Jennifer does excellent photography. I'm disappointed that she has been unable to provide the photo albums of our children's mitzvah events that we paid for over 18 months ago. Jennifer does not return phone calls, text messages or FB messenger...from myself or my wife. That's not a professional experience. For that reason, I can't recommend her to others. read more

Jennifer was contracted with our daycare to take school photos. She took them, created a proof gallery, and offered parents the opportunity to purchase digital prints at $50 a photo. After purchasing, she never sent the photos. Two voicemails, two emails, and a complaint to the daycare director later, nothing. I'm updating this review as Jennifer reached out after we left another review on a different site and attempted to rectify the situation. She apologized and sent the photo, which was appreciated. read more

Be prepared to pay up front and wait a long time. I am very disappointed with the lack of communication and commitment to my project, yet my family agreed the headshot images were good. I think Jennifer means well, but she does not follow through. Mine was a simple headshot session on June 4, 2021. Photos were promised within a month which turned into 3 months after my reminders. It took another 2 months for two retouched photos, when she had promised up to six then three then six. I finally gave up after my final email on November 30 to get the few missing retouched photos. Jennifer set up a "basecamp" platform before the shoot to streamline comms, but I was the only one who posted there. She made no effort to verify I had access to the completed photos, which were at an unrelated URL, when an assistant apparently neglected to send the link to me. After weeks of waiting and failed attempts to communicate, it was reinforced that Jennifer rarely answers emails and may not return calls. The physical studio experience was disappointing and was not located at lovely Lake Anne as advertised. A website image shows her current studio in her apartment though it was not arranged to maximize natural light at the time. Although there was a clothing rack for my changes, there was no place to put my purse, bag, and glasses, except unceremoniously in a lump on the floor. After an hour with my make-up artist at Jennifer's studio, I needed to use the bathroom. It was creepy with no toilet paper or tissues, just a wastebasket overflowing with paper towels and an empty tissue box. We planned some outside shots which were foiled because the bugs were so bad and she had no way to hold the reflector screen without my awkward help - like she'd never done this before. The last time I spoke with Jennifer, I offered to chat about my customer experience and help her brainstorm about how to make her business better, but she was not interested. read more

I'm so excited for our shoot next Tuesday! Thank you for the pre-planning meeting today. Little extras like this pre-meeting to discuss best practices for models/location and your creative eye are just one of the many reasons I hired you! read more

Jennifer has a great personality which is key to a good photo shoot. She made me feel comfortable and did many shots at a reasonable price. In addition, she was able to see me the same day! I recommend her for professional shots, they turned out great! read more

Jennifer Heffner Photography - At the studio! - Event Photography Near Me - Reston, Virginia

To judge Jennifer based solely on the pictures we received and how she did at my daughter's bat mitzvah, she may have earned 5 stars. But, outside of the day of the event, this was a miserable experience. A couple of months prior to the event, I began to email Jennifer to arrange the separate portrait session. She never replied to an email, and finally answered her phone, stating that the emails must have gone to her spam folder (even though we'd communicated primarily through email as we were going through the contracting process). She arrived half an hour late to the portrait session, for which we only had one hour since it was the day of the event. Our contract stated that we'd have the pictures 4-6 weeks after the event. We hadn't heard from her at all at 6 weeks, so began emailing, calling, and texting, and got no response at all. Finally, on February 3 (more than 3 months after the event), she texted back that she was "almost done." We didn't hear back again until March. At that point, we were told that some of the files were "corrupted" and she was sending them to a lab to see if they could be recovered. What she had was finally posted in mid-March. After another couple of months of desperately trying to get Jennifer to respond to inquiries about the status of the corrupted files, she finally replied that she had "good news" on May 5 and the recovered pictures would be posted that weekend. It wasn't until June 12 that she finally posted the pictures. There were only a few, though, and they were not of the people and parts of the event that she knew we were hoping for. By way of apology, all we ever received was a $200 credit towards prints and a promise to connect us with someone who does albums so that we could buy an album at cost. (We never got an actual apology for anything, just excuses.) Of course, she never did connect us with the album person. But now, 10 months after the event and with prints and files in hand, we are simply glad to be done with the whole thing. Judging from at least one other review, we're not the only ones. read more

Jennifer was a delight to work with. She has a great personality and the pictures were amazing!!!! She made us all feel very at home and accommodating by asking what we wanted from the pictures to ensure we all had a good experience! She was very attentive and promptly called me when she noticed my mistake with ordering the photos and made sure it was corrected immediately! She is a real pleasure to work with and I am definitely recommending her to others. Paula P. read more

I hired Jennifer to take my corporate head shot and I got a fantastic result--she was extremely professional and easy to work with. Having my picture taken is not my favorite past time but Jennifer's way with people put me at ease and I got a great result! I would recommend her again and again. read more

Avoid this photographer! She is unprofessional and mentally unstable. After weekly phone calls and emails and texts It took over a year to receive photos of a very significant event in my family's life (the contract we signed stated 2 weeks to receive). Then the photos we received were not what we asked her to take and did not document our event well. She also said she had more but had to find them. Never did. She cried on the phone to explain her mistakes were due to a personal crisis but never apologized and never offered compensation. She even told us that someone else was suing her in hopes that we didn't do the same. In the meantime, we have very little (and not good) documentation of a significant event in my family's life. This woman should not be in business. read more

Jennifer is amazing. So easy to work with and really knows how to get the best shot for your professional headshot. She is creative, patient and gives you lots of suggestion. She also worked fast to get me the pics I needed. read more

I strongly recommend avoiding this photographer. We engaged Ms. Heffner to photograph a family reunion in conjunction with my father's birthday. She said we would receive the images within 2 weeks after the event. After three weeks of not hearing from her, we called her and she said we would get the images soon. In the following months, after our repeated attempts to reach her by phone, email and text, she continued to promise the images would be ready soon. At one point she stated that some of the images had been corrupted and she was trying to get them recovered by an outside source. She indicated she would post what images she did have which we welcomed. We waited hoping to view these few images of the event. Finally, we were forced to take her to arbitration (per the booking agreement which we were required to sign) and she agreed to refund our money and provide what images she had. Nearly seven months after the event, we finally received a refund but we have never received a single image -- which did not fulfill the final determination of the county arbitration representative. As for her photography skills, we cannot comment. However, Jennifer Heffner is one of the most unprofessional people with whom we have ever dealt. read more