We are never surprised, but always saddened, to hear from friends and clients that, while growing up, their families rarely or never had professional family portraits taken. Sometimes, they even go on to say they’re not certain they need to do portraits of their own families today with a photography studio.

We get it. People in the Dulles, VA and Northern Virginia areas are busy, and it’s difficult to make the time for other activities. Professional family portraits are often (and sadly) not prioritized.

This often means that you have no family photographs with your parents and grandparents, not to mention your great-grandparents. This moves us on the next question, one that may sound a little morbid, but it’s just realistic: If something happens to you and you’re no longer around when your children have children, what photographs will they have to show your grandchildren who you were? And what about your great-grandchildren?

Family portraits fill a vital role in passing down a family’s heritage. A beautiful family portrait will be treasured and passed down as a family heirloom. Maybe you didn’t have family portraits growing up, but it’s time to start a new tradition, one that will continue to grow in value for your children!
 

 
Here are a few thoughts we usually share when we’re asked about professional portraits today versus when they (and we) were young:

• Scheduling with a professional family photographer in the 1960’s, 70’s, or even 80’s was an expense of time and money many of our own parents simply couldn’t afford.

• Studio photography was either inexpensive department store pictures with a generic background (usually with a quality reflective of both) or formal, pricey portraits for those who could afford such a luxury.

• Some of the family portraits or pictures remaining from our childhoods are spontaneous snapshots or Polaroids often with one or more family member not in the picture, and now yellowed and frayed in a sticky, cellophane album. (Do you remember those?!)

• More formal portrait photography was probably more sought after during our grandparents’ and great grandparents’ generation – irrespective of socio-economics.

• Those were the “war years” when people appreciated the value of portraits. Wars and the Depression often separated families and loved ones for good. Portraits became treasured family heirlooms to be carried with them as they left their loved ones behind. How many soldiers departed for war with their sweethearts’ tiny portraits in their wallets?

• American society began to change after World War II. Many families eventually became dual-income and were busy rebuilding their families and the country. Professional portraits were viewed by many as an extravagance of either time or money or both.

• Digital photography, however, has changed photography – for the better – and made all forms of photography more accessible.

• While fine art photography is not inexpensive, it’s certainly more accessible to families today.

• And as our society has continued to change with more young adults than ever before enrolling in college and moving away, Americans are more socially and geographically mobile.

• Professional portraits of loved ones have once again become valued and more desirable – as well as accessible.

• Families today understand that portraits perform a vital role in documenting our heritage. And, they understand this in great part because they have the beautiful, sepia-toned portraits left to them by their grandparents and great grandparents.
 

 
Start a new family tradition, one that includes portraits of your beloved family members.

Contact Ever After Portraits, our photography studio near Dulles, VA to discuss documenting your family’s heritage through portrait photography. You can indeed have professional portraits to enjoy today and leave for your children and grandchildren to one day enjoy and appreciate – just as you have with your grandparents’ portraits.
 

Photography Studio, Family Photographer

Ever After is comprised of Mindy Belcher and daughter Joriana Belcher Anderson, a family photography team in Dulles, 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

As a portrait photography studio in Dulles, VA, we specialize in capturing the perfect family portraits for our clients. This starts from the first time we speak to you all the way through to when you display your portraits on the walls of your home.

In our consult with you, we discuss your family, including ages and personalities. We want to get to know you before your session with us.

We also talk about styling your session to suit your family “vibe” (such as relaxed or formal), as well as your clothing for the session. We want every member of the family to look their best. We also discuss your home decor; this assists us in the styling, too. For example, if you plan to display your family portrait on a wall of your home which is red and that color won’t be changing any time soon, we will not recommend that you wear red clothing for your session!

Included in customizing your session to you and your family is having you take quick iPhone photos of any walls in your home upon which you want to display your portraits. After you text those photos to us, we import them into our design software. We can then design a collection for that wall, in the perfect size! After your portrait session, we can show you exactly how your portraits will look on that wall.

No matter the size of the wall, we can custom design the right collection for that wall.
 

 
You decide what you want, whether you want one large image on your wall or a collection of images. I’ll tell you that most families choose a collection because they want their walls to tell the story of their family.
 

 
Whatever your choice, we will ensure that it is the perfect one for you.

Tell your family’s story with beautiful portraits which will be treasured for generations.
 

Portrait Photography Studio, Family Photographer

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter family photography team located in Dulles, VA in Northern Virginia, and serving the Washington Metropolitan area. 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

 
“No wonder you took such a great family photo with all that fancy equipment you have!” Ouch! That is not what any photographer, hobby or professional, wants to hear. As professional photographers in the Brambleton, VA area, who’ve spent years developing our skills and our business, we definitely wouldn’t want to hear that. We are more than our equipment!

The final tip in our series “How to Understand and Work With Your Photographer Friends” is: Your photos are as good as your photographer, not their equipment!

Expensive equipment does not automatically mean a beautiful portrait.

Our great photography isn’t only a result of our professional equipment (although it certainly helps). It is our years of training, skill development, experience, and passion that account for the great family portraits we provide to our clients. It’s our heart and soul!

Great photography is actually a complex combination of factors. Portraits are only as good as the photographer taking them. As we mentioned in a previous blog post, if your photos are important to you, then select the right photographer.

If you are looking for the best photography, look through a photographer’s website to review their portfolio or gallery of pictures. Visit their studio and ask to see more photos if you’re not convinced.

However, whether a photographer uses a Canon or a Nikon can’t help them if they don’t know how to:
• Use the equipment
• How to play with light
• Work with their subject to put them at ease
• Make the most of the composition as it relates to the subject.

Whew! That was a mouthful, but that’s only part of what it takes to create great photography. It all comes together with years of training and experience! Listening to our clients before we begin their session contributes more toward a great portrait than our equipment.

Our portrait studio and outdoor portrait park are easily accessible from anywhere in the Brambleton, VA area and our clients hail from all across Northern Virginia and the Washington Metropolitan area. We hope you’ll let us put everything we’ve got toward your next family photo. You won’t be disappointed!

 
Other tips in this series:
Tip #1, Understanding the Process
Tip #2, Don’t ask for more photos than the ones we present to you
Tip #3, Don’t Expect Free Photography
Tip #4, Don’t Crop Out the Watermark
Tip #5, Don’t Edit a Photographer’s Images
Tip #6, Think Twice When Hiring Friends!
Tip #7, Don’t Ask Them to Change Their Style
Tip #8, Give Credit Where Credit is Due
Tip #9, Don’t Invite Them (as a Guest) Expecting Free Photos

Family Photographer, Family Photo

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter portrait photography team located near Brambleton, 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 clients across Northern Virginia, including the Brambleton, VA area, come to us because they are looking for that loving, perfect family photo to have and hang on their wall for years to come. They have put a lot of thought into doing professional photos. They know that the right family photo will bring a smile through the years to come.

Sometimes clients will be tempted to simply order prints or request a CD/DVD of images files, rather than a wall art product of their portraits. Resist this temptation! We have ensured that our photography clients have many product options available to them for their portraits, products which will last a lifetime and display their portraits beautifully.
 

 
Here are ten reasons products are a better investment and decision than just prints or digital images:

TOP 10 REASONS WALL ART PRODUCTS ARE BETTER THAN PAPER PRINTS OR DIGITAL IMAGES:

1. It is true that prints can be less expensive than other products; however, there’s a reason for that. They won’t last nearly as long as a museum-quality product, and they are far more vulnerable to being damaged.

2. Wall art, portrait boxes, and albums can be displayed and enjoyed daily. Prints and digital images are usually stored away in a box or a drawer where they can’t be enjoyed daily. In fact, many times images are never even printed from a CD/DVD.

3. Our diverse, beautiful, and unique Wall Art products are a more stylish way to display your family pictures.

4. Wall Art Collections are well-designed, personalized, and custom-sized for your wall. They make a beautiful and bold statement about the love you have for your family.

5. Prints can be damaged through time for any number of reasons. Prints can also tear while albums won’t.

6. Wall Art or albums are high-quality and archival quality so they last much longer, some as long as 150 years.

7. Family pictures preserved in an album or as Wall Art will look just as good decades later.

8. Even the best of prints aren’t as durable as a Wall Art product.

9. Our products are commercially printed and rated by those companies to last between 85 and 150 years, depending on the product you choose.

10. If you’ve ever stored or backed up your photos on a CD/DVD, when is the last time you looked at them and enjoyed them? Have you ever pulled out that disk to show visitors baby pictures or other family photos? Probably not. You and your cherished family should be on your walls as ART!
 

 
Professional family photography is a matter of priorities. You always have options as to what you want to spend your money on. Spending on professional photography is spending to preserve your memories – like a visual diary of your family’s journey.

Our clients have made professional photography a priority in their family life. They truly value the experience and products that we as a professional photographer can provide for them. It’s a joy and an honor to have a client think so highly of what we do.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the average family grossing $63,784 spends $5,759 per year on entertainment and miscellaneous expenditures. Most likely that amount slips through their fingers on intangibles like lattes, the latest electronics or video games, and countless smaller purchases throughout any given year, usually without them even realizing how much is going towards those things. And notice we used the word “intangibles” – that’s because at the end of that year, there will be nothing to show for it!

On the other hand, heirloom-quality family portraits are an investment in something tangible that will last for more than even a few decades (our museum quality wall art is rated by the companies that produce it to last over 150 years). But there is something more: When you see your family’s laughter in your portraits every day, you will feel the joy all over again. It will bring back the memory of your family giggling together as you played during the portrait session. As you admire your family display in your home, pride will overcome you just like it did when you first saw them displayed as artwork. You will smile every time you walk by them, as you remember how much love there is between the members of your family.

Whatever amount you choose to invest with us, small or large, we will ensure that you end up with beautiful family portraits that you will cherish for years, even generations, to come.

We hope you’ll reach out to us because we are always happy to answer any questions. Ever After is a dynamic mother-daughter duo with years of photography experience in the Northern Virginia and Brambleton, VA areas.

Family Photographer, Family Photo

Ever After Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter due of family photographers located in Sterling, VA, near Brambleton, 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