Lessons From a Golden Hour Photoshoot

Villa Décor Photography's inaugural blog is finally here!  I’m super excited about sharing professional experiences, photography trends, the latest news and inspiring perspectives.   

With each project that I have undertaken, a new lesson has been learned.  Some of the lessons that I took away from photo sessions revolved around being flexible, having a plan B, C, D, etc and having fun!

At no time was that more evident than the day that I scheduled a sunset beach maternity photoshoot.  Since I was familiar with the position of the sunset at a particular beach, I was adamant about using that venue for the photoshoot.  Although there was a high probability that we would have been surrounded and interrupted by multitudes of beach goers, I was confident that everything would still go my way.  Why???  Because the perfect beach was located, the weather was cooperating and an appointed time was established.  In a perfect world, these variables would have been the perfect recipe for a golden hour photoshoot. 

Reality hit when we realized that the day was coming to an end… only 40 minutes remained until dusk…and, the expectant mom lived several miles away from this perfect beach.  There was no way that we would get to the designated venue in time to take advantage of the sun’s coveted golden hour.

Plan B materialized when the expectant mom suggested that we switch venues, and go to a beach that was within a closer proximity to her house.  I wasn’t familiar with the sun’s angle in that environment, but nonetheless, I ambivalently agreed to change beach locations.  As we drove to this new venue, I became increasingly worried, as I noticed the sun’s decent in the rear view mirror.  The expectant mom didn’t understand why this was even an issue, because it was still daylight.  As I continued to fret and chat, another unexpected problem emerged. We missed the exit to this backup beach.  At this stage, I was past the point of concern, because I knew that it would take too long to find a quick path back to the new venue.  The sun continued diving into the horizon…we were losing the light…there was no beach in sight… and I was ready to throw in the towel of defeat.   I came to terms with the fact that the golden hour photoshoot would not be happening, on that day.  As I continued to talk myself into giving up, the expectant mom casually (somewhat half jokingly) mentioned that we could still make it to the "fake beach".  That’s right, she said "fake beach".  When I looked at her in disbelief and realized that she was serious, I burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter, tinged with more disbelief.  My perfect beach was replaced by a backup beach and the backup beach was replaced by a "fake beach".  I couldn’t have made this story up even if I tried.

In any case, we ended up finding this easily overlooked "fake beach" that was situated on the side road of major boulevard.  It was a small strip of concrete land and semi-rocky sand that was sandwiched between the ocean and a busy boulevard of motorized traffic and commercial venues.  

The tides were beginning to turn. This replacement beach had a small but nearly empty parking lot, right in front of the sand. There were only a few wind surfers and beach dwellers hanging around.  There were still a couple of minutes remaining until the sun disappeared into the horizon. But best of all, as I looked across the ocean’s waves, I noticed that the sun’s position was even better than it would have been at the original "perfect" beach venue. We rushed out of the car and immediately got to work with the photoshoot.  The perfect golden tones surrounded the expectant mom’s silhouette, in the forefront of the sun’s final decent. We beat the clock and captured tons of great shots during that golden hour. 

It could have been a missed opportunity without the willingness to be flexible…without the willingness to listen to the alternatives and without the willingness to have a sense of humor that compelled me to take a chance.  In the end, the sunset maternity photo session worked out better than I could have imagined, with stunning results.