2022 Fall Minis! Richmond, Virginia

It’s that time of year again! I feel as though it’s Christmas Eve and I’m wrapping up the final gifts from Santa for Finley to put under the tree. All the while SO excited for the next day and celebration! This is because it’s officially time for FALL MINI SIGN UPS!

Fall Minis are my absolute favorite time of year for photography because I LOVE seeing my returning families year after year and meeting new families! This year the dates will be November, 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th with 22 sessions available.

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Spring Family Session at Manassas Battlefield with the Brannock Family of Four

Getting to see Catherine and Kyle for their family session was a real treat. Who would have thought that it would be in the 90s in Virginia at the end of April!?! Regardless of the heat, they were real troopers and were amazing to work with. They came prepared to Manassas Battlefield with their own cooler of snacks, and water to keep the girls happy and cool. They also were willing to take breaks and go slow to get the best shots. Boy did it pay off!

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2021 Mini Season Recap

Whew! My mini-season was FAST and furious!! Over the course of two weekends (plus two rescheduled dates for weather), I met with 25 families and spent 12.5 hours taking pictures for them! I culled through thousands of images to find the best for each family and spent roughly 50+ hours editing! All in all, I delivered 2,424 images (which is a little deceptive because it includes the black and white duplicates). Whew!

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2021 Fall Minis

It’s happening!! They are here!! The most wonderful time of the year!! It’s MINI SEASON!

I know I say this every year but I just LOVE mini-season!! I love love love that 90% of mini sessions are returning families and I get to see these kiddos grow up and get bigger and bigger each year! These sessions are SO fun and we’ll do just about anything to get the smiles! I LOVE all the bootie shaking, fart joke giggles, and silliness that happens during minis. I LOVE how excited the kids get to see me – almost as excited as I am to see them! I love catching up with families that have become friends and hearing about the new things that have happened in their lives. And I love being able to serve these friends with beautiful images of their families that they can keep and cherish.

All minis are 30-minute sessions at one location. You are guaranteed at least 15 images – the perfect way to snag a holiday card image and update your family albums. 🙂 Keep scrolling to see how to snag your spot for Richmond Minis 2021!

RICHMOND MINIS

Minis will be hosted on three separate days this year and at varying locations to add some versatility. All three dates also have rain dates mapped out and both weekends must be available in order to book in case of rain. Spots are more limited this year than in years past so don’t hesitate to grab yours!

To reserve your spot, email me at Alex@alexandra-michelle.com for full details. For details on how we will stay safe amongst the pandemic scroll to the bottom for COVID Precautions.

COVID INFORMATION:  

In order to keep your family and my family safe, we’ll have to be extra cautious because of COVID 19.  Please see the guidelines below that we’ll follow to make sure we are all safe.  These are subject to change depending on the case numbers in Virginia.

  • All participants must take their temperature the morning of the session.  If any participant has a fever or feels sick or is showing COVID-19 symptoms, they must forego their mini session.  They will not have to pay the remainder of their balance and will be refunded their deposit. 
  • Social distancing between myself (Alex) and participants will be kept when masks are off (6 feet at least)
  • Masks may be worn by adults when not being photographed. 
  • Hand sanitizer will be available for use by participants 
  • Unlimited air hugs will be available at any time.  
  • 25% Deposits are due upon booking and can be refunded only for cancelation due to coronavirus (aka showing symptoms, spiking a fever, exposure etc.).  Final remaining payments can be made after the session has been completed and before galleries are delivered. 
  • All payments must be paid online and cannot be paid via cash or check in order to limit germ exposure.  
  • IF the state of Virginia goes into a statewide shutdown due to COVID numbers increasing and businesses are not allowed to operate and/or it becomes unsafe to host minis, the mini session may be canceled and full refunds will be made with advanced notice.  

To all my Maryland families:

I am so sad I won’t be able to make it up to Maryland this year for minis. I want you to have the best portrait experience and so I’m sending you an email with a list of other photographers in the area that I think would do an amazing job!

Meet the Toomeys!

I met up with the Toomey family this past fall in the charming DC neighborhood! We walked to their neighborhood school which has the most amazing park-playground. I knew I’d mesh well with this sweet family because we got connected through a camp friend of mine who happens to be child hood friends with Ellett. Their daughter is just a little older than Finley too and their two boys are full of spunk and energy!

We had a blast! Starting off with Coleman, their oldest, turning on his jet packs to blast off! It couldn’t have been cuter seeing him run around pretending to have his jets on. Then he’d say “jets off” to stop. :). He also informed me that he never runs out of fuel for his jets (what a hoot!)! Reid, their other son, is one step behind his brother, running and playing just as fast as he can too. His sweeter side comes out though as he loves his family! He watched to make sure the were all close and ran after anyone who ventured off. So sweet! We spent the session letting the boys be boys and run and play and climb as well as letting them teach me things. Coleman was the best at describing things and I really loved when he’d own not knowing something. At one point I said “Okay! So we’re going to zig zag down this bridge, do you think you could do that!?” and he goes “Yes! But first – can you tell me what zig zag is because I don’t think I know.” My teacher heart swooned!

Since we were at the park-playground where Coleman would go to school I naturally asked how school was going. And he explained all about how school hadn’t really started yet because of the “germ days” and I have to admit that I loved this explanation.

We were lucky enough to be able to wear masks and keep a fair distance between all of us to stay safe but still have a nice time together. Ellett and Kevin were so kind and easy going, which makes a huge difference when photographing littles. I loved their ability to laugh along with the fun and the images of the five of them laughing together are some of my favorites!

Perez Family Southern Maryland Fall Sessions

As I wrap up another amazing fall season with over 30 families served I have made a goal for myself to actually blog and share the images from this season! You see, every year I get so wrapped up in the hustle of the fall season and holiday minis that I always lapse on sharing the images! The Perez family is a perfect example! The images from their second milestone session last year were some of my favorites of the season but I never got to share them! So this year I cheated a bit and combined the images from their second milestone session from 2019 and this years fall session ☺️. You can check out their first milestone session here.

Julia and Chris are friends of ours from college and we have many a late night shenanigan story shared with them. What’s fun about our sessions is that we have recently tried to schedule them so that Sterling can come at the end and we can at least spend time together. This year with COVID we haven’t gotten to see them so it was especially exciting to get to take their pictures and meet up at a park to socially distance spend time together. Finley was only 2 months old so we planned for Sterling and Finley to drive with me and hang out at the park while I took these images. It worked out great because they got to meet Finley in a socially distanced way.

What’s crazy to see in this joint post is how much of a difference a year makes! Jackson looks SO much older in the 2020 images than from the year before! He’s notably taller but has lost some of his baby face too. Each boy is so uniquely different and great in their own way. Jackson is outgoing, adventurous and a strong leader. Ryan is observant, loving, sweet and independent. I had a blast walking through Black Hill Park near Gaithersburg Maryland for our session this year and downtown Frederick last year with this sweet family. We played games, used our imagination and laughed a lot!

Enjoy this joint blog post of our sweet friends and their precious family!

2019

2020

Bryan Park Fall Family Session

Have y’all ever met a bug doctor before?  Well, I have!  It’s true!

I got to this session a few weeks back, stepped toward the car and was introduced to Even, a three-year-old self-proclaimed bug doctor.  As you can imagine this naturally sparked my interest because I mean hello – science!  After some more inquiring I learned that he performs operations on bugs when they are very sick.   – Just the cutest!  Read More »

Teal Green Maternity and Family Mini at Libby Hill Park

Nothing gets me more jazzed than talking about my days at summer camp Camp Mont Shenandoah! Singing the songs, reminiscing about old memories and traditions, and wishing for Sunday’s lunch with the BEST fried chicken you’ll ever have.  So when Priscilla, one of my counselors from camp, told me that her son Wyatt knew the camp songs and LOVED them – you better believe we started singing them.

We were at Libby Hill Park for our mini session sing/screaming about a girl who is silly enough to trust a crocodile and float him down the Nile river.  The best part besides the fact that Wyatt knew the words was that in the part when we sang “Well the croc winked his eye as she waved them all goodbye, wearing a HAPPY SMILE!” Wyatt just BEAMED with this huge smile and CLICK, we got the picture.  🙂   Most of the time taking pictures of little ones that can wiggle and move and RUN becomes a game of how can we distract you long enough to set up the shot and then make it a game to get you to smile so that I can CLICK, get the picture.   Well, this trick worked and it gave me so much joy singing camp songs in the middle of the day!  Win – Win.  Read More »