Name: Ever After Portraits
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Photography Tips & Tricks: Get natural smiles from your kids! | Northern VA Family Photographer

We’re continuing our portrait photography series for our clients on Tips and Tricks for better photography! Our Potomac Falls, VA and area clients sometimes ask us how to achieve better snapshots. Smiling is one way! The more relaxed everyone is the better the portrait.

So here are some tips for getting children (and Dads, sometimes!) smiling:

Avoid the phony smiles!

1. Don’t try to force a smile. If you try to get your child to smile, if you say “Say cheese,” if you beg, it’s not going to work. Even if they crack a smile, it will appear forced. Shake things up a bit. The more spontaneous you are, the goofier you are, the more likely children are to respond.

2. What makes your child laugh? Tickles? Giggles? Telling them NOT to smile usually works too! Sing a silly song. Better yet, have them sing a silly song and be ready to snap the picture.

3. Every photographer knows that the best photos sometimes come at the most unexpected moments. Our advice is: Always to keep your camera nearby, battery charged, and ready to take a snapshot. If your children are doing something and having loads of fun doing it, pull out that camera and be ready to shoot some great candids. You’re almost guaranteed to get at least a few great shots of them smiling.

Have some fun and be ready to play

4. If you are setting up your personal photo session for your children, it’s going to be tough to get them to smile. What they see is their parent preoccupied in getting everything just right before asking them to pose. How much fun is that for anyone, let alone a child?! Turn the photo session into a fun opportunity with some interactive games or puzzles.

5. Fascinate them! What interests them? Have something ready that you know will captivate them. When you show it to them, make sure you are ready with your camera. Catching pictures of them when they see something that fascinates them will get you some rewarding shots.

Remember, you get maybe one good shot for every dozen or more, so shoot a lot of pictures!

When we shoot family or children’s portraits, we always tell the parents to let us handle the children. Let us be the ones to interact and provide the instructions or guidance. They are far less likely to rebel against us than their parents. Fun is key to kids’ pictures especially the younger ones. We enjoy those sessions as much as the kids end up enjoying them – which is usually quite a lot!

Contact us if you want great portraits of your family and your children — with natural smiles — at our portrait photography studio and outdoor portrait park in Potomac Falls, VA (Sterling, VA). We are just savvy – and goofy – enough with kids to get them grinning chin to chin!

Previous posts in this series:
Photography Tips & Tricks: Lighting tips for family snapshots

Family Photographer, Portrait Photography

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located in Potomac Falls, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

Clivia, Mayra & Enriqueta, Family Portraits | Northern VA Family Photographer

Women tend to bear powerful connections to other women in their lives. When it is three generations of women, then it is all the more powerful! Our dear friend Clivia knows the role photography can play in honoring these relationships, so she contacted us at our studio not far from Lowes Island, VA.

Clivia, who lives with her husband and three older children in Sterling, VA, asked us to photograph three generations of women in her family – her daughter, her mother, and herself. We were honored and excited to work with Clivia and her family! Rather than shoot the portrait in our photography studio, we opted for our Outdoor Portrait Park.

Three Generations

As you can see, the two younger women, Clivia and Mayra, lovingly leaned in and wrapped their arms around their matriarch, Enriqueta. However, what we also see is a beautiful pillar of strength in the center bound by two legacies emulating that force. There is no better example of the power of photography.

Photography, like a painting, can capture something that isn’t possible to do every single moment of our lives. In this case, it is the love and bond between three generations of one family. Clivia’s mother lives some distance away, making it difficult for the three generations to see each other often. Clivia, who’s quite close to her daughter, wanted a personal portrait of the three, their first professional portrait together.

The portrait, depicting the love and bond between them, captures a rare moment for them. All three are together. When they are apart, their portraits serve as a potent reminder of the love that binds a family together.

Outdoor Portrait Park

As a studio, we treasure the role photography plays in the lives of our clients. Photography allows us to capture something worthy of being documented and of being honored. While we took this portrait in the Lowes Island, VA area, if you are within driving distance we would love to work with you. Together, we can document that which you treasure most – your love for your family.

Family Photographer, Family Photograpy

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located in Sterling, VA, near Lowes Island, VA, in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

Top 9 Reasons to Book Your Family Portrait This Fall | Northern VA Family Photographer

Fall isn’t that far off – believe it or not! Have you booked your fall family portraits, yet? The landscape of the Lowes Island, VA and Reston, VA areas are ideal for spectacular fall foliage in your family photos!

Here are our Top 9 Reasons to Schedule Your Professional Family Portraits for the Fall:

1. Fall colors make for gorgeous portraits!

There’s nothing like Virginia in the autumn! A bounty of warm colors flourishes throughout our state before the leaves drop. A Virginia fall provides a lush, warm backdrop for your family portraits.

2. It’s so easy to coordinate with practically any home décor.

Do you favor a neutral color palette in your home? Or maybe you love to decorate with an array of bright tones? Either way, fall’s earthy colors will showcase well in your family portraits no matter what the color of your walls. Whether warm goldens and russets, bright oranges or reds, the possibilities are endless!

3. Fall temperatures are comfortable.

Fall temperatures are ideal for outdoor family portrait sessions. Gone are the hot, humid days of summer, and winter’s bitter days haven’t yet arrived. Most fall days are comfortable for all ages in your family from young to elderly.

4. You still have a little color from the summer sun.

While most of us know better than to spend long summer days tanning, a lot of us still have that sun-kissed glow from summer’s outdoor fun. A little glow goes a long way in your fall family portraits!

5. Clothing coordination made easy!

Fall’s rich and broad palette of colors makes it easy to choose color-coordinated outfits for your entire family. Remember, we’ll help you with that!

6. Accessories!

Oftentimes family portrait sessions are styled with a particular color scheme or look to work within, and the clothing each family member wears needs to coordinate with one another. In the fall, cooler temperatures mean you can do some layering and bring in coordinating colors with accessories, a scarf, a belt, boots, etc. It makes it easier for each person to show off their own unique style, while still staying within the color scheme planned for the portrait.

7. Playing in the fallen leaves is just fun!

Falling leaves combined with rich colors make our Outdoor Portrait Park the perfect playground for outdoor family photos! Kids feel free to revel in the open spaces without the stifling heat of summer. It’s perfect to capture candid moments of laughter and fun. The environment naturally lends itself to fun, casual portraits, showing off your family as they really are.

8. It’s perfect timing for planning gifts.

Fall is the perfect time if you want to use your family photos for seasonal cards and gifts. It gives you (and us) just enough time to do your portrait session, make selections, and return your final products, ready to go!

9. Just because!!

It’s always an excellent opportunity to photograph your cherished family so that years from now you can look back and enjoy what once was. Your children will only be this age once! Don’t wait for life to get in the way. Give yourself and your family the gift of beautiful portraits, heirlooms to be treasured and passed on to future generations.

Are you ready to book and reserve a date for your fall family photos? Call us today to schedule! We look forward to hearing from you.

Family Photographer, Family Photos

Ever After Portraits is the mother-daughter photography team of Mindy and Joriana. We’re located near Lowes Island, VA and Reston, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

Pass on your family legacy & bring your old photos back to life | Northern VA Family Photographer

There are many ways to tell a story. More than a decade ago, we chose photography as our form of storytelling. It’s not just our profession; it’s our passion here in the Lowes Island, VA area. Long before the invention of photography, written and oral storytelling were how families passed down generations of history. Although those forms remain invaluable today, combining the three is a powerful way to retell our stories through the generations.

Not long ago, our friend and fellow photographer was fortunate enough to experience all three forms of storytelling: oral, written, and photographic. Her story reminded us that many people have old photo albums and pictures collecting dust somewhere. It’s time to pull those out and do something with them!

Our friend, Sabina, had the opportunity to enjoy weeks of visits with a beloved grandmother before the older woman’s passing. During their visits, Sabina and her grandmother sat and looked through old family photos. The older woman recounted memories and the stories behind the pictures. As her grandmother talked, Sabina wrote down her stories. It was a rare opportunity and precious gift from one generation to another.

After her grandmother had passed away, Sabina gathered the stories from her visits, as well as the photos, and created an album for the family. Thanks to Sabina’s visits, the old photos and the stories shared by her grandmother and written down by Sabina, a precious legacy was left by Sabina’s grandmother for future generations of family.

Creating a Legacy

We all have old pictures and old albums (remember those sticky pages and plastic covers?) lying around our homes somewhere. Whether you have an older generation who can share their stories or not, you too can create a legacy by gathering old photos and restoring or scanning them. There are numerous internet companies where you can upload your old photos and create albums.

Share your Story through Pictures

It’s time to tell your family stories through pictures and, more importantly, create your legacy for the next generation in your family. We aren’t all as fortunate as Sabina to have those precious weeks worth of visits with our grandmothers. Use your family photos to document your history. Create new family portraits to tell the story of your family.

If you’d like to do family portraits with Ever After and add to a rich collection of memories through photography, contact us. We are within easy driving distance from Lowes Island, VA and many other Virginia cities and towns. It would be our honor to help you document your family’s story and help pass on your legacy.

Family Photographer, Family Photography

Ever After Portraits is the mother-daughter portrait photography team of Mindy and Joriana, with studios located near Lowes Island, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

Photography Tips & Tricks: Lighting tips for family snapshots| Northern VA Family Photographer

How are your photography skills these days? While we are your professional photographer for family photos in Lowes Island, VA and across Northern Virginia, we also know that you are probably taking lots of family snapshots! We’d love to offer a few tips for taking better pictures of your family especially if you’re using a nice camera, not just your phone.

Photography lighting can be tricky. It can require a lot of skill and experience to get it just right, but there are some things to keep in mind for everyday snapshots:

1. If you are the one in charge of the family photography and tend to shoot on auto, then try to take advantage of natural light. Early evening is ideal – just before dusk. The light is soft and not glaring into your subjects’ eyes.
2. If you can’t wait until dusk, then at least try to shoot in the shade. Be careful because a bright background while your subject stands in the shade can throw off your camera’s automatic light meter giving you darkness in front and light in the back. Opt for a larger shaded area or be prepared to use your flash to lighten the forefront.
3. Some photographers advise you to take pictures on overcast days while others say to avoid them. Cloudy days are better than sun angled into your subject’s eyes causing them to squint, but it can be tricky as well. If it’s cloudy, but so bright there are shadows cast across a subject’s face, then it’s likely too bright. Find some shade.
4. If you peer through your lens and can’t see light reflected in a subject’s eyes, you don’t have enough light. Use your flash. If possible, you always want light cast slightly to the side of a subject and at about 30 to 45 degrees from the camera.

We hope these few tips will help you with your everyday snapshots!

Obviously, you don’t need to struggle with lighting. You’re always welcome to call us, and we’ll be happy to do your family photos for you! If you’d like professional family photography in the Lowes Island, VA and surrounding area, call to schedule a family portrait session with us.

Family Photographer, Family Photos

Ever After Portraits is Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Lowes Island, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits.

Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,

Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

Professional Photographer

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