San Diego Vacation Photography
WE HAVE THIS MOMENT TODAY
This Is The Vacation Insurance
You Really Need
Stop looking at other people's vacation photos and telling yourself someday.
You’ve got your plane tickets and your hotel reservations and your passes to the San Diego Zoo. Beautiful vacation photography insures this trip will stay in your hearts forever.
Portrait Collections
The Petit
$750
Begins 30 minutes before sunset
Beach, Field, or Park Locations Available
15 images of your choice
Option to upgrade for more
Perfect for proposals, engagements, seniors (2 outfits), and families of 5 or fewer
Available December through May
The Signature
$1250
Most Popular
Begins 50 minutes before sunset
Beach, Field, or Park Locations Available
Includes your entire gallery of edited images
Perfect for families, extended families, seniors and grads (up to 4 outfits), and elopements. Up to 15 people included.
Available year-round
The Rustic
$750
Thirty-minute session at a field location in East County.
15 images of your choice
Option to upgrade for more
Limited to groups of 5 or fewer
Available year-round
The Headshot
$750
Outdoors or Indoors Studio-Style
Up-level your business or personal life with a new set of professional headshots.
Includes 5 retouched images of your choice with the option to upgrade for more.
Available year-round
Payment in two installments of 50% each.
Looking for beautiful mixed-media art inspired by your session?
How it works
GET IN TOUCH
YOUR BOOKING PROPOSAL
SHOW UP!
SESSION STYLES
FAMILY & EXTENDED FAMILY
Bringing the whole crew to San Diego? I'm ready! Family sessions are my jam. We'll get everyone together and lots of smaller groupings, both posed and candid.
SENIORS
Graduating from high school or college this year? Let's celebrate with a session on the beach, on campus, in Little Italy (urban vibe) or at Balboa Park! Vacation senior photography is a fun activity when visiting San Diego! (Think mother-daughter get-away!)
PROPOSALS & ENGAGEMENTS
Engaged already, or thinking of proposing at the Hotel del Coronado or La Jolla? Great idea! I have lots of experience with surprise proposals, and we can get your engagement session done the same evening with a little strategy.
the experience
what to expect from your session
that’s a huge priority for me. i like fun.
ready to take the plunge?
Let's book your session today!
- Contact Amy to compare calendars and discuss locations
- Receive your Booking Proposal and reserve your date
- Half of the session investment is due when you book, and the other half is due in one month's time.
- Pour over the Style Guide and try Style & Select to choose your outfits.
- I'll send you very specific location information a few days before your session, so finding me is easy
- Have a wonderful time being photographed with your family!
- Two weeks is my standard turn-around time to receive your beautifully edited images and begin sharing them with friends and family!
FREQUENTLY-ASKED
QUESTIONS
My favorite beaches are Coronado and Pacific Beach, and I love doing sessions at Balboa Park, Presidio Park, Steele Canyon Bridge, and the Iron Mountain Trailhead. Are there other places to shoot in San Diego? YES, but these are my favorites because of their topographical and/or architectural features, and I know them like the back of my hand. Trust me for great results at any of these locations. I can be flexible, but if you are not emotionally attached to a place not on this list and great results are your top priority, these are my highest recommendations.
The hour before sunset is called “golden hour,” and almost all of the images on my website were taken during that time. I understand that vacation schedules are busy and that children in timezones not their own can be cranky, but shooting in the right light is REALLY that important. Earlier in the day the wind is stronger, the sun is more glaring (resulting in squinting, “raccoon eyes,” and harsh shadows), and crowds are bigger. For my own family’s photos, I would reschedule dinner, prioritize naps, fudge on bedtime, add lollipops at strategic times . . . anything I could do to make sure the kids were happy when the sun was setting.
Don’t let a dinner reservation take priority over portrait session timing. Your investment in portraits is worth the hassle of changing the timeline to make sure we have the best light possible—especially on the beach, where the wind dies down at sunset, the crowds leave, and those last rays of light make everything magical.
The time and location of a photo session are two of the most critical ingredients. Just like we wouldn’t expect a cake made with rice flour and stevia to taste the same as a cake made of the traditional ingredients, we can’t expect a natural light beach portrait session to look like the images on the blog if it’s done at a different time of day or at a location without the key elements.
My portrait style has been characterized as ethereal, pastel, and peaceful. To achieve this look, I can only shoot on the shore during the last half of most sunny-day sessions, right at sunset when the light is optimal. The rest of your session will be spent using shade and backlight to add gorgeous variety to your portrait gallery. Often, we’ll start by a lifeguard tower, under a pier or tree, or behind some rocks. Don’t worry if it seems like we’re spending a lot of time NOT on the shore. We will get to that! In the meantime, we hang around the shady areas and enjoy their flattering, filtered light.
It is incredible on the beach in the summertime, and I like to fill my summer calendar with Signature Sessions, where I can do ALL the poses, run around for a full hour and deliver a big gallery of images to my clients. If you’d like a smaller option in the summer, I would suggest a Rustic Session, which takes place in a field a bit closer to home.
Maybe? Photoshop has magic powers. My Signature sessions are delivered fully edited, with background distractions and blemishes removed, heads swapped as far as possible to help everyone look their best, and exposure and color reflecting the “Amy Gray Photography” style. If you would like more specific edits such as liquify (the one that makes you thinner) and sky replacements, 10 complementary high-level edits are included in the Signature Session, and you can request those by filename. For Petit Sessions, I proof preliminary galleries without full edits so that you can choose your 15 images or let me know you’d like to upgrade. Please let me know about any specific requests when you choose your favorites. Not every edit is possible, but if there’s something that bugs you about an image you want to hang on your wall, I would sure like to know and try my best to adjust it. I want you to be thrilled with the results of your session!
The shoot was quick and seamless. I was amazed when I received the final photos.
- julia
Success Stories
family vacation session
I told my husband after the photos that I was so excited to have memories of a good day, not memories of a hectic day.
FAMILY vacation portraits
Wow!! I cannot say enough good things about Amy and her talent for timeless photography.
This could be you....
family portrait session
Amy’s work is amazing!! We love her talent, professionalism, ability to work great with kids, sweet personality, and everything in between.
"I hoped the photographer I hired would be able to handle all the dynamics of a crowd that size."
I was referred to Amy Gray Photography for a family portrait of 20 persons raging in age from 73 years to 4 months. It was quite a bunch to corral, And I hoped that the photographer I hired would be able to handle all the dynamics of a crowd that size. Long story short, Amy had those skills. She was calm in her demeanor, clear in her directions, and made everyone comfortable. They did everything she asked, even the three year-olds. (How she pulled it off I don’t know!) She was efficient and technically adept. There was never a sense of being rushed, but rather a sense that we were in very competent hands. The resulting photos left nothing to be desired. Highly recommended.
- Bill Mittendorff
Long story short,
Amy had those skills
“I believe that consciously choosing to create such memories will stretch the experience of time.”
- LAURA VANDERKAM
OFF THE CLOCK
LET'S DO THIS!
Book Your Session Today
