Pacific Grove Family Photographer

Pacific Grove is where I send families who want the ocean without the crowd. Four square miles of coastline, tide pools and Victorian rooftops, and on a clear morning the light coming off the bay is some of the softest anywhere on the Monterey Peninsula.

I'm Britt, a Pacific Grove family photographer working across Monterey, Carmel and the coast in between. My sessions here are slow and unstructured. We walk, your kids climb on things, nobody has to say cheese. What you get back looks like your family actually is, in a town you'll want to come back to.

Where we'll shoot

Pacific Grove packs an unusual amount of variety into a very small town. Most sessions here use two spots within a few minutes of each other, so we get range without anyone having to get back in the car. (If you're still weighing towns, I keep a guide to the best places for family photos on the Peninsula.)

Lovers Point

The one everybody pictures. A small protected cove, a grassy bluff above it, and cypress trees that frame beautifully in the early light. It's a favorite for a reason, which means it's also busy. We start early here, usually within the first hour after sunrise, and have the place mostly to ourselves. There's a senior session from the cove in my journal if you want to see what the light does.

Asilomar State Beach

Wide white sand, low dunes, and a boardwalk that winds through them. This is the spot for movement: running, chasing, kids let loose. The dunes give us clean backgrounds in every direction, and there's no shortage of room, even in summer.

Berwick Park and the coastal trail

A quiet grassy bluff along Ocean View Boulevard with the whole bay behind it. Great for extended families and for anyone who'd rather not deal with sand. The recreation trail runs right through, so we can wander and keep shooting.

Perkins Park, in spring

For a few weeks each spring the ice plant along the shoreline blooms magenta and the whole stretch turns into something that doesn't look real. If your session lands in April or May, we're going here. Bring colors that don't fight it.

The light, and when to come

Something about this coast surprises people: summer is our foggiest season. May through August, the marine layer often sits over Pacific Grove until midday. It isn't bad news. Fog is the most flattering light there is, and some of my favorite work has been made in it, but it does mean the golden, glowing beach photos people picture aren't guaranteed in July.

September and October are the clearest, warmest months on the Peninsula. If you're choosing freely, choose then.

Whatever month we shoot, I lean toward morning. The bay faces north and east here, sunrise light comes in low and warm across the water, and the parking and the crowds are both easier. Evening works too, we just plan around where the sun drops behind the pines.

What a session looks like

We start with a conversation, not a shot list. I want to know how old your kids are, what they're into right now, and what you actually want on your walls, because a session built around a two-year-old looks nothing like one built around three teenagers, and it shouldn't.

Then we meet, and we walk. I'll set up a few moments and let the rest happen. The tide pools here can hold a six-year-old's attention for twenty minutes at a stretch, and I would much rather stand back and let that play out than interrupt it for a pose. You'll get direction when you need it and space when you don't.

Afterward you'll receive a private online gallery of edited images, yours to download, print and share. Sessions start at $387. Full details are on the session details page.

What to wear on this coast

Borrow your palette from the shoreline: sand, sea glass, fog gray, driftwood, the soft blue-green of the water. Coordinated, not matchy. If everything looks like it was poured from the same sunset, you're in great shape.

Bring a layer. Pacific Grove is cooler than wherever you're driving from, almost without exception, and wind off the bay is a given. Fabrics that move (linen, cotton, anything with a bit of flow) photograph beautifully here and stiff, structured pieces don't.

And comfortable kids make the best photos, full stop. If the shoes are miserable, we lose the session. I send every family a full styling guide once we've booked, so you won't be guessing.

Seniors, maternity and extended family sessions

Pacific Grove is one of my favorite places on the Peninsula for a senior session. The cove at Lovers Point gives us water, rock and cypress in a very small area, which means a seventeen-year-old gets four completely different looks without a long walk in a cap and gown. Sunrise here is quiet enough that nobody feels watched, which at that age matters more than the light does.

Maternity and motherhood sessions work beautifully along the coastal trail too. Soft light, room to walk, and nothing to do but be together for half an hour. If you're expecting, the dunes at Asilomar in the last hour of the day are hard to beat.

And extended families, the ones where three generations are in town for a week and this is the only morning everyone is free, belong at Berwick Park. Flat ground, easy parking, and the whole bay behind you.