Ril Giles is a woman of many talents. She is a professional art and living portraiture photographer who works with families and people with special needs.

She is also a recognized and accomplished paintographer ( digital painter) and recyclanti artist.

Ril has held many interesting jobs and careers since she entered the workforce at 16 years old.

Her work history as a personal care worker with special needs people and a child birth/breastfeeding/early infant care educator, and being a mother of two children with special needs are the foundation she uses with her photography of families,children and people with mental and physical handicaps.

Outdoor Living Portrait Photo by Ril Giles

Ril lives in beautiful Prince Edward County with her husband and two children whom they homeschool and raise rural. Together they raise backyard chickens, enjoy squarefoot gardening, photography, wood working, bird watching and pretending to be rock stars playing Rock Band as a family with their band “3 minute time out”

Slowly, due to both having physical disabilities that limit their stamina, Ril and her husband are renovating their 180 year old home and fitting the workshop ( a former Antiques sale/repair shop) into their art studio and gallery to share their art in person with the public.

Ril’s Husband is a wildlife and action/sports photographer. Enjoys woodworking/ wood art and is a forced retired computer networking engineer and technician. He lives with CFS/ME.

Outdoor, Natural Lighting, Child led Portrait

What are living portraits?

Imagine forgetting the camera is there. You are in your own environment,laughing and just being yourselves, rather then preparing for a family portrait in a sterile environment like a studio with fake backgrounds, and stiff smiles and dressy clothes you never really wear anyway.

Comfy in your T shirt and Jeans? No problem.Want to wear your Pajamas? No problem. Your child playing outside in their super hero suit? No problem. Just be yourself, and we will capture the real you!

Or, you pick your favourite place and you direct the photo shoot. This works well often with children who are not comfortable with studio photo shoots.

Ril has a background working with autistic, downs syndrome children, and ADHD children and adults, and can make them comfortable enough to allow them to be themselves, and can move around well with them to capture them in action.

Ril is patient and gets right in there with the children to capture great moments in time, that you will treasure forever. Ril works well with active children and pets, specializing in children with special needs.

If you have a special needs child, the Living Portraiture session is perfect for you. It allows you to get real pictures of your child to capture that humour and smile and beauty you see in them every day, that a scheduled session outside of their comfort zone can not capture.

Ril will capture your child’s real personality in your pictures, not the diagnosis that often the world outside sees, when they are scared or tired.

Ril will meet with you casually like a friend to allow your child to become familiar with her and be able to be themselves. If it takes a few meetings for your child to become familiar with her, that is fine.

Children with autism especially need to know what is going on, and she works well with them and has a knack for winning them over.

Ril is the mother of two special needs children- 10 and 6 years old.

Paparazzi Package

Ril offers a “paparazzi package” for families, or couples. Do you have tonnes of cute picture of the kids to scrapbook and share with family, but none of you all doing things together as a family, because you’re always behind the lens?

Be “famous for a day” and hire Ril as your personal paparazzi to capture you and your family being yourselves at home, or at your favourite location like a park, or beach etc. The possibilities are endless.

Click on this picture to check out the Photography album on my FaceBook Page

Into Sports?

Ril’s husband, John specializes in and loves the challenge of action photography. He can capture you, your team, or your child etc. in mid play on the field playing soccer, or hockey, or at the barrel horse races, on your ATV or motorbike etc.

Let John work his magic and capture the action in your life to create a one of a kind portrait!

Have a look at John’s Portfolio to find out more information on hiring him for your living portrait session. (coming soon)

Ril attends all of the photo session with John as his assistant.

Contact Ril to get more information or to book your photo session today.

contact us

email : ril@rilya.ca

Why not have a Video Montage of your photos made and set it to music for that special occasion.

Perfect for a wedding, a graduation, a baby’s first year, an anniversary, or milestone birthday, memorials etc. The possibilities are endless. Give us a call to discuss your ideas.

Bronze Package -$75
Approximately 5 minutes
40 photos
Up to 2 songs
1 DVD copy with customized video label & cover

Silver Package -$150
Approximately 10 minutes
80 photos
Up to 3 songs
1 DVD copy with customized label & cover

Gold Package -$200
Approximately 15 minutes
120 photos
Up to 4 songs
1 DVD copy with customized label & cover

Platinum Package -$350
Approximately 20 minutes
160 photos
Up to 6 songs
1 DVD copy with customized label & cover

Diamond Package -$400
Approximately 25 minutes
200 photos
Up to 8 songs
1 DVD copy with customized label & cover

Additional DVD copies of your Video Montage are $10.00 each. They make a great gift!

This is a sample of a Silver Package Video Montage. I made this for my family at new years, to show them the year we had in 2010. Great for family and friend who are far away, and miss seeing the kids growing up.

A look back at 2010 from Rillie on Vimeo.