FAMILY MEMORIES | Goodhart Photography, Northern Virginia Senior Portrait Artist

LOVE this family.   I met Katie years ago when we were in Sterling Playmakers "The King and I"  together.  Then she babysat for my kids, modeled for me, and helped me organize my home and photography studio.   I photographed her senior pictures a few years ago (she's been featured on this blog many times) and recently was lucky enough to photograph her amazing family at Claude Moore park in Sterling.

 This is one nuclear family, and two sets of grandparents.

Everyone is so good natured and happy, and it all starts here, with loving, faith-filled parents.

 Having such a large family enables all of these special connections between different siblings to develop. Here are a few more:

And for my parting shot:

PORTRAITS IN THE PARK | Northern Virginia Loudoun County Family Portraits

I recently met several of my favorite clients at the lovely Claude Moore Park in Loudoun County for a day of mini-photography sessions. Claude Moore is a beautiful location in the fall, with the golden colors of grass and foliage. Here are a few of the results.







The park is also a great location for senior portraits:



Enjoy! The rest should be ready for viewing in a few days!

Family Portrait Mini-Sessions | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Family Photographer

What a wonderful day! The weather was perfect, the location gorgeous, and my clients beautiful. Look at this little girl, with her creamy skin and deep brown eyes. She was just as lovely inside as she is on the outside, and a very good singer too!



Next up is this amazingly gorgeous tween.   She and her mother had a close bond, which I think comes out in the playful portrait below.



My final shoot of the day was this repeat client -- one of my favorite kinds!

And does she have the makings of a heartbreaker or what?

FAMILY PORTRAITS | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County family and child portrait photography

Fall is currently my busiest time of year, as families want photographs with some of the gorgeous fall color for their Christmas and holiday cards. I met this beautiful family after school for a weekday session, which is much easier to schedule than weekends but often means portraits without parents. They were friendly and personable children, and quite helpful too, carrying my gear and dragging my wagon.

Mom was just as helpful, cleaning off my coat and hair with a stick when a passing bird left me a present! I am not making that up! It made for some natural giggles though, which I captured -- the show must go on, no matter how badly the photographer wants to go home and take a shower! So when you see me with my "First Aid Kit" in my wagon from now on, you'll know why. Anything can happen on a photoshoot and I will now be prepared with tissues/anti-bacterial wipes, etc..

Anyway, in spite of high spirits and a rapidly setting sun, we managed to get some lovely portraits! The rest of the proofs will be available in two weeks.

FAMILIES AND PHOTOGRAPHS | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Family and Child Portrait Photographer

So yesterday I met these adorable early risers at the beautiful, but rather chilly, Claude Moore park in Loudoun County. Above they keep each other warm and create a charming portrait in the process!


Then it was back home to get dinner started, another load of laundry, the polls, and back down to Lansdowne for my last shoot of the day in the "golden hour" before sunset.


These boys were as angelic as they look!! Beautiful eyes, big smiles, and gorgeous portraits.

"C" YOU'RE A CUTIE FULL OF CHARM | Goodhart Photography, Northern Virginia Family Portrait Photographer

Look at the eyes on this boy! Absolutely beautiful. The whole family has amazing blue eyes.

It was a joy to photograph this family, as I've known the parents for -- well, before they were dating! We all worked together on Capitol Hill, they were fresh out of college. What I remember most about them is their energy and the way they used to laugh -- very infectious! They managed to be so much fun even as they worked extremely hard and long hours.




And here they are with four energetic boys! They tumbled out of the house with their nerf guns, busy firing at each other and various targets in the yard (it is a testament to their upbringing that my light stand and I were not targets!).





And yet, a few minutes later, nerf wars were forgotten as the oldest held his baby brother and made him smile for the camera.



And my parting shot, which will never make it onto anyone's wall, but is still one of my favorites...

DAWNS EARLY LIGHT | Goodhart Photography, Northern Virginia Family Portrait Photographer

I've written about the photographer's golden hour in the evening, but dawn's early light can also be magical, albeit a bit cool and dewy. I met two siblings and their families bright and early to take portraits as a gift for their father. I love how beautifully they are dressed.

Apparently Grandfather's most recent photograph of this family does not include the adorable younger child! This is definitely a perfect time to give him an updated family portrait.

I asked this family to traipse through wet grass to pose by this fence. The lines of the fence, the sun peeking through the trees, and the rustic barn seemed a perfect backdrop.



Thank you everyone for meeting me so bright and early! I hope you enjoyed your sneak peek. There are many more photographs to come, and they should be ready within two weeks!

A PRINCESS IN A TUTU | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Child and Family Portraiture

Isn't she lovely? Little Miss A is three years old and full of spirit and energy. She is modeling a tutu for me because I am considering putting together a portfolio to show to some of the small local dance schools in Loudoun and Fairfax County. And perhaps preschools. Last year I did the Team and Individual photographs for a local swim team, and I really enjoyed it! So I am interested in exploring other opportunities in the same genre.

I know dance photographs are typically done with a studio look, and I do in fact have a session lined up in my living-room-doubling-as-a-studio for later this month. But I just love to take these kinds of portraits out doors! There is just something particularly magical about that. This is another photo I did over a year ago...

THE GOLDEN HOUR BEFORE SUNSET | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Family and Portrait Photographer

It's fairly common knowledge that light is at its most beautiful around sunrise and sunset.   In fact, photographers call an hour before sunset and an hour after sunrise the "Golden Hour".  Lighting is warmer, and softer, and the contrast between highlight and shadow is much less intense than in the middle of the day.  Even though these family portraits were taken a little before the "Golden Hour", they still have some of that golden quality, particularly in the water behind the family in the portrait above. 


You do have to work fast, though, if you are trying to use the "Golden Hour", because once the sun sets, light has a much cooler tone, as below, in this portrait I took as a second wedding photographer on behalf of Shelley Miller of Shellpix Studios:



Which still can be lovely, but definitely isn't golden!

"A" YOU'RE ADORABLE | Goodhart Photography, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area Portrait Photographer

Yes, this was an absolutely adorable little girl!  Those eyes just melt my heart.  She had her own agenda yesterday, as sometimes three year olds do, so we just went with the flow and still got some beautiful portraits.  I did get a few lovely photographs of her smiling, but this serious expression shows her eyes in their full wide-eyed glory.

Here are her parents and her equally adorable sister, baby E: 

And yesterday, my baby turned eight!  How time flies, it seems like just yesterday you were as wee and jolly as baby E, and now you are such a little man.  So I took celebrated the occasion by setting up my new studio strobe and softbox and bribing him to sit for a quick portrait. 



I was delighted with the soft, gorgeous light and can't wait to start using this set-up with my clients who want a studio with or instead of an on-location look.

FAMILY | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Family and Teen Portrait Photographer

Well it's been incredibly hot around here, but this beautiful family geared up for a photography session at the Lansdowne Golf Course regardless. And they were rewarded by breezes and golden sunshine, and some wonderful portraits!




I had a great time with this highly photogenic family!

SIBLING REVELRY | Goodhart Photography, Loudoun County Family and Teen Photographer

I recently met this gorgeous family for some portraits at Claude Moore Park in Loudoun County. I had a wonderful time -- they got along fabulously and laughed constantly.




They were game for anything - they sprayed for ticks (a must at Claude Moore) and plunged into waist high grass for this portrait:



Then I took a few individual portraits of J. She reminds me a bit of a young Kate Winslet/Helen Bonham Carter.




Stay tuned -- the best is yet to come!

LITTLE KEWPIE | Goodhart Photography, Northern Virginia Baby and Family Portrait Photographer

Look at this little Kewpie doll! She was just the most precious little thing, I love her huge blue eyes and her little tuft of reddish hair.

She is the newest addition to this family of eight! They were so easy to photograph, cheerful and sweet and helpful.

THE BLUE DREAM OF SKY | Goodhart Photography, Fairfax County and Washington D.C. portrait and family photographer (and lover of e.e. cummings)

What an amazing weekend! Fantastic photography sessions at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Fairfax County, gorgeous saturated colors everywhere I looked. It was rather breezy and cool, but those beautiful children gamely threw off their jackets for the above portrait, which is one of my favorites of the session.

Below, you can see how the sky teased us all afternoon, with grey storm clouds that would suddenly part and reveal a slip of "the blue dream of sky". I did not exactly succeed in getting all 21 pairs of eyes on me in this portrait, but I love it anyway, as it shows kids being kids.


Before I photographed the large family above, I spent a few hours this afternoon with this gorgeous young couple, who has a very special place in my heart.


And yesterday, I had the pleasure of going on one of David Luria's "Washington Photo Safaris", which I will blog about in more detail another time, but I highly recommend it, and had a fantastic time! Below is a "cliche" photograph of the Capitol, my old stomping grounds. These monuments and buildings have been photographed so much I'm not overly concerned with avoiding "cliche" photographs, as that would pretty much eliminate every photography angle available to the average citizen like me. Sometimes cliches make me happy. What can I say. I also cried when I saw "How to Train Your Dragon" so I guess that means I am pretty easily moved emotionally.



There are so many more photographs to come! If only my kids didn't need three meals a day, the groceries just showed up at my door step, and the laundry would do itself. Then I would be able to finish everyone's proofs in a week. However, given the way the world works, it will be at least 2 weeks before the proofs are ready. But it will be worth the wait as the best is yet to come!