Best of Red Deer: Snaphappy Photographer voted best shooter in Red Deer<\/p>\n
Published 7:30 am Friday, July 3, 2026<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused separation and isolation, but photographer Kim Mortimer saw families come together through the viewfinder of her camera while taking porch portraits with a zoom lens.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor about two months I did that, just having a ball. It just brought some fun and connection,\u201d Mortimer said about the photos she provided for free to more than 120 families in Red Deer and elsewhere in central Alberta who posed on their porches or stoops.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was laid off during COVID like the rest of the world. I didn\u2019t know if I was going to get the call-back, so I just leaned into my camera and went bananas with it,\u201d she smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porch portraits remain a service Mortimer provides, now for a fee, through her business The Snaphappy <\/a>Photographer<\/a>, which she started in July 2021.<\/p>\n With a background in the non-profit sector and fundraising, she said her experience developing relationships as part of her former job has served her well to help evolve her business.<\/p>\n Previously, Mortimer did a lot of cellphone photography. But that changed after a friend gifted her the camera he bought to take photos at a wedding, which was just gathering dust in his closet.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gave it to me, and I killed it with so many photos,\u201d said Mortimer about the camera that helped launch Snaphappy.<\/p>\n Mortimer has remained a \u201cpeople photographer\u201d with her camera poised to catch reactions and expressions that tell the story.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know when you\u2019ve got it,\u201d she said about images that capture the moment.<\/p>\n Through brand photography, Mortimer works with businesses and organizations so they can share what goes on behind the scenes. The majority want the images for social media content or website development.<\/p>\n \u201cMy bread and butter is individuals working in their space. The inner workings of a business.\u201d<\/p>\n She said often when companies grow, the images they show the public are dated, especially if they have been in business for a long time.<\/p>\n Her work in central Alberta keeps her busy, but she has also been hired to take her camera equipment to Calgary.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll see me prowling around backstage at the symphonies that I work with because they want to promote the musicians. The personalities behind the music.\u201d<\/p>\n Photographing festive events are another of Mortimer\u2019s favourite jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cEvents are fun because there\u2019s lots of personalities, energy and atmosphere,\u201d said the photographer who was thrilled to be named Best Photography in the Best of Red Deer Readers\u2019 Choice Awards 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Best of Red Deer: Snaphappy Photographer voted best shooter in Red Deer Published 7:30 am Friday, July 3,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-777878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}