Blog
blog/bläɡ/noun – a regularly updated web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style.
Why don’t you quote over the phone? | Northern VA Family Photographer
Why don’t you quote over the phone? | Northern VA Family Photographer
We love talking with our clients and potential clients! As a family photographer near the Great Falls, VA area, we believe in building relationships with our clients. In our years as a photographer, we’ve been asked many different things. We can usually give clients and potential clients most of what they want to know over the phone. One of the questions we often get is: How much will this cost? Although we can tell you our Experience Fee (the fee which includes your Design Session, your Portrait Session and your Ordering Session), because our photography and products are custom-designed for each client, exact pricing
can’t be given over the phone in our first conversation.
We encourage clients to schedule a consult with us so we can discuss your portrait needs. We are not trying to be rude or evasive. Photography products (the final portraits you fall in love with and purchase) are highly customized and personal to each client.
Here are three reasons why we as a family photographer, as well as other professional photographers, don’t give price quotes over the phone:
• We want to be thorough.
To quote you a price on a family portrait session which includes wall art, an album, or other products, we need to know exactly what you want: How many portraits; sizes, finishes, framing, etc. We want to make sure that we are thorough when taking into account what you’re looking for in your family portraiture. To know what you want, we need to have a consult with you and understand your needs.
• We want our cost quote to be accurate.
We can quote you the price on set things like finishes, frames, and sizes. But giving you a final price over the phone, without knowing exactly what you would like to order, would be misleading. To aid us in giving you pricing for wall art, we ask that you send us iPhone photos of the wall(s) in your home upon which you want to hang your family portraits. With those photos, we can design a wall collection or grouping in exactly the right size for the space, not too large or too small.
• Each client is unique.
The wonderful thing about fine art portraiture is that it is highly customizable. Each client looks for something different than the previous, and we are only too happy to oblige. Some clients want certain finishes, while others don’t. Some will want a certain frame, while another will only want frameless. See? It’s all custom to individual tastes.
We really do care about our clients and their vision for their portraits. We want each client to be happy with their final products. We also want full transparency with our clients and good, open communication. As the small business owner we are, we will always be fair and we always encourage dialogue with clients.
If you live in or near the Great Falls, VA area, we are always happy to discuss your vision for your portraits. We are one of the leading family photographers in Northern Virginia.
Family Photographer
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Great 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
“All of my pictures are on social media. Why would I need to print anything?” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“All of my pictures are on social media. Why would I need to print anything?” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“All of my pictures are on social media, so I don’t need to print anything!” Honestly, that comment makes us cringe as a professional photographer! Yes, we all have dozens if not hundreds of pictures on social media. Everyone is a photographer these days, and clients in the Great Falls, VA and Cascades, VA areas are no different. Heck, we’re no different. We aren’t past pulling out a cell phone and snapping a quick shot. However, those don’t and can’t compare to professional portraits.
Is that the photo legacy you want to leave behind?
Social media overexposure can make us forget that this could be the only legacy we leave to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren! Do you really want that to be the photo legacy you leave to grandchildren and great-grandchildren yet to be born? We know we don’t! We’d rather have beautifully composed portraits to leave our descendants. Candids are one thing, but snapshots of us in sweats aren’t legacy-worthy. Actually, the majority of us would rather very few people ever see those kind of snapshots!
Those images posted all over social media will have very little value years from now; they’re practically disposable. Do you remember what you posted last week, last month, last year? Do you look at the images you posted online even 5 years ago? You might look at them if you take the time to find that file or post online, but it’s not the same thing as professional fine art portraiture displayed in your home, artwork you can see and admire every day.
Wall art versus snapshots
A wall art family portrait that will hang on the wall of your home, one that you and your children walk by every day, will be of so much more value to you – and to them! Every single day, your children will see themselves in a family portrait and feel the love and happiness they felt when the portrait was taken. Every single day, they’ll see how very much they’re loved.
Fine art portraiture has an inherent value that simple, everyday snapshots don’t. It is a legacy you leave, a legacy embodying the love you have for your family. We hope you will take the time – at least once but preferably more – to have professional family photography taken. It’s not a decision we have ever seen anyone regret!
If you would like one of the leading professional photographers in the Great Falls, VA and Cascades, VA area to do your family portraits, please contact us. We’d love to discuss your session with you!
Family Photographer, Professional Photographer
Ever After Portraits is the mother-daughter portrait photography team of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a portrait studio located in Cascades, VA, near Great 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
Griselda & Christian, An Engagement | Northern VA Family Photographer
Griselda & Christian, An Engagement | Northern VA Family Photographer
Could these two be any more adorable?! Whenever a family photographer can photograph someone they know well, it’s very exciting! As we always tell our clients across Northern Virginia, including Great Falls, VA, the better we know you, the better your portraits. That’s why we believe in open communication with our clients!
Isabel Griselda Argueta was Joriana’s maid of honor not so long ago. We were so excited for her when she became engaged to Christian Andino! The adorable couple was introduced by mutual friends when Griselda was visiting New York City. How romantic is that?!
Outdoor Engagement Session
When it came time to select a portrait studio, there was no doubt who would take their engagement pictures and photograph their wedding – Ever After, of course! We’ve been friends for years, and we were thrilled to be able to do their engagement and wedding portraits.
Our Outdoor Portrait Park Studio
For their portrait session, this gorgeous couple knew that they wanted something candid, casual, and outdoors. They wanted portraits that reflected the love they have for each other. Well, that’s right up our alley! You can see for yourself how beautiful their portraits turned out.
The fiery glows of the autumn colors contrast as well as provide a dramatic backdrop for their black outfits. In the midst of the colors and contrasts, their beautiful faces peer out happily at the viewer. The linear composition of their bodies in the center of the portrait strike us as a column of strength created by their two bodies! We love this symbolism for an engagement portrait. Their love for each other is strong and will endure.
We wish these two many, many years of happiness and joy in their marriage and lives. We look forward to taking other portraits for them as they live their lives together!
A family photographer will take photos of the milestones in your life and family life. We love, love, love the opportunity to work with families throughout the years documenting their milestones, changes, and growth. It’s truly a privilege we value. If you are anywhere near the Great Falls, VA area and would like to discuss your family portraits, please contact us for further information.
Family Photographer
Ever After Portraits is Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait studio photography team located near Great 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
“We just had photos taken! We don’t need another session now.” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“We just had photos taken! We don’t need another session now.” | Northern VA Family Photographer
How long has it been since your last family portrait session with a professional photographer? We bet it’s longer than you think! As a professional family photographer in Northern Virginia, near Great Falls, VA, we’ll sometimes run into a former client who mentions they will schedule another portrait with us but not quite yet because it hasn’t been that long since their last portrait. Umm, but wait! How long has it really been?!
When we check dates, our clients are usually surprised at how long it has been since their portraits with us – sometimes as long as three or four years! Now their children are in middle school with no professional pictures since they were very small – except for those school photos we all love to hate! Where did the time go?!
If you have waited more than a year or two, and you have young children, you should consider doing another portrait now. It’s time! Children grow up so quickly and change so much. You won’t ever regret taking portraits – there is never such a thing as too many pictures!
How much time should pass between portraits?
As we’ve said, not much time should pass in between professional photo sessions. Waiting too long between professional portraits can leave you with regrets. A toddler’s face is not the face of a middle-schooler or of a teenager. What did they look like in between those two portraits? Do you have any fine art photography to show for it?
So really think hard about this and be honest with yourself: How long has it really been since you had a family portrait? Has your family changed since then? How much has your little one grown since the last portrait? Have new members been added to your family?
If you are a past client, and you’d like to know the exact date of your last portrait with us, contact us. We can look it up. You can schedule an appointment to update your portraits. Each session is customized, so that your portraits won’t look the same each time. A whole new portrait for a new time in your lives!
We like to chat with our clients, do a consult – yes, even with past clients because their lives change, and then we can plan your next portrait session with us.
If you’ve never taken portraits with us but are interested in working with a professional photographer like us, then welcome! We love meeting and speaking with potential clients! It’s like meeting a new friend. Our studios aren’t far from the Great Falls, VA area in Sterling, VA. Give us a call today at 571.434.0009 or contact us online here.
Family Photographer, Professional Photographer
Ever After Portraits is Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Great 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
“Our family is casual. I don’t want formal pictures!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“Our family is casual. I don’t want formal pictures!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
As a family photographer with indoor and outdoor studios in the Cascades, VA area, near Great Falls, VA, we customize our portraits to our clients. If you tell us that you want your portraits to reflect a more casual side of your family, we’ll be happy to give you that!
Spacious Outdoor Portrait Studio Park
Family portraits have evolved into a far more candid and casual look than in the 1960’s or 1970’s. Generally, our style of family photography is not stiff and formal! It’s what our clients are asking for, and our beautiful 2.5-acre outdoor studio portrait park is perfect for candids and casual portraits. Many of our clients choose to have their family portraits shot there. It’s a relaxed, outdoor atmosphere where the children can run around a bit and you can enjoy being with them. You can choose from several interesting props and sections of the park from a wooden bridge, a pond and a pier, and with a variety of vintage sofas.
Cozy Indoor Studio
Some of our clients prefer a slightly more formal studio portrait shot indoors. That’s fine, too! Our studio portraits are what we call “Today’s Classics.” Although they are done in our indoor studio, we can keep things a bit more serious if you want — or just as casual as our outdoor portraits. It’s entirely up to you as the client!
As a custom photographer, we give our clients what they want. If you’ve looked through photography websites and have found something you like on ours, a style or a particular part of our portrait park, let us know! Or if you have another idea, please share it! We are happy to work with what you have in mind. This is your family and your family portrait session; we want you to be happy with it!
All of our portraits focus on who you are as a family, which means if you’re not a stiff, formal family, you’re family portraits won’t be either! We’d love to be your family photographer in the Great Falls, VA and Cascades, VA area. We work also with clients throughout Northern Virginia. Contact us today for an initial chat!
As a custom photographer, we give our clients what they want. If you’ve looked through photography websites and have found something you like on ours, a style or a particular part of our portrait park, let us know! Or if you have another idea, please share it! We are happy to work with what you have in mind. This is your family and your family portrait session; we want you to be happy with it!
All of our portraits focus on who you are as a family, which means if you’re not a stiff, formal family, you’re family portraits won’t be either! We’d love to be your family photographer in the Great Falls, VA and Cascades, VA area. We work also with clients throughout Northern Virginia. Contact us today for an initial chat!
[show_if not_one=’Free Resource Member’]
[/show_if]
Family Photographer
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located in Cascades, VA, near Great 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!
“I don’t know what we should wear for our family portrait session!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“I don’t know what we should wear for our family portrait session!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“I don’t know what to wear! And I really don’t know what everyone else should wear!” We hear this so often from clients and even friends referring to the idea of doing professional portraits. As a professional photographer, we want to create something you’ll be happy with and that you feel is worthy of being displayed on the walls of your home. Prior to a portrait session at our studio near Great Falls, VA, we offer all of our clients a custom Design Session during which we discuss clothing and help ease that stressor for you!
The Design Session takes place after you book your session with us and before the actual portrait session happens. We will work with you to style your upcoming session. Typically we discuss who will be photographed, how many rooms in your home you want to create artwork for, as well as your decorating and personal clothing style.
Together, we will determine what colors and props we will use at your session. We also discuss coordinating the clothes of everyone in the session so the colors complement each other. After our discussion, we’ll even send you visual clothing suggestions incorporating the color palette we both decided on!
The Design Session is meant to eliminate the stress over what to wear during your professional photography session – and the feedback from clients is great! They appreciate the opportunity to talk and work with us in advance of their session. By the time their session comes around, they’re ready to go!
Our goal is to create the ultimate custom service experience for all our clients. (You can read more about our custom services on our website.) It’s by working and communicating closely with our clients that we can offer them a truly custom photography experience.
So don’t worry if you’d like to take professional portraits but don’t know what to wear. As professional photographers, we will collaborate with you through the entire experience. We don’t believe in just getting our clients in and out of the studio near Great Falls, VA. There is so much more to great and custom photography!
Family Photographer, Professional Photographer
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter professional photography team located in Northern Virginia, near Great Falls, VA. 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
Family Portraits, The Ruckers | Northern VA Family Photographer
Family Portraits, The Ruckers | Northern VA Family Photographer
“Your photography is beautiful and I can’t wait for our family portrait session! Looking forward to working with you both.” There are no more beautiful words for a family photographer to hear or read! And, we read them when Leslie contacted us as a Northern Virginia photographer, near Great Falls, VA, and not too far from her family’s home.
Leslie wanted to commission us for portraits in our Outdoor Portrait Park. As she was in her final month of pregnancy, the portraits would wait until after the new baby’s arrival.
Family Portrait Session
Little Jack joined his cute, older brother Carson in the family pictures taken in the fall, in October. Leslie had shared with us that Carson might want to hold one of his favorite car or trains during the photo session. Well, of course, he could!
Working with kids, we’re happy to accommodate children to ensure they’re comfortable and happy during the photo session. We have plenty of experience working with kids, so no need to worry! Just let us know if there’s anything you know would work best for your child.
Outdoor Portrait Park in Autumn
Newborn Jack was adorable in his tiny pair of jeans, and it was a pleasure to work with him and his sweet, older brother Carson wearing a “mini” version of his dad Brian’s red-checkered shirt.
As children and family photographers, we delight in each family and child we photograph! Each family is unique in their own way and it’s always nice to get to know a new client. It’s how we authentically capture a family’s personality in their portraits. We know how important the portraits are to them, and we want to get it right each and every time!
Ever After is a leading family photographer in the Great Falls, VA area. We draw clients from throughout Northern Virginia and the DMV. We have more than a decade of working with families and children, and we look forward to working with yours!
Family Photographer
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Great 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
Bridge, Pier and Ponds in our Outdoor Portrait Park | Northern VA Family Photographer
Bridge, Pier and Ponds in our Outdoor Portrait Park | Northern VA Family Photographer
As a professional photographer, we want to offer our clients the very best we can including a private, outdoor portrait park for their portraits. No other portrait studio in the Great Falls, VA area offers their clients the exclusive use of an outdoor portrait park. We do, and it is there exclusively for your beautiful portraits.
Into the woods we go!
Composition and setting of a portrait are inherently important to most portraits. They can set the tenor for a portrait, making it more formal or more casual. Our portrait park and its woods provide us with tremendous flexibility! It also provides our clients with a lovely bridge, pier, and ponds!
Outdoor portraits have also become increasingly popular in the last decade. We have groomed and developed our portrait park with portraits in mind. In its bucolic setting, you will find a lovely wooden bridge, two ponds, a pier, and other great props. All of these provide our clients with a great variety of options for their setting and, as a photographer, we know how important it is to have options for clients.
Settings and props!
Some of our families have chosen to sit on the bridge for their portraits and then move to the pier for “over water” shots which can be striking with the water’s reflection!
Do you have a little boy who loves to fish? Why not a barefoot child standing or sitting on the pier with his feet dangling over the water and holding a fishing rod? Maybe Dad could join him on the pier – also barefoot and also dangling his feet over the pier?
You can see some of our outdoor portraits here and get ideas on what others have done in our scenic portrait park. There are many possibilities! You can’t go wrong!
And we will discuss your ideas with you prior to the session. We believe in partnering with each client, fostering candid communication, and knowing a little about them to best reflect them in their portraits. Your family portraits are all about you and we want you to shine in them!
Are you interested in gorgeous outdoor portraits of your family taken by a leading professional photographer in the Great Falls, VA area? Contact us today to discuss your session in our outdoor portrait park!
Family Photographer, Professional Photographer
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter team of professional family photographers, located near Great 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
“Portraits?! I’m afraid my family will look awkward!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“Portraits?! I’m afraid my family will look awkward!” | Northern VA Family Photographer
We have had clients in the Cascades, VA area who would have preferred to do almost anything else except step inside a portrait photography studio! That’s how convinced or concerned they were that they or their families would look awkward in their portraits. But there’s no need to worry. We can help you with this!
Unless you are a professional model, you will likely feel a little (or a lot) awkward in front of a camera. It’s perfectly reasonable. But that’s where we come in as experienced professionals.
Getting to know the photographer!
Each session is well thought out and planned in advance. Often the awkwardness families feel when they go to have a professional portrait done is caused because they just aren’t comfortable with the photographer. At Ever After, we will speak with you and get to know a bit about you and your family before your portrait session even occurs. It’s important that you feel comfortable with us during your family portrait session and trust us as an experienced photography studio and photographer. Trusting that your family photographer wants to make you all look your very best will go a long way in reducing any awkwardness you might feel.
We want you to look your very best in your portrait. We will always have your best interests at heart, and we have years of experience in putting people at ease in front of our cameras. In fact, we’re experts at it!
We do everything we can to help you feel comfortable with us during your session, especially when there are children involved. We want you to be yourself/yourselves in front of our cameras because that will help us produce the best possible portrait of you! Before you know it, the session is over, and you’ll be surprised at how easy it all was.
Making it a fun experience!
Clients often tell us how much fun they had during their photo session even though they’d gone into it nervous. Most of our clients will eventually look back on their session with fond memories and feelings. Each time they look at their portraits in the years to come, they will remember how much fun it was to do this as a family! It’s a bonding family experience.
If you would like to work with a Cascades, VA area portrait photography studio which will put you at ease during your portrait session, who will get to know you before the session, and who has experience with family portraits, call our studio! You actually will have fun during one of our family portrait sessions!
Portrait Photography Studio, Family Photographer
Ever After Portraits is a mother-daughter portrait photography team comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, located in Northern Virginia, near Cascades, VA. 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
Make a Statement with Family Wall Art! | Northern VA Family Photographer
Make a Statement with Family Wall Art! | Northern VA Family Photographer
There are many beautiful homes in the Cascades, VA area. Although most of them are built in a more traditional design, that does not have to dictate the inside of your home! Many of our clients have a more eclectic style on the inside of their homes and often ask us how they can make a statement with their portraits. With a little thought, portrait photography can both coordinate with your interior decor and make a statement. It’s actually a lot of fun to think about how you can add wall art to your home in a way that’s beautiful and is a showstopper!
Our professional design software will let you see exactly what your portrait will look like on any given wall in your home. You’ll be able to see the various ways you can make a statement with your beautiful professional pictures.
Creative Wall Art Ideas:
• Foyer: It can be a high drama space depending on its size and layout. A large portrait displayed in a foyer can be powerful. A collection of portraits can work in a larger foyer. In a small foyer, a large collection might make the space look cluttered, but a smaller collection could be perfect. You’ll need to be careful with placement, size and composition of a collection of portraits displayed in a foyer. This is where our design software comes in handy!
• Staircase: A staircase provides a wonderful wall for a collection of family portrait art. A dramatic sweep of beautiful portraits will definitely make an impact!
• Dining room: Today, this is considered a more unique space to decorate with fine art portraits but that’s why it could be beautiful. Remember that for hundreds of years the wealthier families lined their dining spaces with oil portraits of relatives.
• Living room: In a formal living, a dramatic portrait can add elegance. Placing a large almost over-sized portrait can be stunning. You would need to consider the framing options available to ensure compatibility to your style.
• Playroom or family room: These rooms generally call for a more casual portrait and these tend to be great spaces to display a collection of wall art or create a gallery of portraits!
• Powder Rooms: Yes, we actually think powder rooms can be a great space to display pictures. We’ve seen old, black and white portraits in smaller sizes displayed in a powder room for a powerful effect.
• Hallways: Either a collection of wall art or several larger pieces can make quite a statement in a hallway depending on the hallway’s dimensions including width and length. Longer, more narrow hallway? A collection or two of portraits add interest. A shorter hallway? One to three larger portraits might be better.
As you can see, there are numerous ways to make a statement with wall art. Using our design software, we can help you decide where and how your portrait photography will make a statement in your home. Contact our studio in the Cascades, VA area to make an appointment to view some further examples of wall art statements. We’d love to work with you.
Family Photographer, Portrait Photography
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Cascades, 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!