What do you get when five grandkids and two milestone celebrations come together on a beach in San Diego? A meaningful, memorable photo session overflowing with sand! Alice and Fred Rowe gathered their entire family—eleven strong—for a weeklong celebration in La Jolla, including a vow renewal and a big family photo session to mark Fred’s 80th birthday and their 50th wedding anniversary. These two have built a beautiful legacy, and it was such an honor to help them capture it.
Fred is a veteran—a pilot who served in Vietnam. He later studied medicine at UCSD, so returning to San Diego was a bit of a homecoming. Their grown children and grandchildren traveled from Northern California for the occasion, and they made the most of their time here. We settled on Pacific Beach for the session (my recommendation!), and as always, the golden light showed up right on cue.
One Big Beautiful Family
Alice hoped for a portrait of everyone together, smaller family groupings, and a few shots of the five cousins (all under the age of five!) enjoying each other. We made all that happen with a combination of beach toys, active games, and making complete fools of ourselves!
Huge thanks to my second-shooter and friend Everin, who worked her charm with the twin toddlers and helped pull out some of the best grins of the day.
After delivering the gallery, Alice sent me a sweet follow-up message: “Could you include a few crying ones? I don’t think I saw any!” Which made me laugh because I’d spent a good amount of time head-swapping children into submission to make sure everyone looked happy and engaged. Fortunately, I hadn’t formatted any backup cards yet, and I found all the tears we needed to make the gallery perfectly authentic!
Honoring a Legacy
The images from this session reflect what truly matters: a family that shows up for each other, celebrates milestones with meaning, and has a whole lot of love to pass down. Not every family would gather for portraits, but Alice and Fred knew this was the moment.
To the Rowes—thank you for letting me be part of your special occasions. You’re worth celebrating!!









































