Wedding & Portrait photographer | Washington, D.C.
Dani the photographer
As your photographer, you should know that I'll get really excited when we get "the shot" and I am full of posing ideas! While I believe that there are lots of candids to capture in a photo session, it's also true that beautiful photos don't always happen by accident. That's why I provide style guides, location suggestions, and fun prompts to get the fun started. Bonus points if you bring a doggo to the shoot.
Dani the person
As for me, I live with my partner, and the best dog in the world (Lexi) in northern VA but I grew up in Miami, and attended universities in Maryland, and Oregon. Additionally, my family is from Ecuador and I fully embrace that part of my heritage. In fact, I have been in multiple performing Latin dance teams throughout the years and I work hard to maintain my Spanish fluency.
How I got here
I raised money for my first DSLR in high school circa 2013 because I really wanted to be a teen YouTube sensation. I got a few hits with my hair-styling content (did not age well) but turns out that just wasn't the path for me. I eventually switched my camera settings from video to photo and here we are! My current business kicked off when I started offering graduation sessions at my university (Go Hop!), and since then I've captured hundreds and hundreds of sessions that led to specializing in family and couples photography. I am constantly reflecting on how lucky I am that I get to do this as a job!
1. Meet Daniela
2. Plan your session
For portraits, you will have the chance to tell me your preferred dates and the look you're going for in your photos when you fill out my contact form. We'll then work together to choose the perfect location for you. We are so lucky to live in an area where we can choose iconic backdrops like the National Mall, but still have lots of great parks and neighborhoods (historic and otherwise) for those that want something more colorful.
With a date and location set, and your retainer paid, I'll send over a style guide that will highlight how to achieve the colorful, happy images that defines my style of photography. Outfit changes are encouraged for the best bang for your buck!
For weddings and elopements, you may have a lot of the outfit and venue details already figured out, but that doesn't mean I can't help in other ways including: suggestions for the photography schedule, vendor suggestions, and fun ideas for the kinds of photos we can get. All wedding and elopement bookings will also come with a free consultation call so I can walk you through my welcome guide and answer all the important questions you have.
All session dates are reserved with a retainer.
3. Photo Time!
At this point, all you have to bring is your gorgeous self or selves and let me take care of the rest. I come equipped with 2 camera bodies and 2 lenses for different perspectives throughout the session. For weddings and elopements, I'll also have my flash handy for indoors and low-lighting situations, and an additional lens. I'll show you different poses we can do and they will all include some movement so nobody feels stiff and awkward (the worst!)
For families with younger kids, I love to let the kids take the lead as often as possible so that they give me their best smiles. I will have provided more tips for keeping them happy throughout the session during the booking stage.
Finally, I am prepared to be efficient without losing attention to detail especially when there are elements of location changes, outfit changes, and big groups. I got you!
4. Receiving your Gallery
As you may have learned up to this point, there's a lot that goes into creating your unique photo gallery. This is the part where all our planning and coordination pays off!
Depending on your package, you will receive either watermarked proofs or a high-quality preview of your session within 48 hours.
Your images will be in a private gallery with a custom link and you will have access to my printing store where you can preview your images framed and shop directly from there. I want your images to be perfect, so if you see any reasonable changes that need to be made before printing or sharing, just let me know. My priority is you!
Portrait turn-around time: 10-14 days
Weddings and elopement turn-around time: 6-8 weeks
