Asilomar Beach Extended Family Photos
If you’ve spent a summer in Monterey, you know that “summer” doesn’t always mean sunshine and 75 degrees. This family was vacationing from the East Coast, so I think they were expecting California to feel a little warmer! Instead, Asilomar gave us a classic Monterey day: a little windy, a little chilly, and beautifully overcast.
Luckily, everyone was a good sport—and from a photography standpoint, the weather was actually pretty perfect.
The soft, overcast light meant we could photograph all around Asilomar State Beach without worrying about harsh sunlight or everyone squinting at the camera. We were able to use the rocky coastline, ocean views and different areas along the shore, giving their gallery a ton of variety without having to leave one location.
Extended Family Photos at Asilomar Beach
Extended family sessions are one of those times when I move extra fast!
With a big group, I don't want to spend the entire session getting just a giant group photo. Of course we get the photo of everyone together—but that's just the beginning.
This family received a gallery of more than 200 images, because my goal with an extended family session is to photograph as many meaningful combinations as possible.
That means the entire extended family, each individual family, grandparents with their children, grandparents with their grandchildren, couples, siblings, individual portraits and plenty of the fun, natural moments that happen in between.
Basically, I want to do it all.
Creating Family Photos You'll Actually Use
When I'm photographing an extended family, I'm always thinking about what everyone is going to do with these photographs afterward. Someone wants a beautiful photo of their spouse and kids for their desk at work. Another family needs a photo for this year's Christmas card. Grandma wants the big group portrait framed on her wall. Parents want individual portraits of their kids. Someone needs an updated photo of themselves. And months later, when it's someone's birthday, everyone suddenly realizes how nice it is to have a great individual portrait to post.
That's why I don't approach an extended family session as one family portrait. I approach it as an opportunity to create a collection of photographs for every person in the family. And while the posed portraits are important, I also make room for the photographs that aren't quite so perfect—the laughing, talking, cuddling and interacting that show what your family actually feels like together.
Planning Extended Family Photos in Monterey
If your whole family is already coming to the Monterey Peninsula for a vacation, reunion, anniversary or other celebration, it's one of the best opportunities to schedule family photos. Getting everyone together again can be the hard part. Once you're here, we can create photographs of the entire family and smaller family groups during the same session. Locations like Asilomar State Beach in Pacific Grove are especially beautiful for extended family photography because there's so much variety in a relatively small area. Rocky coastline, open ocean, sandy paths and coastal greenery can all become different backdrops throughout the session. And don't worry if the Monterey forecast calls for clouds. As this session proves, sometimes those gray coastal skies give us exactly what we need.
Monterey Extended Family Photographer
If you're planning a family vacation or reunion in Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel or the surrounding Monterey Bay area, I'd love to help you document everyone while you're together. My extended family sessions are designed to give you more than one great photograph of the whole group. We'll create the big family portraits and all of the smaller combinations, couples, individual families and portraits that make the final gallery something everyone can use and enjoy.
Because when you've managed to get the whole family in one place, we might as well photograph everything.
