The Photography Blog
Not Your Typical Family Session | A New Take on Nantucket Beach Family Photos
When most people think of Nantucket family photos at the beach, they imagine golden-hour light, coordinated outfits, and everyone freshly showered and smiling at the camera. While there is beauty in a well-planned sunset session – and I do plenty of those! – I also want to offer something different. Something a little wilder, a little freer – something more real.
As a Nantucket photographer who has spent summer after summer photographing my own family on the beach, I know how magical it can be – not just when the light is perfect, but when real life is happening. In the middle of the day, the sun is high, the ocean is sparkling, and your kids are running full-speed into the waves with sandy hands and salty hair. This is when my family is the most genuine and authentic version of ourselves and I am guessing it is the same for your family too!
For years I have photographed families just like yours, and lately I feel a pull to offer something that feels more aligned with how I live and photograph my own family in Nantucket. These sessions are about creating something meaningful from the everyday moments – because your beach days, your little routines, your people – deserve to be remembered. These are the photos your children will look at years from now and say, That was us.
This is not your typical family session. And that is the point.
Ditch the Coordinating Clothes & Bring the Towels
Let’s skip the stress of getting everyone into fancy outfits and negotiating the best way to keep a toddler up past their bedtime. For these sessions, I encourage you to come as you are – swimsuits, rash guards, sun hats, bare feet. Let the kids play. Let them get soaked. Let them be them.
These sessions take place in the middle of the day. There is no keeping kids up late, no post-dinner chaos, no carefully curated outfits. Just happy, rested families doing what you do best – enjoying the beach and your time together. I will catch the quiet little moments – fistfulls of sand, an impromptu shell hunt, the recurring snack breaks, the beach snuggles. The everyday magic you live, but rarely get to see from the outside.
Real Moments, Artfully Captured During Nantucket Beach Family Photos
What makes these Nantucket beach family photo sessions so special is the blend of documentary-style photography as well as the gentle direction I can provide by offering simple prompts when needed. Maybe this is a game of tag, or showing off your best cartwheel. I might ask Mom to scoop someone up in a towel snuggle, or catch Dad exploring the water’s edge with one of the kids.
But truly, most of the magic happens when I step back and let your family just be. I am there to make sure you have the images to remind you of the simple joys of the childhood you are creating for your children, and to bring you back to how it felt – the sun on your face, the breeze in your hair, and the sand just about everywhere!
Escape to Great Point
For families looking for something even more off the beaten path, there is the option to head out to the remote drive-on beach, Great Point. I can drive your family (up to four people) to one of the island’s most secluded stretches of sand, where your experience becomes an adventure all on its own. Often when I am at Great Point, other beachgoers, if any, are just a faint blip on the horizon. It truly feels like it is just you, your family, and miles of peaceful shoreline.
A Note to Moms
After spending a day on the beach in Nantucket, if you’re anything like me, you have taken upwards of 100 photos. And still, if you’re anything like me, the only photos you are in, are the seldom and rare selfie.
Let us be honest, Moms are the ones packing the towels, the chairs, the sunscreen, the snacks (and backup snacks), and making sure everyone has the right toys to avoid beach meltdowns. You are the reason your family is at the beach in the first place. And you deserve to be in the photos, too.
These sessions are about capturing your family, Mom included! I want to photograph your hands brushing hair from your child’s face, your smile as you watch them explore, your arms wrapped around your little ones wrapped tight in a towel. These are the photos that will matter years from now, when your babies are grown and the beach bags are long retired.
You show up for your family in a million little ways. Let me show you what that looks like from the outside.
You show up for your family in a million little ways. Let me show you what that looks like from the outside.
Planning your trip to Nantucket?
Check out more of my favorite local tips and resources to help you make the most of your family’s time on the island:
- What to Wear for a Nantucket Family Photo Session
- The Best Ice Cream Spots in Nantucket
- Tips for a Stress-Free Family Photo Experience
Ready to Book and Meet Me On the Beach?
These sessions are offered exclusively in July and August on Nantucket, and availability is limited. If a relaxed, joy-filled, not-so-typical family session sounds like the right fit for your vacation, reach out early to reserve your spot.
Let’s trade perfectly posed for perfectly you. I cannot wait to capture the kind of memories that truly matter!
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