meet Irina
ONE DAY, YOU’LL LOVE THESE MEMORIES
MOST OF ALL.
You'll remember the messy hair, the worn-out pj's, and stepping on Legos (again). They'll remember how it felt when you laughed with them, hugged them, and cheered them on. What if they could see that, too?
Real life is more than gathering hearts on Instagram and Pinterest; it’s the feeling behind the visual. It's gathering the hearts of the people who mean the most to you: your family. Photographs tell the story of who you are, together, when you forget there's a camera in the room.
A good photographer makes it seem like you're hanging out with a friend with a camera. I'm Irina Fortey, and I'm that friend.
I make photographs of real life for real families, like yours.
Let's be honest. You can take pictures. Your phone is probably chock-full of images of your littles. So why hire me?
Because when you're the one waiting for the moment to happen, you're not in that moment. And it's important for your kids to see you there.
The camera never lies; by putting yourself in the picture, you get to see the magic that happens when you relax and just enjoy yourselves. The candid moments that you think of as “just a regular day” are the memories you’ll want to return to again and again.
Somewhere between the humdrum and the ordinary is your extraordinary. I specialize in blending those elements to make what might otherwise seem insignificant feel like your own personal family brand.
So for your kids' sake, put yourself in the picture—because their memories are based on the experiences they have with you, not just with you taking the pictures.
Documenting your real life is my specialty. And it all began at the airport.
I'm fascinated with photography; I've studied both the creative and scientific reasons behind it. While earning my B.A. in business and economics at York University, I worked at a consumer and professional photo lab and grew increasingly captivated with the way an image can freeze a slice of time and preserve history. After graduation, I completed the Photography Studies Program at Ryerson University and came to understand the art behind an emotional image.
But I didn't truly come to understand the power of a photograph until I came across a photo from 1990 of 7-year-old me with my grandparents at the airport in Bulgaria; my family was moving to Canada and that image holds the moment everything changed for all of us. As we settled in our new country, I knew I was no longer the same person who looked back at me from that image.
There were days when that picture felt like my lifeline, connecting me to my roots and reminding me that I was loved by my family—even those far away. Finding that image again was my awakening: I knew I wanted other people to have that same sense of connectedness to their loved ones. And since 2007, I’ve done just that, photographing over 100 families in Toronto and Ottawa.
I shoot film because nostalgia is inspired by the tangible, and I want to give you something you can truly hold onto. I believe that memories are the architecture of our identities, and there's nothing sweeter than holding a photograph and getting lost in the reflection of who you really were in that moment.
Photographs are the roadmaps that help shape us into the people we are constantly becoming.
In my teens, I thought it was cheesy that my dad, a hobby photographer, would make us take photos to share with family back home, but his words went straight to my heart: “You matter to your loved ones, and one day, you will love these memories more than life.”
Even if you've never been comfortable in front of the camera, you're panicked your kids will misbehave, or are worried your house isn't photo-worthy, I can promise you that you'll appreciate all of it a little more when you see the ways you connect.
The pictures they’ll love the most will be the ones with all of you in them, in the candid moments that take you right back to who you are right here, right now.
I’ll help you keep today close at heart (and hand) in images you can feel—for the love of your family.
Give them the gift they'll return to for a lifetime.
Because one day, seeing the way you were will become their greatest treasure.