A Golden Celebration in Pacific Beach | The Rowe Family

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!!

Rowe family of eleven, including five young cousins, standing together on sand at Crystal Pier Pacific Beach
Man holding toddler with woman and small child beside him in blue and white clothing at Pacific Beach golden hour
Boy and girl, cousins, holding hands facing each other on sand at Pacific Beach with pier in background
Two young cousins hugging, boy and girl in blue and white clothing, with Crystal Pier Pacific Beach in background
Woman in blue dress, man in light shirt, boy and girl holding hands on sand at Pacific Beach with pier visible
Family of four stands together holding hands on sand at Pacific Beach
Toddler girl sitting in sand playing with blue bucket and small sandcastle at Pacific Beach, close detail
Two young children sitting in sand, playing with buckets and creating a sandcastle at Pacific Beach
Toddler girl standing with bucket in golden light at Pacific Beach, pier softly glowing in background
Young toddler girl smiling brightly at Pacific Beach with golden hour light and pier softly in background
Three young cousins sitting together on sand at Pacific Beach, playing with bucket toys and sandcastle
Five young cousins under age five sitting on sand with buckets, playing together at Pacific Beach
Two adults and all five young cousins standing in shallow water together at Pacific Beach beach gathering
Family group of seven standing in shallow water wading and playing together at Pacific Beach with children
Young boy in blue polo shirt, portrait on sand at Pacific Beach with warm golden pier and light in background
Woman and man holding hands walking through shallow water at Pacific Beach with pier visible in background
Woman in blue dress and man in light shirt posing together on wet sand at Pacific Beach near Crystal Pier
Woman and man kissing on beach with pier glowing in warm sunset light at Pacific Beach in background behind
Toddler girl running joyfully on beach in white eyelet dress with ocean waves at Pacific Beach visible
Man wading in shallow water with young boy and girl, holding their hands at Pacific Beach beach together
Fred and Alice in white and cream clothing standing together on wet sand at Pacific Beach, pier glowing sunset
Fred and Alice kissing on beach in white and light clothing with pier illuminated at sunset, Pacific Beach
Couple walking hand in hand through shallow water at Pacific Beach with waves and beach visible behind them
Extended Rowe family of eleven standing in shallow water together at Pacific Beach with pier in background
Young girl in white eyelet dress standing on sand at Pacific Beach, glowing in golden hour light with pier
Boy in blue shirt standing on wet sand at Pacific Beach with warm golden light and softly blurred pier behind
Man wading in shallow water with young boy and girl on either side at Pacific Beach, holding hands together
Young boy in blue polo shirt standing on wet sand at Pacific Beach with softly blurred pier in golden light
Woman and small toddler girl sharing a close moment together on beach, looking at each other at Pacific Beach
Toddler girl running in white eyelet dress down beach at Pacific Beach with joy and movement, pier in background
Rowe family group of eleven standing in shallow ocean waves at Pacific Beach during golden hour sunset light
Toddler girl running through shallow water in white dress on beach at Pacific Beach with pier structure visible
Complete family group of adults and five young cousins standing in ocean waves at Pacific Beach near pier

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