I look forward to getting to see this family every year in August. They come all the way out from Ohio, and I believe this was my 4th year having the privilege of capturing their beautiful family and relationships! We’ve been to Wood’s Cove, Crystal Cove (near where they stay each summer), Diver’s Cove and finally now Shaw’s Cove.  Their home will be covered with canvases of all the beaches in Laguna Beach!  You can see some of their other sessions here and here!  It’s so much fun to see how the kids have grown each year. They are always so polite and well behaved…and this year there was another new and fun and gorgeous addition! Here’s to hoping she’ll be back again next summer! We had a gorgeous day at the beach this year (as opposed to last year, when we were fogged in and shooting in high tide with virtually no beach to use)!  As always, it has been a delight “G” family. Enjoy your sneak peek!

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!

Love is the tie that binds this family together.

I come from a somewhat large family myself, being the oldest of five children. So I love having the opportunity to photograph large families, and to see the love that truly does bind them together!  But this large family was particularly special to me  - one of the woman (and her family) are amazing friends from church…and another I get to work with on a professional level on what seems like a weekly basis at times!  You can see his own family portraits from last here on my blog here!

This family had the fun occasion of having a missionary return home to bring them all together. And in spite of the chaos that accompanies such get togethers, I somehow managed to get in some shots of the whole large group and each family as well. They were all so much fun  - and Meggan – you were the biggest rebel rouser of them all! I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised. Enjoy your sneak peek and gallery guys, and the little slideshow at the bottom of this post!

Oh, the summer night
Has a smile of light
And she sits on a sapphire throne.
~Barry Cornwall 

When I got a phone call from Julie, I was so excited for the chance to photographer her family again! I love when I have returning clients come all the way from out of state. She chose the same location as our last session, 3 years ago – Wood’s Cove in Laguna Beach, because it is rarely crowded for a beautiful summer evening and has so many fun and unique spots to photograph in. Unfortunately, on this gorgeous summer evening we ran into one little problem…high tide. Which meant there was very little of the beach to work with. At some point, no beach to work with!  But the “P” family was so willing to go with the flow, which often meant such antics as planting myself in the surf, deciding on our pose and having them run in and set themselves up for a couple of clicks of the shutter while it ebbed…and then run back out as it flowed back in.  Everyone was such a good sport. And the high waves did at least make a spectacular backdrop for some portraits. Couldn’t ask for prettier water or prettier skies!  Enjoy your sneak peek guys!

After shooting Angelica and Kevin’s engagement portraits, they wanted to know if we could take a few head shots as well for work or portfolio. So we kind of combined the sessions into one and just got a few individual portraits after the couple shots – and they pretty fun and unique. It also helps having such great looking clients!

I love that I get to meet so many folks from out of town for my work. And I think that I’ve had more clients from Arizona than any other state this summer! And who can blame them! My own folks live in Arizona and they look for just about any opportunity to come and visit during the hot summer months!  This lovely couple was taking advantage of their escape from the summer heat out here to get their engagement photos done at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach. Arent’ they adorable? I think so! And up for everything…even perfect strangers jumping into their photos and posing with them just for fun. You never know what wild and crazy things might happen on a session in Laguna!  After getting lots of them together, we got some individual head shots which I’ll post next!

“The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Hugh Walpole, Sr.

Aaron and Holly traveled here from Las Vegas to celebrate 10 wonderful years of marriage – and wanted to have some romantic portraits taken for the occasion. So we met at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach for a lovely evening together.  They truly made my job easy, because they are beautiful inside and out..and their love for each other was so apparent! My most difficult job with this session was narrowing down my favorites… I’ll let the images speak for themselves! Enjoy your sneak peek! There are lots more lovely coming very soon to your gallery!

So, after trying for the better part of Spring to set up a portrait session the the gorgeous and photogenic “M” family, we finally found a date that worked for everyone! And what a great time we had!  Perfect light, a nearly empty beach at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach, warm water and sunshine…and a very fun-loving family – made for a great combination. I don’t think anyone in this family knows how to take a bad picture, and that makes my job just so much easier! The hardest part of this session was narrowing down my favorites! Finally had to just randomly pick from many favorites – lots more are in their gallery. So, here you go guys! Enjoy!

In case any of you are wondering what kind of gift to give a parent who has kids and grandkids – you’ll be hard pressed to go wrong with portraits! And making those portraits a surprise, is even more fun!  This family planned a family get together for mom’s 70th birthday at the Montage in Laguna Beach.  And they secretly contacted me ahead of time to surprise mom with portraits of the entire family.  When she arrived, they hid me down on the beach and then took a stroll in that direction. The only real challenge for me was the timing -the middle of the day on a beach with no shade can have some pretty tricky lighting. But what we lacked in soft, diffused light we more than made up for in fun! And while beautiful memories were being made, those same memories will be captured forever as a wonderful day to remember! Enjoy your sneak peak of a very special birthday session!

I first met Connie a week before her wedding, as she was coming from Hong Kong. I was still in my sling and hopefully she wasn’t too worried about that!  We explored our venues planned the day together. We hit it off and I knew this would be a wonderfully lovely and laid back wedding. Shawn and Connie were married May 5th in a lovely private ceremony in a house overlooking Table Rock Beach in South Laguna Beach.  It was a beautiful day, a beautiful ceremony and a very beautiful couple.  After the ceremony, we went down to the beach for some formal photos of the bride and groom and then over to Seven4One hotel in Laguna Beach, for the dinner and reception. It was the perfect location for an intimate and cozy wedding  - so very personal! I really enjoyed getting to know all of Shawn’s and Connie’s family and friends who were able to be there to support them in their beautiful day!

Enjoy your sneak peek!