You get one shot at this. The kid who spent a year learning their portion. The grandparents who flew in. The moment the whole room lifts a chair off the floor. None of it happens twice.
Alison Tremblay photographs bar and bat mitzvahs, weddings and dance across Washington DC, Montgomery County and Northern Virginia — more than 75 celebrations a year, fifteen years running. The work is documentary in feel rather than posed: real expressions, real light, and the small moments between the big ones that families tend to care about most a decade later.
Bar & Bat Mitzvahs
Coverage is built around how a mitzvah day actually unfolds.
Before the service. Portraits of your child, immediate family and grandparents, taken while everyone is fresh and before the day gets away from you.
The service. Photographed with restraint, and always within your congregation’s rules.
The room, before anyone sees it. Your planner and decorator spent months on the centerpieces, the lighting, the sign-in board and the place settings. Those get photographed while the room is still perfect and empty — because twenty minutes after doors open, they won’t be.
The party. The entrance, the candle lighting, the hora, the speeches. Then the part that fills most albums: the dance floor, shot as it happens rather than staged.
Working with your synagogue
Every congregation handles photography differently, and getting it wrong is not something you can fix afterward.
Some shuls permit photography throughout. Some allow it before and after but not during the service. Some observe Shabbat restrictions that rule out shooting altogether until the party begins.
Alison shoots most weeks at Rodef Shalom, B’nai Israel, Har Shalom, Beth El, B’nai Tzedek, Washington Hebrew Congregation, Temple Sinai and Beth Ami — so in most cases the rules are already known before the conversation starts. Where they aren’t, we confirm with your clergy or synagogue office well ahead of the date and build the portrait schedule around what’s permitted. Nothing gets negotiated in a hallway on the morning itself.
Weddings
The same approach, across a longer day: getting ready, the ceremony, the portraits you’ll actually hang, and a reception photographed as it happens. Engagement sessions are available separately and are worth doing — they’re the easiest way to get comfortable in front of a camera before the day that counts.
Dance
Studio and competition work — portraits, group shots and performance coverage, shot with an understanding of stage lighting and how quickly it changes.
What’s included
No hourly billing. Not now, not ever. Coverage begins when you need Alison and ends when you don’t. Your day isn’t run by a clock or an hourly rate.
Synagogue photography included with all packages that include albums, and with most other packages as well — from family portraits through the last song of the night.
Every image edited. Smaller celebrations typically receive 450–800 finished images; larger events generally receive 800–1,500. Every event is culled and edited to a standard well beyond basic event photography. You get the strongest images from your celebration, fully finished and ready to enjoy.
Albums designed by Alison personally. She doesn’t hand album design to a third party. She’ll walk you through image selection and lay out the book herself.
You reach Alison directly. She’s Studio Manager for the photography department at WTA Photo, so the person who answers your call is the person shooting your event.
Where we shoot
Throughout the DC metro area — Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring, Kensington, Rockville and Olney, across the District, and into Northern Virginia.
Regular venues include Pinstripes, the Four Seasons, Woodmont Country Club and Woodholme. If yours isn’t one we’ve worked at before, it very likely isn’t new to us either.
Common questions
How far ahead should we book?
Spring and fall dates go first, and b’nai mitzvah weekends cluster, so if you have a date it’s worth checking early. Alison books more than 75 celebrations a year, and the calendar fills earliest for spring and fall.
Do you photograph the service itself?
Where your congregation permits it, yes. We confirm this with your synagogue before the day.
Can we do portraits on a different day?
Yes, and many families prefer it. A separate portrait session takes the pressure off the morning and gives you far more time for family groupings.
Who actually shows up to shoot?
Alison does. She also leads a studio team — including Toby Angel and Ricardo Reyes — so second shooters and larger coverage come from people she’s worked alongside for years, not from a booking pool.
Do you work with our planner, band and DJ?
Constantly. Alison is part of Washington Talent, so if you’re also booking entertainment, lighting, video or a photo booth, it can be coordinated through one point of contact instead of four.
Talk to us about your date
Tell us the date, the synagogue and the venue, and we’ll come back to you with availability.
301.762.1800 · al****@**************nt.com