Every business has a story behind its name. Ours starts long before there was a business, long before there was a studio, and long before there were clients. It starts with Hayley.
From taking photos on her very first phone, to high school photography classes, and later studying professionally at VanArts, one theme kept appearing in critiques. The words changed, but the meaning never really did. “You see things differently.” “That’s an interesting perspective.” “I never would have noticed that.” “You have a unique way of looking at the world.”
No one actually said the words not normal. But every critique circled around the same idea. Hayley simply didn’t see the world the way most people did. One evening while talking about her photography, we just stumbled upon it while trying to find the perfect description. “It’s just… not normal.”
The name stuck immediately. Not because it sounded clever. Because it was true.
At first, we thought the name simply described the way Hayley saw the world. But after photographing so many people—from business owners needing professional headshots to families, actors, athletes and creatives—we realised something... Very few people actually fit inside the boxes society quietly expects them to. The normal smile. The normal body. The normal family. The normal career. The normal business owner. The normal way to stand in front of a camera. And honestly? That’s what makes people interesting.
The things that make us different are so often the things that make us memorable. Then we realised something else. The name didn’t just describe Hayley’s way of seeing the world. It also described us.
We’re a mother-and-daughter team who have spent years doing life together—just the two of us. We’re business partners (she's the boss). Travel buddies. Best friends. Creative collaborators. We challenge each other (often!). We encourage each other (daily!). And yes, we occasionally get on each other’s last nerve too. And we laugh...A lot.
Laughing and making people laugh is one of our favourite things to do. Our friends know they can usually count on us for a smile, a sarcastic comment, or a much-needed laugh when they’re having a difficult day. In fact, long before Not Normal Photography became the name of our business, our friends had already given us that label. “You two aren’t normal.” Usually said with laughter.
They weren’t wrong. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We love learning, trying new things and growing along the way—but we also believe life is meant to be enjoyed. The little moments, the unexpected laughs and the everyday joy matter just as much. We find humour in unexpected places. We genuinely enjoy and love people. And ifIyou’ve spent time in our Langley studio, you’ve probably heard laughter before you’ve heard the click of the camera. That’s exactly how we like it.
But the name came to mean something more than the jokes our friends made. It became a way of describing how Hayley sees the world—and, ultimately, how she approaches photography. She's always looked at the world a little differently. Whether she's photographing someone in the studio or wandering through downtown with a camera in hand, she's naturally drawn to the moments and details other people miss. It's not about being different for the sake of it. It's about being curious. Slowing down. Looking a little longer. Finding the stories hiding in plain sight.
One of my favourite photographs isn't of a breathtaking landscape or a perfectly posed portrait. It's a photograph of a homeless man's shoes. Most people would have walked past without noticing. Hayley noticed the soles of his shoes—almost completely worn through. That single detail quietly told a story of hardship, resilience and humanity without ever showing a face. It became a powerful photograph because it makes people stop and notice someone they may otherwise have overlooked. That’s always been Hayley’s gift. She sees the story before she sees the photographaph and every photograph tells a story.
That same way of seeing shapes every session we photograph. Whether we’re creating professional headshots, personal branding photography, family portraits, athlete portraits or creative editorial photography, we’re never trying to make people fit someone else’s definition of “normal.” We’re looking for the story that’s already there. Because after photographing so many people, we’ve learned something. Almost everyone apologises for the very thing that makes them memorable. The crooked smile. The freckles. The scars. The loud laugh. The quiet personality. The tattoos. The wrinkles earned through a life well lived. The things people worry about are so often the things that make them beautifully unique. That’s what we notice. That’s what we celebrate. That’s what we photograph.
So why are we called Not Normal Photography?
Because our name reminds us every single day that people were never meant to fit neatly inside boxes. The best photographs don’t come from trying to make someone into something they’re not. They come from seeing who they’ve been all along. That’s what Hayley has always done. It’s what we’ve always believed. And it’s the reason the name Not Normal Photography has never felt unusual to us. It simply feels like the most honest description of who we are.
