We love furry friends and are always pleased to add them into our sessions! While pets are not allowed on the beach without a permit we can get some images nearby or in other locations. 
Here are some things you should remember to bring to ensure everything goes smoothly:

Just look at that smile. You can't help but to smile along with him! 
We love photographing children, they are entertaining, honest and wear their emotions on their sleeves. We are well rehearsed in children,  Caitie has four,  I have five and I have taught art in elementary school, preschool and special education for many years before I turned to photography full time. 
         It is our goal make your child comfortable and truly happy so we may capture your child's true self and personality.

Let's look at it from your toddler's perspective for a minute. He is more than likely visiting the beach for the first time. This is a whole other strange and new environment for him, all senses are on high alert and emotions are ramping up for all the fight/flight. This can be seen in many forms depending on the child. They can be shy, scared, nervous, anxious, or happy until they figure out what is going on in this new place. They will look to you to guide them, if you appear upset or stressed they will think 'uh-oh, mom is nervous, I should be too".  Let's look at a few ways to help ease them into the situation so your session.

        As with any art form, each photographer has a different shooting and editing style. You can put 20 photographers in front of a scene and get 20 different stories from each image.  
         We take hundreds of pictures during a session, making real time adjustments to each shot. Every click is intended and planned for. Sometimes it's to get extras to use for face swapping, sometimes to catch the hair not billowing to the sky, or to expose for different lighting situations, or it's to ensure there's no eye blinking. There are just way too many reasons to list here. It’s necessary to take these images, they are part of the working process of art, just as a painter sometimes tries a few colors before making the final stroke. ​

We then go through the images and cull them, marking the ones that will be edited, discarding the eyeblinks and my own testing shots to select the real pieces of art that all the other shots helped create.  We choose the best of each 'pose', combining several photos together if necessary so hopefully we can get some of everyone smiling, not blinking and looking their best. We love to add extra shots, the story telling images taken throughout a shoot in addition to the posed images. ​

          We understand in this day and age people prefer their images digitally so they may immediately show them off and delay thinking about the whens' and whys' of prints. That's great! We have no problem with that, sharing helps our business grow and we want you to have all the beautiful images we spent time creating for you! This is why we offer digital images with our packages.  But it is not our preferred way to deliver images to you, we much prefer prints and here is why. 
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            When you invest in professional portrait photography you are looking for more than some pictures to store inside the computer and forget about. You invest in someone with the knowledge and expertise that allows you to present your family and memories in an artistic way that brings you joy when you view it, whether it be a wall collage, a heirloom canvas or memory album. Something you can hold when you need to remember that nostalgic feeling of togetherness. I could go on forever with this topic and with much less eloquence than others have, so let's just move on to the second reason we prefer prints over thumb drives. 

     The technical aspect. We simply cannot guarantee prints you have printed. We were not there with you. We cannot guarantee each image will print equally as lovely at 30x46 and 4x6. There are many factors into prepping an image to print. We consider the size, product and company and add ons when prepping images to print. I will tell you, it is hard knowing we spend all this time creating the image just right, and then see it printed incorrectly. 

Maybe it is better described by what we are not. We are not shoot and burn photographers. *Not that there's anything wrong with that.  We just really enjoy the creation process and cannot deliver until the image is up to the standard of quality we hold ourselves to. We have each been in photography business for over 10 years, with Amy beginning much earlier with drawing portraits and obtaining her Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree. With all this knowledge and experience it is hard to hold back. 

This does mean we take a little longer returning proofs and we are more of an investment than a shoot n burn photographer. We have to be in order to deliver the quality of products and of commitment to each client, and still pay our bills. This is not a hobby for us. We have taken out of state workshops and college courses, we are constantly learning new ways to deliver luxury portraiture to you.
Simply put, do you spring for the BMW or the Kia? 

 *Seinfield '93

​We can help. ​

Y'all. This kid. His parents told me he had many expressions and little man did not disappoint. 
I personally feel like this one is a meme waiting to happen.

We meet at Grayton Beach State Park and George immediately showed us he was a beach loving boy. 

Little sister looks like she's going to be just like her big brother!

Oh my heart!  We certainly LOVE senior sessions!  Especially when we get to shoot at two locations.  I just had to write and share about this session.  Eden Garden State Park in Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton Beach State Park were the perfect locations for this creative senior's portraits.  There are so many good ones to share, check them out!

Rosemary Beach really does have it all!  The stunning architecture along our emerald coast makes it a picturesque backdrop for family portraits.  Check out these lovely family portraits from a recent mini session by Amy!

We love, love, love our gulf coast beaches all along 30a!  But, that's not all our area boasts, and that's why we offer multiple portrait locations for our clients.