You can create a beautiful beach day photoshoot even when the skies are overcast. In fact, the weather turned out to be quite suitable for achieving the desired aesthetic during our recent session with these sisters for their annual photoshoot. While I'd love to delve into the magical moments of capturing the girls as they played and explored the sand and the ocean, I believe you'll find more value in this blog if I share our planning process and the key elements that made this shoot a success. This way, you can gain insights into what goes into organizing a similar experience and have your questions answered when considering booking such a session.

The process:

1. The overall: who, where, when, and WHY. In our first conversation, we determined who we were photographing. My client wanted to focus on her two daughters because her son was just a baby. Where we were going to photograph this year had to be different from previous sessions. We already shot at an apple orchard, christmas tree farm, Princeton University, and other nearby parks. We had not done a beach shoot, and I was already envisioning an old school exploration and fun day by the ocean. She was on board! When, obviously involves coordinating schedules and finding a time that we could be on the beach, in the summer, with as few people around as possible. So, we chose early morning because my client knew her children would handle an early rise better than a late afternoon session. And then there’s WHY. WHY is the element of the story we want to tell. This is where we come up with what we’re really trying to capture and what we want the images to say. Which leads us to number 2…

2. Determine the theme. We explored the theme by determining what look and feel of the story she wanted to see in the images. I asked a lot of questions at this stage so we could pinpoint the exact look. It can get confusing at times because a particular style can have many variations to it.  My client loves the simplicity of design and is moved by tender moments. She was not interested in a bright, young, fun-on-the-beach-popsicles-and-beach-balls kind of look. Retro or vintage didn’t fit her overall aesthetic, but a simple time of dreamy tenderness with a bit of whimsy suited her very well.

3. Create a mood board. For this particular client, we did not create an actual mood board, but we messaged each other on ideas of the style of clothes for the shoot. She also wanted the girls to have 3 wardrobe changes. We came up with dresses for the first look, bathing suits for the second, and a fun casual, but neutral color pants outfit for the third.

4. Collect/purchase props. At this point it’s up to my clients to either find those kinds of outfits in their closets, or go out and purchase them. I never require additional purchases if we can find something they already own. But, to get the look they truly want, it helps to have the coordinating clothes. For the studio, I knew we needed baskets, flowers, and jars for collecting treasure. It is essential to have children engaged in activities because it helps create the story, and it also helps them find the fun and magic in that moment. We’re not just capturing memories…we are also creating them.

5. Shoot day. Let it be what it is! I don’t think there is a bad session when we don’t expect our kids to act a certain way. They may be tired, grumpy, hyper, or rebellious. They are how they are and that is what we’re capturing. We coax them to participate, and we support them and their needs in these moments, but as long as we are in a safe and loving environment, we are still going to have a memorable experience. On this day, the girls were excited to be at the beach, but inevitably, the younger one didn’t want to leave mom’s side. We focused on the older sister while mom had some time with the other, but the lure of the ocean finally came calling for her and she joined her sister on the beach.

It’s also helpful to have an assistant to keep the kids from wandering off 😁.

It can feel like a lot of planning but it is always worth it. This amount of work makes this session unique and unforgettable. My client will be receiving this session in a beautiful book with additional cotton fiber prints. We truly believe that an image must exist in print to be fully experienced. 

Let us know if you have any questions or are interested in finding out more about a custom story session. They are my favorite!