Yes, summer is coming. And with it the plethora of portrait sessions at the beach!  Many of those I do each year are from families out of town. But this session was from a local Irvine family who needed a portrait to hang on the wall in time for company coming to town!  I loved the little pop of color that the coral shirts the girls were wearing to the other light colors.  Everyone was super well behaved and we had a gorgeous evening with perfect light and a fairly uncrowded Picnic Beach for a Saturday night!

I was so excited when my good friend and roommate from BYU came down to visit California with her family!  I knew I had to find time to see them in my busy schedule, and since my kids love to go to the beach, and her family wanted to go, we decided to meet at Diver’s Cove for a fun afternoon in the surf and sun!  Of course I brought my camera along, and although it wasn’t the best time of day for pictures and no one had coordinated outfits, we took a few posed family groupings and lots of fun candids.  Here are the results – and they bring back warm memories from a fun time together earlier this year. Enjoy Tami and John!

Gorgeous Stassia recently moved here from the mid-west.  Water polo player, big sister, beloved daughter, great student….and fabulous looks  - she’s got it all going for her! We had an amazing time last October at the beach, and I couldn’t have asked for a prettier day …or a prettier sunset! Here are just a very few of my favorites from this session:

It was a perfect storm for a perfect shoot….Gorgeous couple, so in love. Check. Beautiful, golden evening light. Check. Not too crowded at Heisler Park and Diver’s Cove. Check. Only one little problem….there was virtually no beach available.  It was high tide, and not just any high tide. The tide was so high that it covered almost the entire beach….and my clients….and myself.  Yep, we all came home sopping wet from this one, but I couldn’t have asked for a more fun-loving, easy-going, better couple for such crazy conditions. They took everything in stride and we incorporated the waves crashing right over our heads into the fun and lovely photos.  And fortunately there was a park above the beach we could utilize for some non-sopping-wet shots! The biggest challenge in post-production was narrowing down my favorites – there were so many gorgeous and fun ones to pick from! Enjoy your sneak peek Becca – you guys are simply adorable!

So, I get a lot of inquiries from clients coming out to visit from out of state for family reunions. Or clients with large extended families from around here. This one was one of the former.  And I get a lot of questions about how those kinds of sessions usually work  - with the various groupings, etc.  So I am going to double up this post as both a sneak peek for the lovely “B” family and to illustrate the various different groupings that usually come about with an extended family session!   So, first I generally like to get the largest groups out of the way first. Especially if someone has to leave early, or if there are little ones who may not have much of an attention span for posing.  While I thoroughly enjoy a more natural style of shooting that involves a lot more candid shots or capturing families interacting, large family groupings by nature require a bit more structure to get through all the different groupings that are usually wanted in a timely nature…and really large groups need to be contained somewhat to fit everyone in the photo!  I like to try to get a variety of groupings as well if everyone is up for it.  

What better way to mark the passage of time than by capturing it in a portrait that will freeze that moment in time forever?  That’s exactly what George, Sheila, Joe, Lindsay, RoseMarie and Diego (the German Shepherd), decided to do in honor of George’s birthday. They came from all over the country and met up at Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, to spend a wonderful weekend together.  Before dinner they had a lovely portrait session planned. After meeting at Pelican Hill we drove down together to Heisler Park and Diver’s Cove, starting in the lovely park overlooking the ocean and then moving down to the beach. I had a great time with this fun and lively family, and just adored Diego, the sweet German Shepherd as well.  Thanks for your patience “M” family waiting for me to get these photos up! The very next day after our session was my little riding accident that threw me a bit behind, so I’ve been playing a lot of catch-up while recovering!  Enjoy your Sneak Peek!

According to Wikipedia, “The Sadie Hawkins dance is named after the Li’l Abner comic strip character Sadie Hawkins, created by cartoonist Al Capp. In the strip, Sadie Hawkins Day fell on a given day in November (Capp never specified an exact date). The unmarried women of Dogpatch got to chase the bachelors and “marry up” with the ones they caught. The event was introduced in a daily strip which ran on November 15, 1937. In the U.S. and Canada, this concept was popularized by establishing dance events to which the woman invited a man of her choosing, instead of demurely waiting for a man to ask her. The first known such event was held on November 9, 1938. Within a year hundreds of similar events followed suit. By 1952, the event was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. It became a woman-empowering rite at high schools and college campuses, and the tradition continues in some regional American cultures.”

This group of high school students going together to their school’s Sadie Hawkin’s dance decided it would be lots of fun to have some dance portraits taken at the beach ahead of time.  And in keeping with one fun tradition often associated with Sadie Hawkin’s dances…they dressed in coordinating outfits so everyone would know who is with whom.  I had a blast with this fun group of kids! Looks like they were on track to have a very memorable evening, in spite of the gloomy overcast weather that greeted us at the beach.  Enjoy your sneak peek!

November is a great time to remember all that we’ve been blessed with, and certainly family tops that list for many people. Is surely does for me!  And I love capturing the special moments that happen in our families – holding hands walking along the beach, making a little sister giggle, rolling down a grassy hill with brother not far behind…I have the best job in the world!  And it is especially fun when it allows me to catch up with old friends, as was the case with this session. This family lived nearby in Newport Beach, but had since moved to Arizona, and wanted to get some fun family pictures at the beach during a recent visit in town.  While I wish they were still living here, it was so fun to have this excuse to see them again!  Enjoy your sneak peek “R” family!

Had the loveliest time with Rachel and her mom, who wanted to give her a special gift of portraits to celebrate the beautiful daughter she has inside and out!  We started out in the park area at Heisler Park before venturing down to the sandy shores of Picnic Beach. Couldn’t have asked for nicer weather, more beautiful light, a less crowded beach or a more gorgeous subject.   Enjoy your sneak peek Megan and Rachel!

I have so much I could say about sweet, beautiful Jordan! She’s accomplished, at ease in front of the camera, thoughtful and kind… not to mention gorgeous!  And she came with a wonderful entourage of family and friends!  But it’s getting rather late and I have at least one more post I have to get done tonight (er, this morning) so I will let her images speak for her! Enjoy your sneak peek, Jordan!