Santa Cruz Family Photographer

Santa Cruz is not a postcard village and it does not pretend to be. It is a working beach town with a boardwalk, a surf break at the end of the street, eucalyptus groves that smell like the whole coast, and redwoods fifteen minutes inland. For family photographs that variety is a gift, because your family does not have one mood either.

I'm Britt. I'm based on the Monterey Peninsula and I drive up to Santa Cruz regularly, usually for families who want the coast without the polish. What I bring to a session here is less about knowing every side street and more about knowing how this light behaves, which turns out to be the thing that decides whether the photographs work.

Where we'll shoot

Most sessions here pair a beach with something green, which is a combination this stretch of coast offers and very few others do. The spots below run roughly east to west across town, and then inland. (I keep a wider guide to family photo locations around the bay, and there are companion pages for Pacific Grove and Carmel.)

Moran Lake and the eucalyptus grove

A small beach off East Cliff with a lagoon behind it and a stand of eucalyptus above. The grove is the reason I keep coming back: the canopy breaks the light into something dappled and soft even at the worst hour of the day, and kids treat it like a place to explore rather than a place to be photographed. There's a full session from Moran Lake in my journal.

East Cliff Drive

The bluff walk above the water, with stairs down to a string of small beaches. Good for wandering, good for extended families who want options, and easier for parking than the busier stretches west of the wharf.

Pleasure Point

The bluff above the surf breaks, where East Cliff bends and half of Santa Cruz seems to be standing around watching the water. There's a small blufftop park at 33rd, and stairways down to the sand at 37th and 41st if we want to get to the beach. Good for older kids, and good for families who'd rather have the town in the picture than an empty stretch of coast.

West Cliff Drive

The classic one. Cypress, surfers below, the whole bay opening up to the south, and a paved path that makes it workable with a stroller or a grandparent. Busier than East Cliff, so we go early.

Natural Bridges State Beach

The sea arch at the west end of town, with tide pools at low tide and a eucalyptus grove tucked into the canyon behind the beach. Monarchs shelter in that grove over the winter, which turns a cold-month session into something your kids will still be talking about at dinner. The beach faces west, so late light runs straight down it.

The redwoods, inland

Fifteen minutes from the sand you are standing in filtered green light under trees that are older than the town. If you want two completely different looks in one morning, this is how Santa Cruz beats every other town on this coast. Ask me about it and I'll suggest a spot that fits your group.

I also photograph families south along the coast, in Capitola and around Aptos. If one of those towns is closer to where you're staying, say so when you get in touch and I'll suggest something.

Why we don't wait for golden hour

Most photographers will tell you the hour before sunset is the only hour worth shooting. On this coast, in summer, that hour lands somewhere near eight in the evening. If you have a toddler, you already know what that means.

You do not have to choose between good light and a child who has slept. The marine layer that sits over Santa Cruz for much of the year is a giant softbox, and haze coming off the water does the same job as an overcast sky. Under the eucalyptus, midday sun turns dappled. Backlight at four in the afternoon gives you the glow people actually want from a beach session.

So I will happily shoot your family at ten in the morning or four in the afternoon and hand you images that look like the ones you saved to a folder somewhere. It means we work with your day instead of against it, which is usually the difference between a session everyone enjoyed and one everyone endured.

What a session looks like

It starts with a conversation about your family rather than a shot list. How old everyone is, what they are like right now, and what you want to end up with on a wall.

Then we meet and we move. I'll set up a handful of moments and let the rest unfold, because a kid poking at a tide pool or running ahead down the bluff path is where the photographs you keep tend to come from. You'll get direction when you need it and quiet 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, and the details are on the session details page.

What to wear

Santa Cruz is scruffier than the towns south of here and the photographs are better for it. Soft neutrals work, but so does a bit of colour, and you do not need to look like you coordinated in a group chat for a week.

If we are shooting the grove or the redwoods, avoid deep green, which will swallow you. Cream, oatmeal, rust and denim all sit well against both trees and sand. Fabrics that move photograph better than anything stiff.

Bring layers. It is cooler here than inland, and the wind on the cliffs is a fact of life. Bring shoes everyone can pull off, because we will end up on sand at some point, and send the kids in something they would choose themselves. My full styling guide goes out once you've booked.