photos.  My hope is for mothers to feel seen and adored in my work, because they were there too.

Photographer Feature: Brittany Olander

What’s your favorite thing to photograph?

My specialty is definitely photos of moms and their babies in the flowers 🙂  I am especially drawn to maternity and newborn sessions.  

What’s your favorite time of day to shoot, and why? 

I LOVE and highly recommend morning sessions.  I find that little ones are much fresher in the morning (especially versus the late evening golden hour in the summer) and I love the clean morning light.

Photographer Feature: Brittany Olander

What photography task do you hate the most?

Ohh, definitely having to be a part time weather person!  Tracking the weather and bearing bad news about potential reschedules due to the weather is the worst. 

What behind the scenes task do you love the most?

I love LOVE helping with wardrobe.  I think it can be so tricky to understand for people who don’t do photography everyday, even those who consider themselves “fashionable”, to understand how things photograph and look cohesive together, and styling families is one of my favorite things. 

Photographer Feature: Brittany Olander

What is a choice you’ve made that has had the greatest impact on your business, or your health/happiness as a business owner?

Once I realized how much I preferred morning sessions (instead of evening), and educated my clients about the benefits of them, photography as my career became SO MUCH better for my family.  Being able to shoot in the morning, then edit while my kids are at school means not giving up evenings with my family.  I’m also a morning person, and (I truly think most kids are morning people) so I just think everyone is just a little more fresh in the morning!

What’s your unpopular opinion about the photo industry?

I think any photographer who just focuses on cute photos of the KIDS is definitely at a disadvantage.  Flattering women is such an important skill-  at the end of the day, if mom doesn’t look beautiful in the photo, sorry, but it’s going in the trash! 

Photographer Feature: Brittany Olander

Untethered Family Photography Publication | Q&A with Brittany Olander | Education and encouragement for family and newborn photographers

---