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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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!
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.
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.
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!
Alysa is my grandlittle and for anyone who was in a sorority (or fraternity) reading this, you know what this means, but if you’ve never been in Greek life than you may not understand. In fact, Grammarly just told tried to correct me and when I highlighted over the word it said “Unknown word” haha! Basically, it means she’s in my sorority family and that we spent a lot of time together through college! Lucky for me, our fun continued after college when she moved back to Richmond! We did almost everything together! From setting up classrooms and class materials to sewing, wine tasting, and even being a practice model for me, it was always nice to have Alysa in the same town to hang out with! Fast forward to now and she is married and has a baby! It’s crazy to think about how much we’ve grown since the days back at JMU.
This session was the perfect POP of spring colors and fun! Christina is a sorority sister of mine and I realized as I was driving down to DC that hadn’t seen her since we graduated! CRAZY! Last time we were together we were dancing about to pop hits of 2010 and jumping about in general 22-year-old excitement for life. Now she is married with a 1-year-old little boy – Lincoln!
As I drove down to DC on Saturday morning I was a little nervous… it had rained the whole night before and was still overcast and drizzling. I kept looking at the sky saying “Common now – you need to break up these clouds for me”. Sure enough, as I got closer and closer to the location the clouds started to move apart and let that sunshine come through. The day turned out even better than I could have imagined – bright sun, 75 degrees and simply beautiful! Read More »
For some these images may seem like a simple new baby announcement but they are SO much more than that. These pictures represents a journey. A hard, beautiful journey filled with love and hope and one that I’ve gotten to be a part of as a friend and photographer since the very beginning. Amanda was the first person I ever took pictures of “professionally” and has since trusted me with her biggest milestones. I say professionally in quotes because I had never, I repeat, NEVER taken pictures of people before Amanda asked me to shoot her engagement pictures. I sometimes can’t believe she trusted me with this and then later when she called me to do her newborn session, my FIRST newborn session! She saw something in me and pushed me to start something before I even knew to try. From maternity to newborn, to a cake smash to the moment when she called me and told me she was pregnant again after years of waiting. Years of what I can only assume was hope and prayers and deep heartaches and now she is expecting her second baby, a GIRL! Read More »
— Richmond Virginia —
When Anne reached out to me a few months ago about doing her newborn pictures I actually had a moment of “pinch me!”. I knew Anne in college as she was kind of a big deal in sorority life at JMU! She was a Tri Delta and I was an Alpha Phi and while we never officially knew each other I definitely knew of her! She was Panhellenic President and was known as one of the nicest women at school. Panhellenic for anyone who isn’t a sorority person is the overarching organization that each sorority is involved in. It’s kind of like a community counsel and puts on events such as recruitment. Being President of Panhel is a HUGE honor and an even bigger responsibility! It’s a two year commitment and running recruitment is no easy task!
After we got talking she sent me over a Pinterest board of the type of shots she was hoping we’d get. It was such a wonderful surprise to see that most of the pictures on the Pinterest board were mine!! I couldn’t believe it!! They were mixed in with other images by people that I really admire and look up to which was so humbling!
When I got to Anne and Aaron’s house it was nothing less than what I expected, beautifully spaced with an amazing layout. Her nursery was decorated neutrally with basic white, grays and light beige/brown. I honestly had never seen a nursery that neutral before (usually there is more splashes of pink or blue) and I loved it! It was easy to get bright and clean images of the space and of the baby plus it had a simple feel that was refreshing and classic.
What impressed me more than their beautiful home and their clean and well planned nursery though was Anne and Aaron and how gracefully kind they both are. They are people of faith and you can tell it’s very important to them. I walked into their house and immediately felt welcome and trusted. Anne and I talked like two old friends and I have to say – she really is one of the nicest and down to earth people I’ve ever met! She was kind enough to hold up a blanket in the background as a reflector for almost the entire time! Beyond their kind hearts, Aaron and Anne are such natural parents and in the most genuine way. I noticed it in the simple ways they care for Will and each other. Like how Aaron snuggled up with Will just to watch golf, or how Anne talks to Will to sooth him and calm him. They were born to be a parents and God has blessed them in a beautiful way. Their parenting was never flashy or braggy, but sweet, humble and natural. You can tell that this was path is blessed by God and that they are in it together every step of the way!
Anne and Aaron – I LOVED getting to know you better during this session and am so glad that we are doing at least two more milestones together! You have a beautiful family and hearts of gold, I’m grateful to get to work with you both!
Wanna know why I love working with Maggie and this sweet family? About a year ago this time I took her newborn images and instantly felt comfortable. Maggie is so down to earth and easy going the whole session felt like hanging out with a friend. We got some gorgeous images that are hands down some of my favorites – especially the clean black and whites images that we got.
But then! Flash forward a few months and I run into Maggie at Jack Browns. It’s been months since I’ve seen them and they still say hi and talk about their newborn images! Better yet! She emails me about making sure to get on my calendar months in advance! AND THEN! I meet them for our mommy and me session and Maggie says “Alex! I wanted to bring some glasses and wine so we could hang out while we did this but I just didn’t have time to get it together.” GIRL! YOU are my THE BEST!
I love working with women and families like this who are loyal and keep coming back but also who get me! It ends up feeling a lot like working with a friend than just a client and we always get GORGEOUS images. My favorite part of childhood and family photography is getting to work with families through the years and watch the kids grow up and their family evolve! This loyalty means the world to me and makes this whole business feel x10 more personal and worth it.
For this session we met up at my favorite spot and the light was perfect! We basically stayed in the same two spots the whole time because the light coming through the background created the most creamy bokeh!
Check out this my favorites of this amazing family of three!
We met early at Forest Hill Park for this session which was great because it got HOT that day! I got to the park a little early and saw it, the most gorgeous tree with the most gorgeous low hanging branches! SWOON! We spent almost the entire time in this one spot. Margaret wore a purple dress which popped off the background and showed off her baby bump so beautifully.
While this session was a mini and shorter in time than a typical session we were able to go a lot of images and variety! We were even able to incorporate their dog!! My favorite part of the session though was playing with Scarlett at the end as she picked me flowers and brought them over to me as little gifts! Read More »
It’s always a good sign when you roll up to a session to meet the family for the first time and you connect instantly with the family and kids. I arrived to Forrest Hill Park and walked up to meet Kelsie and her husband Brent and within seconds their gorgeous daughter Maddie did what I always hope the kiddos will do, she opened her arms and reached out to me. AHHH my little heart almost exploded!! She got passed over to me and I knew in that moment – this was going to be a GREAT session! Read More »
Getting to capture the little moments between a Mom and her child is so precious and Jennifer and Lucas are no exception. It’s nice to get to focus on the Mom and her bond since they aren’t always given the chance to be in front of the camera. That’s what inspired the Mommy and Me Minis was the chance to get to focus on motherhood and the love between mother and child.Read More »