Arnel Gonce, portrait photographer in Charlottesville, Virginia, smiling with her hand in her hair

Author profile

Arnel Gonce, Portrait Photographer in Charlottesville

Arnel Gonce (her full name is Vonne Arnel Gonce) is a portrait photographer in Charlottesville, Virginia. She has been photographing for 47 years, professionally since 2013, and has owned her own studio since November 2015. At her studio on Peter Jefferson Parkway she photographs headshots and personal branding, family and couples, maternity, seniors, boudoir and her Fabulous Over 50 sessions.

Every guide in the Journal comes from sessions in her studio and around Charlottesville. She writes about what to wear, how to pose, what things cost and what to expect, because those are the questions clients ask before they book.

Photographing for
47 years
Professional since
2013
Studio owner since
November 2015
Member of
Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce

Looking for the studio, the sessions and the story behind them? That is on the About page.

Experience

The 50 Women Over 50 project

Arnel launched the 50 Women Over 50 project in November 2019. Because of COVID, only 47 women signed up. She restarted it in January 2024 and photographed 73 women, every portrait in black and white, with professional hair and makeup. Each woman received a black and white print of her portrait.

The project ended with a gala at the Wool Factory just outside Charlottesville in February 2025, with the prints on display and the women there to see them. The Daily Progress covered it in “Charlottesville photographer's exhibit honors 'real women' over 50” by Jane Dunlap Sathe (February 9, 2025).

“I'm not looking for models. I'm looking for real women.”

Arnel Gonce, quoted in The Daily Progress, February 9, 2025

What she photographs

Sessions in Charlottesville

Writing

Everything Arnel has written in the Journal

Headshots

Family

Portraits

Maternity

Boudoir

Seniors

Find Arnel elsewhere

Book a Session