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“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!
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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!
The Gorgeous Bennett Family of Three | Northern VA Family Photographer
The Gorgeous Bennett Family of Three | Northern VA Family Photographer
The Bennett Family, a family of three, is outdoorsy and loves farms and nature. Mom Jessica grew up on her family’s farm in Missouri and now her daughter, Emma Claire, loves farms as well – although we think it might be all of those animals she loves the most! The Bennetts had only ever taken professional pictures in a big-box studio. Jessica contacted us for special family portraits in a more custom setting. A bonus was our portrait photography studio and outdoor portrait park’s central location in the Northern VA area, near Cascades, VA and Dulles, VA.
Outdoor Portrait Park Session
The Bennetts wanted outdoor, casual portraits just as Emma Claire gets ready to head off to kindergarten!
Dad Rod and the vivacious and beautiful Emma Claire arrived in almost-matching cowboy boots ready for their family photo session! Jessica’s warm smile and nature was always front and center. It was a hoot and so wonderful to photograph them and their obviously close relationship! The little girl with the big round eyes wore a dress with a giant heart in front which struck us as so reflective of this family’s bond.
Their previous family photos of the three had been taken mostly on the family farm in Missouri, so this was definitely a departure from that, and the big-box studios. With a natural and easy-going way about them, the Bennetts were so fun to photograph. No one was particularly camera shy. We tried various settings throughout our scenic outdoor portrait park. It wasn’t difficult to find a spot because this family is so naturally photogenic and pleasant.
Special clothing can add meaning to portraits!
One of our favorite picks, seen above in this post, is the loving parents on either side of their precious daughter – with that giant heart on the dress acting almost as an “equal sign” between the parents and child in the photo’s center! Sometimes patterned clothing in family photos can be distracting or clash with surroundings. In this case, we thought it was so reflective of the family and actually enhanced the portrait’s meaning and symbolism.
If you’d like to step outside of a traditional, big-box portrait photography studio and into our idyllic and scenic outdoor portrait park in the Cascades, VA and Dulles, VA area, contact us today! We will both have a lot of fun doing your portraits.
Family Photographer, Portrait Photography Studio
Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography studio located in Dulles, VA, 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!
Upcoming Limited Edition Session, Bubblegum Princess! July 22, 2016 | Northern VA Family Photographer
Upcoming Limited Edition Session, Bubblegum Princess! July 22, 2016 | Northern VA Family Photographer
Your wannabe princess and royal follower will transform herself into the Bubblegum Princess during this very special, Limited Edition Bubblegum Princess portrait photography session! This Limited Edition Session is based on the book: “Bubblegum Princess” book written by Julie Gribble. The story was inspired by Lady Kate Middleton’s very own princess story.
Your little darling will transform right before your eyes into a Bubblegum Princess in our outdoor portrait park near Cascades, VA. And, we will be there to photograph her!
You can see the portraits here from previous Bubblegum Princesses now ready to pass the crown down to the next princess – 12 of them to be exact as that’s how many session slots we have for this Limited Edition portrait!
A glorious tub of colorful gumballs await the next line of royals while their parents watch (parents aren’t royal, after all!) The opportunity to become a Bubblegum Princess will thrill the most pink of the pinkest princesses! And, the finished portraits will certainly please you as parents.
Although we are known for our candid family photography in the Cascades, VA area, we also enjoy offering these kinds of special sessions for children. It’s all about capturing your child in a fun and relaxed atmosphere while allowing the portrait to reflect their personality. It’s productive fun. It’s also a royal time for your little girl! The Bubblegum Princess Limited Edition sessions are perfect for the little princess who enjoys dressing up. You can see our Limited Edition calendar for more info on this session, as well as other Limited Edition themed sessions. But, hurry! These session sell out quickly!
Family Photographer, Portrait Photography
Ever After Portraits is the portrait photography team of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, 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!
“I’m not photogenic. I hate how I look in photographs.” | Northern VA Family Photographer
“I’m not photogenic. I hate how I look in photographs.” | Northern VA Family Photographer
After more than a decade in the Cascades, VA area as a portrait photography studio, we have heard every imaginable reason for why a client has delayed or avoided professional portraits:
“I’m not photogenic. I hate how I look in photographs.”
“I need to lose weight first.”
“No one wants a photo of me and I always look tired!”
Making Lasting Memories
Sadly, we tend to hear these mostly from women. And, being women ourselves, we know we’ve all felt this way at some point in our lives! However, years from now, your children won’t be thinking any of those things about you. They will be looking at your portrait with love, emotion, and a tug at their heart. They will be so grateful to have a portrait of you – something that captures your image as they remember you. The value and importance of your portrait should outweigh any discomfort at taking a portrait.
Granted, there aren’t many of us who’d think they look beautiful in just any photograph. You aren’t the only one who feels a bit uncertain of themselves when they step in front of a camera. It’s all normal, as we’ve stated in previous posts.
As your professional photographer, and as an experienced portrait studio, we understand. However, we promise that you will look your very best in Ever After portraits! It’s not in any photographer’s best interests to poorly portray any clients. We wouldn’t have any clients left!
Schedule your portrait session today if not for yourself for your family!
We work hard to ensure your portraits become family heirlooms to be cherished for decades and well into the next generation. Consider the timelessness of a fine art portrait and its value to future generations in your family. We all feel some level of insecurity about ourselves. But waiting until you lose the extra weight or look less tired could be a mistake. You’ll look back one day and regret that you don’t have portraits from a certain period in your life. Those portraits, after all, aren’t just for you. They are also for your children and grandchildren.
If you are ready to visit your Cascades, VA portrait photography studio, please contact us! We understand your concerns because, at some point, we have had them as well. After all, a portrait is worth so much more than a little vanity.
If you’re still concerned, sign up for our newsletter to receive our free eBook “Top 5 Secrets to Look FABULOUS in Your Family Photographs!”
Family Photographer, Portrait Photography Studio
Ever After Portraits is a portrait photography studio comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter 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!
Wall Collections or Groupings | Northern VA Family Photographer
Wall Collections or Groupings | Northern VA Family Photographer
Some would say that portrait photography is all about faces. We agree, but we believe it’s more than that. It’s about the emotions and love a family feels. As a family photographer in Northern VA, near Cascades, VA, finding a unique way to capture and also display the love within a family is our specialty.
Wall Art Collections
A wall art collection is the perfect way to gather a grouping of family portraits and show through photographs the dynamics within a family. Through fine art photography, we collect special moments which show off the family bonds you share with each other. That collection of moments is then turned into a beautiful wall art collection or grouping for the walls of your home. Each day you walk by that collection, you’ll feel those emotions well up in you, the happiness you felt on the day of your portrait session, and the fun you had with just being with your family that day.
With our design software, we size your collection to your walls, so it’s never too small or too large, but the perfect fit for the area. Whether your wall space is large or small, we can custom design a collection for you.
For more on why size matters when choosing wall art, please have a look at this post: Why Size Matters for Wall Art
In it, you’ll find size comparisons of different sizes on the walls and get a true look at the difference between an 8×10 and a larger size. You won’t believe your eyes!
Family Photographer, Portrait Photography
Ever After Portraits is the mother-daughter portrait photography team or Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson. We are located near Cascades, VA in Northern Virginia, and 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!