A personal post: Cape Cod portrait session at Corporation Beach with Grayson and Adelaide

I’m so lucky that my parents live in Dennisport year round, and it’s so special to get to visit for a few weeks every summer. The kids love visiting the different beaches, floating in Scargo Lake, crabbing, searching the tide pools at low tide, collecting shells, building sand castles and digging trenches in the sand. As any photographer who is also a mom will tell you, I always find it so hard to take photos of my own kids. But the night we captured these new Cape Cod portraits, they let their personalities shine and just loved on each other and we captured the most adorable sibling portraits. 

Both Grayson and Adelaide were 100% agreeable and excited about taking photos at the beach one evening at sunset, and knowing that they would be rewarded with a cookie afterwards certainly helped with the cooperation. ;o) We finally found a night with good weather at Corporation Beach in Dennis and I’m so happy that we were able to freeze time together.  

I’ve been doing beach portraits of Grayson since he was 1 year old, and it’s bittersweet watching him grow up a little more every summer. He looked at this portrait of him and he said, “That’s not me! That’s a 10-year-old!” because I had told him during our little session that that pose was for really big kids. And it’s true – he looks like he’s ready to grab the keys and go for a drive! It makes my mama heart stop for a beat just seeing how quickly it goes by. It’s one of the reasons that I love capturing these portraits in Cape Cod every summer. My babies won’t stop growing (though I so wish they would!). 

Fun little fact about our session on Corporation Beach – I ended up with a gallery of 34 favorite portraits, and we took them in less than 12 minutes. You don’t need a lot of time to capture great portraits of your kids – just someone who knows all the tricks to get them to hug & smile. ;o) After doing this for the last 10 years, I’ve got plenty of tricks that even work on my own kids! 

My goal was one good one to hang on the gallery wall in our dining room, but with so many that I love like this, I don’t know how I’m going to choose which one to print & frame! I hope you enjoy this little peek into our family’s summer tradition!

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Cape Cod Family Portraits in Dennis

I loooooved seeing this family at their favorite beach in Dennis for their family portrait session this summer! Their Cape house is literally steps from the beach, and they’ve been coming here for generations.

I haven’t been to many beaches on the Cape where you have to climb a huge sand dune to get to the water, and it was extra special to watch their sweet little girls climb up over the top and run down towards the sea, knowing that they are going to create so many magical childhood memories there on that stretch of sand just like their mama did when she was a little girl.

Beach hair, don’t care! This was definitely one of my favorite images from their session!

It’s always a joy when grandparents join in for family portraits, and I loved capturing this happy grandmother with her adorable granddaughters in everyone’s happy place!

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A Playful Family Photo Session at the Beach | Cape Cod Family Photographer

Beach sessions are my favorite, but the summer beach season is always too fleeting here in New England!  That's why I'm always so thrilled when families ask me to join them for a family photo session on Cape Cod during their summer vacation.  Don't get me wrong -- I still love going to the beach all the other months of the year, but there's something so classically summertime about a sunny day on Cape Cod with sand between my toes, bare shoulders, and a beautiful sunset with the song from an ice cream truck dancing through the air.

I met Tess and her family at Corporation Beach in Dennis, and we had such a great time exploring the sand dunes and checking out the sea creatures in the little pools of water that the low tide had left behind.  Her boys are full of energy, so of course we were up and down the beach running all over the place during our sunset session.

Newborn photographers joke that newborn sessions are their cardio (except that it's not a joke and it's true that a three-hour session in an 80 degree room is a very good workout!).  Well, beach sessions with an hour spent running through the sand in the summertime are a family photographer's cardio.  ;o)  

I loved exploring the beach with this family to keep up with their two sons, and we had a blast on the lifeguard chair.  Their mom later told me that they're normally not allowed to go up on the lifeguard chair, so they were beyond thrilled to climb on up during our photo shoot to play!  Just look at those smiles!

Thank you for such a wonderful session together, M. family!  

I hope you'll enjoy these classic summertime memories for many, many years!

A Saltwater Family Portrait Session on Cape Cod

The email started a little something like, "Hey Nicole!  We're going to Cape Cod in July.  We'd love to have you come join us at the beach for a photo session.  Are you free then?"

Without missing a beat, I was 100% in!  I absolutely love photo sessions on the beach, creating beautiful sandy & salty memories for the most amazing families.  Plus, I was thrilled to see this family again.  We first met last winter for baby Amalia's newborn session, and we've stayed in touch throughout the year planning more opportunities to capture some gorgeous memories for their family.  I was so happy to join them at the beach for a large, extended family session when all of their family would be in the same state, and when I learned the meaning behind this session I loved it even more.  Read on...

Many years ago, when their own children were little and before they were known as "Gigi and Grandpa" and were instead just "Mom and Dad", this grandmother was in her dentist's office when she saw a beautiful family photo taken on the beach.  Her kids grew up going to Corporation Beach in Dennis every summer, driving there in their sandy beach buggy every day to splash in the waves, dig in the sand, and soak up the sun.  Right then she knew that she wanted to do a photo session like that of her own family one day, but the years passed and her children grew, and eventually they had children of their own.  And still, no photo session.

So this summer they decided to make it happen.  Both of their granddaughters would be back in Boston at the same time, and all three of their children would be here.  They decided to bring the whole family to the Cape for a fun vacation and a gorgeous session together, and this grandmother FINALLY got her portrait session on the beach that she had first dreamt of twenty years ago.

I'm heading back to the Cape next week for a few more family sessions.  Will you be joining me on the beach?  I can't wait!!