Autumn Beach Sunsets

The moment I shot this session this fall I knew I was already in love with it. I had every intention of blogging it. Of course, Fall is also BUSY SEASON and I was in a season of shooting and editing as fast as I could to get families their beautiful images so they could produce Christmas cards and possibly gifts. etc. 

Now that I’m in a much quieter season of business, and a very nest season of my own life, it brought me back to thinking of this gorgeous autumn evening on Isle of Palms.  While I have no plans for beach sessions until after our little one is born, I am also excited knowing that my timing of going back to work perfectly coincides with the start of gorgeous beach weather. 

I first met the Bailey family last year for their family photos. Last year we went to Hampton Park and while that session was also a gorgeous session, there was something so magical about the beach and the kids playing on it. 

The Bailey family come to Isle of Palms a few times a year, they have a home here and you can tell this is one of their “Happy Places”. Their kids are absolutely at home paying in the sand and running in the surf. 

As a child who did not grow up near the beach, this is something I try to not take for granted. I can only hope one day our own little boy realizes how lucky he was to grow up near the seashore. For our family it was a 3am wake up and 10-12 hour drive to the Outer Banks to spend just a week or two at the beach a year and that was it!

Back to this gorgeous session though…

I met up with the family at their closest beach entrance. Which, admittedly is now my favorite entrance to use for shoots. With a beautiful day coming to an end we had just the right amount of time for everything we needed.

We had warm glowy light near the dunes, gorgeous hazy light for playing closer to the water and then the grand finale, a beautiful pink and blue sunset. These types of nights are never promised but when they do happen, I can’t help but leave in awe of Mother Nature.

Reliving this night looking through these images just makes me more excited for the sessions to come this summer. While beach isn’t necessarily the perfect spot for photos all year long from about April to October it can be just pure MAGIC!