Shawnee Photographer Brings Glamour Shots to Nursing Home Residents

Aug 13
4 min read

Updated: Aug 14

Shawnee photographer taking a glamour shot of a senior.

Story originally published in the August 2026 issue of Shawnee Outlook

A woman at a local Shawnee care facility had just been done up with makeup and styled hair when a staff member walked in, looked at her, and joked that she didn't recognize her. The woman didn't miss a beat.

"My name's Miss America," she said.

She was ready for her glamour shot session. It was a small exchange, but for Kelly Brown, founder of the Rose Colored Lens Foundation, it captures exactly what she's spent the last several years building: a way to give people in their last stage of life one more chance to feel seen.

From Grief to a Calling

Brown didn't set out to found a nonprofit. She's a working photographer who captures a little of everything — portraits, seniors, weddings, newborns. While trying to break into birth photography, a woman going through infertility reached out. She wanted Brown to photograph her someday, whenever she finally got pregnant. Brown followed her through failed tests and a pregnancy loss, then through a sustained pregnancy, a baby shower, and the excitement of finding out she was having a boy.

Then came the call: the baby, whom she'd carried to the point of knowing his name, had passed before birth. The family still wanted Brown there, and according to her, it changed the entire direction of her life.

“I've never lost a child, so I couldn't even imagine how that would feel,” Brown said. “But I do know a little bit about preserving moments, and I know how important that can be."

In that hospital room, Brown unearthed a passion for end-of-life photography. Not long after, she captured a mother with terminal, inoperable brain cancer alongside her adult daughters. The images went viral, landing Brown a moment of local news coverage — and, in her words, a responsibility to do something with it.

The Rose Colored Lens Foundation was born.

A New Kind of Legacy

Brown’s instinct that photos matter more than people realize pointed her toward an often overlooked population: residents in local nursing and care homes.

"People deserve a chance to leave a legacy that they choose," Brown said. "It's kind of the only tangible thing you can leave your loved ones when you're gone. They can't see the wrinkles in your eyes anymore, or how your smile looked, or the way your hands looked, without something like a photo to freeze it and preserve it forever."

Elderly woman in a fur coat and jeweled crown poses smiling before pink curtains.

For many care facility residents, Brown noticed, there's no one left to make that happen for them.

"A lot of these people don't have families. They don't have people to reach out to me and say, 'Could we get a bereavement session? This person is really important to us,'" Brown said.

Knowing that too often the photos a family is left to choose from for an obituary are blurry, decades old, or simply just the only one on hand, she and her team began hosting glamour shot events to change that math ahead of time — and to make the process itself feel like a celebration rather than a chore.

"Their obituary photos should be as glamorous as they are in real life."

A Photo Shoot Fit for Shawnee Royalty

If you happen upon one of these glamour shot events, you might think you had stumbled upon a red carpet event. But instead of A-list celebrities, the paparazzi is capturing Shawnee’s true stars.

The events have grown into full community productions, hosted alongside Cohesive Home Health and Hospice and Petals of Light, an organization that repurposes donated wedding and event flowers into bouquets for seniors and veterans. Local vendors, hairstylists, and makeup artists volunteer their time, Cinderella’s Closet has donated glamorous dresses, coats, and jewelry, and Shawnee Beauty College has signed on as a partner for an upcoming session. Volunteers do hair and makeup, help residents pick out tiaras, feathers, scarves, and suit jackets, and dish out relaxing hand massages along the way.

Stylist blow-dries an elderly woman’s gray hair in a salon, with mirrors, hair tools, and a wheelchair in view.

"It's not just about the pictures," Brown said. "I want it to be a full-service experience where they are just getting completely spoiled."

That enthusiasm shows up before the cameras ever come out. Brown remembers arriving three hours early to one of the first sessions and finding residents already dressed and waiting for her.

"I said, 'You guys are a little early,' and they said, 'We're just so excited to see you,'" she said. "It really is such a fun thing."

Woman photographs smiling patient in bed wearing an ornate floral crown and blue dress, in a cozy room with wall art.

The impact isn't limited to residents who can express it in words. Brown described nonverbal residents lighting up during their sessions in ways that needed no explanation, and said the joy of the day tends to erase every other label in the room.

“It didn't matter where you were at in your hospice or recovery. It didn't matter if you were a man or a woman, verbal or nonverbal,” Brown said. “Everyone got their chance to be a star.”

Learn more and sign up to become a volunteer with the Rose Colored Lens Foundation at rosecoloredlensphoto.com/foundation.