I was honored that Susan, a fellow photographer, contacted me for a very important session for her family. It was her dad’s dream to do a once-in-a-lifetime trip with the entire family—something they weren’t able to do growing up—and to create memories the grandkids would remember forever. Family came from all over the country . . . Arizona, Montana, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, South Carolina, and New York—to gather at the Hotel Del. Susan’s main goal in booking a session was to have one full family photo for my father to look back on, since they had never had a gathering like this before.
Susan said that, when browsing my website, she liked that I included lots of images for each session I featured, because it showed aspects of the entire shoot and how I work with multiple generations and capture a mix of posed moments and natural candids. And that’s what we did with her shoot!
At the Hotel del Coronado, we started in a sheltered location for the “bird in the hand” important shots, and as the sun dipped in the sky, we headed to the beach, where things are always a little crazier. I brought along my friend Shauna to keep us on track, and we plowed through dozens of poses, including an individual photo of each grandchild with Grandad. Susan said, “We honestly can’t pick just one favorite photo from the session—there were so many beautiful images. A few that stand out are a moment of my father and brother smiling together and the silhouette of the group, everyone connected for a brief, meaningful moment.”
Outside of the photo session, Susan’s family packed a lot into the trip . . . visiting the San Diego Zoo, tooling around the harbor on jet skis, spending relaxed evenings at the Frostbite Lounge playing games with cocktails and snacks, and even checking off bucket-list golf at Torrey Pines. It was a great mix of adventure, downtime, and time together. She wrote the nicest Google review, and said, “I can’t thank you enough — these are absolutely beautiful, even better than I imagined. We’ve never all been together like this, and we may never be again, so these photos truly mean the world.”
