Oh family sessions! What better way to welcome fall then to give summer a proper goodbye with a summer beach family session with my littles?! Photographing my family is always “special” (and by special I mean stressful, full of prayer, and feeling like I got zero good shots afterwards!), but as usual, I was proved wrong and captured many sweet, priceless and frame-worthy images on our Hilton Head Island trip this summer. My brave, wild, and free littles love the beach, so capturing them in one of their favorite places is special. I am intentionally NOT in the frames (I know, I know, but asking a random stranger to get our family shots AND do it just how I wanted wasn’t in the cards!), but I did get one at the end with their Dad that will certainly be printed for his office frame updates!

If you haven’t done a family session at the beach, next time you go, try it – it’s magic. There is a special connection to our Creator, your soul, and appreciation for your family that happens at the water. You can search on Instagram [with beach hashtags] or Google. Be sure the photographer has done beach sessions before and s/he picks the right time of day (this is key). And please, Lord, no flashes should be used! I prefer evenings, as people have largely cleared off the beach, which means less negotiation for your backgrounds and less editing out all those strangers! You also can get the dewy, glowing sunset if you plan the timing right (and it’s not cloudy, like in our case – ha!). You don’t want to go when the sun is high – harsh shadows, people are squinting, and it’s hotter whichs makes people sweaty (obvious, I know) and more likely to be grumpy. Plan your wardrobe before you leave home (you know where I am going with this – flowing NEUTRALS!!! ) and you are off!

Tell me your favorites in the comments below! and, thank you for joining me in saying farewell to summer…..