Family Portraits on the Beach | St. Joseph Mi

This family portrait session on the beach has been a long time in the making, when Jodi first contacted me MONTHS ago to schedule her family photos in St. Joe we went back and forth trying to find just the right time to do the pictures. At one point we

almost even had to give up because our hectic schedules weren’t lining up but as luck would have it we found an open date, decided it was worth keeping the kids up late, and voila there we were on Tuesday shooting at Tiscornia Beach at 9pm at night!

Yes… you read that right, 9pm!!! As a parent the idea of kids at the beach at 9pm can be a bit scary but as a photographer one of the challenges we are constantly dealing with when shooting family pictures in the summer, is how incredibly long the days

are! Sunset doesn’t happen until 9:30pm or later during the longest days of the year and if you want great light for your pictures you either get up really early or you stay up really late. The other option of course is waiting a couple of months… the difference

between sunset in July and sunset in September is almost an hour and a half… for some kids that can be the difference between great shots and a series of melt downs… (my kids are especially good at this!) =) While having lots of experience with tantrums,

distractions, and stubbornness both as a parent and as a professional photographer makes it easier to go with the flow and get great shots, it is still definitely worth considering the time of year you’re going to do the pictures! Of course that being said, if

you’re like the Price family you can probably just go for it… these kids were pros the whole night, smiling, posing, hugging, running, you name it they were up for it and we all had a great time!! By the end of the night we were all sandy and tired but I for

one think it was well worth it, we captured some beautiful pictures and hopefully managed to preserve some wonderful memories forever! If you like these family pictures you can check out even more Family Portraits here!