Sunset Cliffs Beach with Victor and Abby

I went to visit my cousin and his family in Chula Vista on Thursday and figured that I should offer to take portraits for them.  They said they new a cool location on a nearby beach.  I’ve been getting accustomed to the hot beach spots in Orange County. Beautiful, but crowded and always people taking pictures. I imagined something similar but boy was I wrong.  There were only a few people, mostly joggers running by.  There wasn’t much of a beach because the cliffs go right up to the edge of the water.  We arrived about 30 minutes before sunset and started shooting.  The sky was deep blue and not a cloud nearby.  Taking pictures at the beach is one of my favorite things to do.  It’s meditative.  Like looking up at the sky on a clear night for a good 10 minutes.  The beauty of creation is mesmerizing.  Your mind gets lost in thought.

Ortega family on Sunset Cliffs Beach

I think I’ve gotten the whole beach sunset photography thing down now.  It’s challenging because of the changing light.  At first, I was using Cactus V2 wireless triggers to manually fire my flash.  Now I let Nikon’s CLS work it’s magic.  To reach where I am today, which is by no means mastery but still I’ve grown, I must have taken thousands of pictures at sunset.  One time, when I was shooting with model Jessica Lopez MM#1196572, it was windy and my lightstand fell.  3 times.  Nothing was ruined but now my silver umbrella looks nice and rugged.  Like it’s been in a couple fights or something.  Oh and my Nikon flash has a chip in the corner and you can hear something move inside when you shake it.  Still works though!

Cute couple with fiery sunset in background

Victor and Abby, along with my other cousin Steve are the founders of the INV Artist Network, which is a Christian-art inspired shirt company.  Artists can contribute their ideas and win prizes including cash, money, dinero!  Be sure to add them to your Facebook account as well.

Steve, Abby and Vic of INV Artist Network

Ralph & Ana Maternity Shoot

The beach is a beautiful, serene setting for taking photos.  It is romantic.  At 7:30pm there aren’t many distractions in the background.  Except for the beautiful California sunset.  It causes me to take a deep breath and as I exhale, I press the shutter release.  And I try to keep cool in my head and pretend like I knew this shot would come out this way.  But I couldn’t resist.  “Whoa!”  I show Ana and Ralph their photo on the LCD screen of my Nikon D300.  Ralph’s eyebrows raise and Ana smiles.  I look up at the sunset and mentally I’m telling the sun and sky, “thanks”.

Ralph and Ana at Corona Del Mar beach

Ana came prepared to the shoot with 3 changes of clothes and a plan that I can guess came from doing research on flickr or smugmug.  It’s great when people have their own ideas of what they want in their shoot.  I don’t have to do a poll to find out what my target audience wants.

The hands that will hold baby when the time comes

I really appreciated Ralph and Ana’s excitement for this shoot. I could see it in their eyes before we even started. Thanks to Raquel and Mario for telling Ana about my photography and showing them her own maternity photos. I’m sure that contributed to their excitement. Being excited about your photoshoot is always a big help because there’s more energy in your poses and it’s much easier to smile when it’s time. The sun is down and night falls but the excitement is still there.