The Malak Family was my first beach portraits of 2014.  We had a great time. We should have met a little earlier due to the cloud cover, hindsight is a wonderful thing.  

Angie called me about a month ago after seeing some of my work on my Google Plus page.  After suggesting a few different places, we decided that Huntington Beach State Park was the perfect place to have them done.  

Fast forward to Tuesday for the session. For most of the day the weather was absolutely beautiful, very few clouds and a lot of blue sky.  Of course at the time I was scheduled to meet them, we had a storm front move in so there was think cloud cover. Luckily the rain held so that helped.  Of all the times I have been to Huntington, this was the first time they had a red flag up which meant no swimming due to strong riptide currents. Because I was running early I had time to stop for dinner at Chick Fil A on my way to the park. 

Since there were 17 people they were coming in 3 separate cars.  One of them had car trouble so 2 of the cars were delayed getting there.  I started with Angie’s brother and his girlfriend and Angie’s parents.  I wanted to make sure the rest of the family could find us so I decided to start the photos at Atalaya Castle. Once everyone arrived, I took a few more photos at the castle and then we moved to the beach.

By the time we were finished it was dark out but I was still able to get some great photos.  

I edited the photos the following day and texted Angie stated that the CD was ready. On the way home from dropping off the CD, Angie called me to tell me that some of the photos were missing.  Of the 53 photos, they only got 26.  Some of the middle ones didn’t not copy onto the disk. it was weird they had the first ones taken, the last ones taken even the photo above that I put together but most of the middle ones were missing.  I burned another disk, double checked to make sure they were all there and then dropped it off.

In my last blog post Beach Portraits I mainly answered the most frequently asked questions about beach portraits.  This blog post is all about location and my two favorite beach portrait locations.

Location, Location, Location – Beach Portrait Locations

 I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase location is everything.  That is certainly true in beach portraits.  It’s really hard to shoot beach portraits if there is no beach. I’m lucky that I live ten minutes from the Atlantic Ocean so I have miles and miles of beach to choose from.  

Being a Myrtle Beach Photographer certainly has its advantages, not only does it have miles of beaches but it has many piers to choose from.  Piers make a great prop. My favorite pier to shoot family beach portraits is Surfside Beach Pier.  The pylons are great for couple shots or can be used for small children to peak out from behind.  They also make awesome backdrops especially for the sunrise beach portraits.  Admittedly I don’t shoot a lot of those because most people don’t want to get up that early.

Another one of my favorite places is Huntington Beach State Park.  Unfortunately it does not have a pier but it has miles of beaches, a jetty if you feeling adventurous and want to walk that far and Atalaya Castle which was the winter home of Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington.  I’ve had multiple clients ask me if it was a prison, it’s not and never has been but with the decorative bars on the windows and the masonry structure, it does look like one. Huntington Beach State Park is a small coastal preserve and state park.  It has many different species of birds including egrets, heron, and even the occasional bald eagle.You also have a good chance to see some alligators.

There are many more great places to shoot in the Myrtle Beach Area – Conway Riverwalk and Myrtle Beach State Park are great examples.  Myrtle Beach State Park does have a pier but no alligators.

Call me 843-421-2632 or email me:  Cathie@CLCrowPhotography.com to schedule your beach portrait session.

Spring is FINALLY here.  Do you know what that means?  It means that it is a great time to start thinking about the beach portraits you will want to have taken on your vacation.

So you are coming to the Myrtle Beach and are strongly thinking about having some portraits taken.  

If so, the following are a few most important questions to consider.

What are the best times of day for outside photos?
Believe it or not the best times to shoot beach portraits are either sunrise (yes I mean the actual sunrise) or around sunset which means about 45min to an hour before the sun sets because the sunlight will be filtered and a lot less harsh.    

Can beach portraits be taken when it’s cloudy?
Believe it or not, cloudy days aren’t necessarily a bad thing because the sunlight is filtered and less harsh.  What that means is the portraits can be taken any time of day.  Stormy clouds can make for a great back drop.

Is what we wear important part of a session?  
I know it is hard to believe but clothing is a very important part of the shoot.  

What should you wear?
The classic look is khakis with white shirts or white dresses for girls and ladies.  Jeans look great as well as you can tell by the photo.  Black or dark blue shirts look great as well.  Some alternatives for shirts are light colors/pastels:  light blue, light green, pale pink.  If you have multiple families, a great idea could be everyone wear jeans but each family wears a different color top.  Solid neutral colors: no wild prints, stripes or plaids. Recommend capris or long pants or long skirts or dresses for the ladies.  Kids look great in shorts but many adults don’t like the way their legs look in photos.  

What about hair, makeup and nail polish?
Try not to have a haircut within 2 weeks of your portraits.  The beach can get very windy so I would recommend hairspray and/or hair clips.  Light make up is recommended as is neutral nail polish. 

BE CAREFUL OF SUNBURN, not good for portraits.

Check out the Family Beach Portraits to see more of my family beach portraits.