This session took place at the West end of Dauphin Island during the Memorial Day Weekend. When the grandmother booked this session about a month ago, she stressed to me the group shots were the most important part of this session but maybe the most challenging since there would be very young children involved. I informed her the realistic expectation would be that I would take a whole bunch of photos and maybe we would get a couple really good ones. I could possibly combine the best of two or three by switching faces. It is difficult to get a toddler to look at the camera so having all three looking at the same time is big challenge. The first four family shots in this blog were pictures I had to combine shots from the same series to get one good shot. 

The reason the family shots were important to the client was because one of her sons is in the Air Force and would be leaving on an assignment right after the weekend. She did not know when they would be together again for a group shot of the entire family. During the consultations call we discussed alternatives if weather was a factor since this shoot had to happen. Plan A was to shoot at sunset. Plan B was to shoot earlier if it was overcast and not raining. There were other plans discussed just in case.

As luck would have it, Tropical Storm Alberto decided to visit the coast during the weekend. I arrived an hour early that gave us a two hour window of shooting. My experience with weather events like tropical storms is rain happens in bands so it will rain for about 20 minutes and then stop. The weather radar showed rain all around but it was coming bands. I decided to shoot earlier than usual because it was overcast. My weather app notified we would have about a 45 minute window of no rain so we headed to the beach. I worked under the impression we would get rain at anytime so I moved things along quickly to get the shots that were needed. 

We were fortunate the rain held off longer than expected so we got a chance to get some more shots. The grandmother liked the dramatic look of the storm clouds so we worked on another group shot towards the end of the session. Many clients get worried for their sessions when it looks like rain. This is an example of why photographers like the dramatic look storms bring to the sessions. You get really great diffused natural light and using strobes can give a really dramatic looking background.

For more information about my family beach click the link Family Beach Plans

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Family Photographer in Dauphin Island, Alabama