As you probably know, photographing my clients at the beach is my preferred location. I love the beach for a few reasons. It’s unique to where we live, it’s a vast space that offers lots of natural light with the beautiful addition of waves and it always results in dreamy portraits no matter the time of year. Occasionally though my clients ask for other locations in our area other than the beach.
We’re lucky enough to have a small downtown area in Virginia Beach. It’s perfect as an alternative to the coastal vibe and lends itself to a metropolitan feeling option for a portrait location. There are several reasons why I particularly like this location. One, due to the cityscape of tall buildings my clients can have their session earlier in the day rather than during golden hour (the hour before sunset). We can have their session a few hours before sunset and in the case of little ones sometimes this is the best option. Two, our downtown area offers light colored buildings, stairs and sidewalks which are perfect natural reflectors for light. This is a big reason why I also love the beach and how I achieve a lovely bright style of photos. Even though we aren’t on the sand I can still achieve this look thanks to the reflective nature of the environment.
As a wedding and portrait photographer I strive to have consistency in my work. A big part of this is achieved by choosing locations and times of day that allow me to do this. I also enjoy changing things up from just photographing on the beach and when I find a location that allows me to do this it lights my fire inside!
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