A Meaningful Santa Cruz Family Session

I could not wait to spend time with this beautiful couple and their young daughter, for this meaningful, Santa Cruz Family session!

We had emailed a bit leading up to our session date, so I was familiar with their story, relocating throughout the country and landing here on the west coast. I really couldn’t wait to finally put faces with names, and share this gem of a beach with them! Documenting this exciting next chapter in their lives together was such a priveldge. 

It was a very quiet day down by the water. You never really know what you will find. The weather, and the surf of course, often drives how many visitors take the 1/4 mile trek from the parking lot, down that gravel-lined, graduated hill to the shore. On any given day, you may find heaps of surfers resting comfortably on their boards in the water awaiting that perfect wave. Beachgoers and their pups will perch at the base of the dramatic bluffs enjoying the sun and sand.

That particular day in Santa Cruz, the water was relatively still. 

Nature, per usual, was showing off in the most beautiful of ways. And while it was brilliantly sunny, we were the only ones there to enjoy the beach (with the exception of a couple otters playfully bobbing in the surf and pods of pelicans flying in formation overhead). I mean, what a gift to have that whole stretch of sand and sea to ourselves!

I knew that their daughter was just warming up to the coast. Mom and Dad had mentioned that in preparation for our time together, they had visited the shore earlier. They were eager to share their love of the ocean, and help her become a bit more comfortable with her new environment before took our photos that day. Well … bravo Mom and Dad! This worked beautifully. Even though she was not quite ready to let her toes hit the sand juuust yet ….that beautiful smile and piercing blue eyes fixated on that Pacific said everything! Somehow I had a feeling, that as the days would pass, she was destined for a newfound (deep) love of the ocean.

Documenting these moments of their family together was such a joy! Life is full of so many firsts. I really hope that these memories of this first chapter as a family of three along that stunning Northern California coast, will live in their hearts forever. ~ Kent Avenue Photography

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
~ Jacques Yves Cousteau