6 Tips for New Moms Going Back to Work | Northern VA Baby Photographer

by Mindy Belcher | Nov 6, 2017 | Helpful Hints

6 Tips for New Moms Going Back to Work | Northern VA Baby Photographer

As an expert in baby photography in the McLean, VA area, Mindy understands the challenges of being a working mom. If you are planning on working outside the home, here are a few tips from her experience as well as a terrific article in Cloudmom.com:

1. Efficiency will be your best friend both at work, where you will want to get things done as efficiently as possible so you can get home, and at home where you want to spend time enjoying your baby when you return home at the end of your day. Prioritizing your work in either location will make life easier and smoother. Do what you can, when you can. Don’t sweat the small stuff and be realistic with your expectations. There isn’t such a thing as a Supermom!

2. You will probably be missing your child far more than she or he is missing you. Babies don’t have the same sense of time that we do. So, while you’re at work watching the clock (while trying to be efficient), they’re elsewhere being a baby and enjoying their day.

3. Practice patience. Be patient with everything, but especially yourself. It will take time to adjust to your new life back at work as a mother. You have to expect a few mistakes and lessons along the way. That’s okay. All moms have “been there, done that” at some point! Remember, again, there’s no such thing as a Supermom!

4. Practice acceptance. Not everything will work out as you planned (or hoped) – such as an unexpected work trip for you or your spouse. Just go with it. Learn to say no, and ask for help when needed. There’s a reason there’s the adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

5. Guilt: Feeling guilty for being at work doesn’t help you or your baby, especially if you need that paycheck or want to continue your pre-baby career. Put the guilt aside!

6. Lastly, the most important piece of advice we can offer you as newborn photography experts, and Mindy as a mother, is this: At the end of the day, nothing else matters but your baby and your family. Spend time with your baby when you arrive home. Everything else can wait. They’ll be leaving for college before you realize it!

If you’d like us to do your baby photography, including newborn photography, we would be happy to discuss our work. Our studio is located near the McLean, VA area, and we serve clients throughout the Northern Virginia area.

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near McLean, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby 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!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

Max, Newborn Portrait Session | Northern VA Newborn Photographer

by Mindy Belcher | Nov 2, 2017 | Sterling VA Newborn photography

Max, Newborn Portrait Session | Northern VA Newborn Photographer

The heartwarming aspect of baby photography never grows old for us. But, shooting newborn portraits following previous multiple sessions with the child’s parents is especially poignant for us here in our studio near McLean, VA.

Knowledge is Power:
You might be surprised to know that the adage “knowledge is power” applies quite aptly to family photography. Doing multiple sessions with a client is a unique opportunity for family photographers and documentarians. It means we get to know the clients – which is what happened with Amy and Scott. We had already photographer their engagement session, wedding, and maternity portraits by the time Baby Max arrived in the world!

Now acting as their newborn photographer, we were able to use our longstanding relationship with Amy and Scott to plan for our session with Baby Max. Knowing his parents and their personalities, allowed us to have some insight and to anticipate some of what they might want. Even so, we spoke to them about their vision for Max’s portraits. We were more than ready by the day of their session, and we were excited to meet Max!

New Clients:
If you haven’t worked with us before, that doesn’t mean your portraits won’t be poignant or personally reflective of you. When you schedule your session with us, we will get to know you through conversation, and an in-person consult if you prefer. This helps us to understand you and your vision for your portraits. The more you share with us, the better we are for your session before you arrive!

Here are some of the typical questions we will ask you:

• Do you know where you’d like to display your portraits?
• Do you prefer color or black and white?
• Would you rather do indoor or outdoor portraits? (For newborns, we prefer our indoor studio so temperature is carefully controlled!)
• Do you have a particular outdoor site in mind or would you like to use our private, outdoor portrait park?
• Are you considering individual portraits of each family member?

Doing baby photography in the McLean, VA area gives us the opportunity to welcome new life through our fine art portrait work. It’s an enjoyable and rewarding aspect of our family photography. And, as we’ve said, it never gets dull!

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team near the McLean, VA area in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby 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!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

Interesting Facts About Newborns | Northern VA Newborn Photographer

by Mindy Belcher | Oct 30, 2017 | Sterling VA Newborn photography

Interesting Facts About Newborns | Northern VA Newborn Photographer

Newborns are delightful for us as photographers – even if they can be somewhat exhausting for the new parents! As Joriana’s mom, Mindy already knew quite a bit about newborns before she ever picked a camera professionally. Even so, our baby photography work in the Waterford, VA area has taught us quite a bit about newborns.

Working with infants and children is never dull for us. It means we have to do careful preparation for their session and keeps us nimble during the session. Children and baby photography are one of the most enjoyable aspects of our family photography practice!

Here are a few interesting things you might not know about newborn babies:

• Their fontanel, the soft spot on their skull, might pulsate because it’s over the blood vessels covering the brain.
• Newborns won’t respond to you with coos or smiles until after about the six-week mark.
• Newborns are nearsighted so you’ll need to get within eight to ten inches of their face so they can see you. That works to our advantage during our newborn sessions! You end up with gorgeous close-up baby pictures to treasure.
• After the first week of life, you can expect about five to six wet diapers a day, and at least one or two stools.
• Dry skin in newborns isn’t unusual!
• By their third month of life, most infants can sleep for about six-to-eight-hour stretches at night. Before that, it’s more like two-to-three-hour stretches.
• Newborns have a “startle reflex.” When they are startled by sudden movements or loud noises near them, they will shake or jitter, throw their arms back and forth – as if you told them to hold their arms up during a bank robbery.

As an experienced baby photography studio in the Waterford, VA area, we are happy to answer your questions or to schedule an appointment for a portrait session for your newborn or child. We look forward to hearing from you!

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near the Waterford, VA area in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby 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!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

Photography Tips: How to Capture Great Party Pictures of Your Children! | Northern VA Baby Photographer

by Mindy Belcher | Oct 26, 2017 | Children's Portrait, Helpful Hints

Photography Tips: How to Capture Great Party Pictures of Your Children! | Northern VA Baby Photographer

Are you ready to take spectacular pictures at your child’s next party? As a long-time baby photographer in the Waterford, VA and South Riding, VA areas, we can offer you some tips to help. It’s not easy to photograph children – let alone ones in constant motion at a party!

For the best pictures, make sure you have a designated photographer. Their sole job at the party is to take pictures. Here are five tips to help you (or them) out:

Shoot on Auto:
Unless you’re an experienced photographer, set your digital camera to “auto” and shoot away. If you have photography experience, you can set your camera to “manual” and adjust as needed. We usually recommend “auto” unless you’ve had plenty of experience doing action shots among busy little bees (otherwise known as children on sugar)!

Event Photography Plan:
Think ahead of the type of shots you’ll want out of the party. Do you plan on framing any pictures? Creating an album? Knowing what you hope to accomplish with the pictures can help guide your shots. (If you’re concerned about taking pictures of young children without parental permission, you might want to give them an advance head’s up and make sure they’re comfortable with it.)

Angles and Perspectives:
A common mistake amateur photographers make is their angle of the shot. With pictures of kids, be sure to take some of your shots down at their height, at their eye level. As a newborn photographer, we have found that it’s important to think out of the box when it comes to the angle of your shots. You’ll want to shoot some pictures from low to high (lay down on the floor if you must and aim up toward the subject or subjects) and shoot others from high to low (stand safely on a chair or step ladder). Get creative in your angles!

Details Make the Shot:
The interest lies in the party’s details! Before your first guests arrive, take some shots of the cake, invitation (if it’s printed), decorations, presents, and even the guests arriving at the party. Don’t forget the special boy or girl!

Once the party is up and running, remember to zoom in and shoot some candid close-ups of the children having fun, eating, and interacting. Keep in mind that taking great candids means some level of anticipation as to what’s about to happen. You’ll need to be fast and nimble when shooting at a child’s party! However, if a child ever seems uncomfortable with being photographed, back off. There’s no need to insist on taking a picture of a child if they’re clearly not comfortable.

With a little practice, you’ll find yourself getting better and better when it comes to taking children’s pictures. As a baby photographer, we’ve improved greatly from our earliest days working here in the Waterford, VA and South Riding, VA area. We only have our determination, a lot of practice, and our clients to thank for our success!

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near the Waterford, VA and South Riding, VA areas in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby 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!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

Differences in Posed and Lifestyle Baby Photography | Northern VA Baby Photographer

by Mindy Belcher | Oct 23, 2017 | Sterling VA Newborn photography

Differences in Posed and Lifestyle Baby Photography | Northern VA Baby Photographer

When discussing baby photography, there are generally two categories into which it falls: lifestyle and posed. These days, most of our clients across Northern Virginia, including Waterford, VA, request posed for their newborn baby’s portraits. Let’s break down the two styles.

Posed:
The posed-style of baby pictures has been around since the earliest days of photography. If you have ever combed through an antique shop’s old pictures, it’s not unusual to find sepia-toned baby pictures shot in this style. Our first inclination is to say that the style has lasted so long because it is simpler to shoot and so very classic. The baby is usually asleep for these sessions, making it simpler to photograph them, but that is not always the case. Older babies often wake up in the middle of the shoot, need to be fed, and we wait and start again. It might be easy, but it’s not always the fastest style of photography for babies! These types of portraits are done with planning and patience!

When done right, portraits done in this classic posed style become gorgeous heirlooms to hand down to the next generation and beyond.

Lifestyle:
This style of baby photography can be shot anywhere. It doesn’t have to be in a portrait studio, and the child isn’t usually asleep. It’s a more candid style of photography which lends itself to older babies, toddlers, and children rather than newborns. For example, baby or children’s pictures taken at a party or park tend to be lifestyle photography rather than posed.

As you can see, there is a significant difference between the two styles of baby photography. We are happy to discuss your needs and vision for your next baby portraits.

If you would like newborn or baby portraits in the classic posed style, we’d be happy to do your newborn’s or baby’s session in our studios here near Waterford, VA. Lifestyle portraits can be taken in our outdoor portrait park or elsewhere (although we normally wait until the baby is a bit older than newborn before doing an outdoor session). Give our studio a call and we’ll answer any questions you may have!

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near Waterford, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby 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!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits