Naples and Marco Island Family Photographer

Beach portrait sessions are perfect for family, children, engagement, and senior photos. It's common for extended families (e.g., grandparents, parents, and children) to share a session. However, family beach sessions are for one family tree only and cannot be shared between unrelated families or large groups of friends.

I don’t sell photography by the number of images. My focus is on capturing meaningful moments, not just taking endless shots. Typically, you'll receive 50+ edited images from a one-hour beach session, though the exact number may vary based on your group’s size.

Once your images are ready, they’ll be uploaded to an online gallery for easy proofing and sharing with family and friends. You’ll receive high-resolution images via a zip download and have full rights to print them. For convenience, you may also order prints directly through the gallery.

While my camera captures great images, each one is personally reviewed and adjusted for exposure, white balance, and more. I take my time with this process to ensure the best final product. Your edited images will typically be ready for delivery in about 7 days.

At the beach, early mornings (around 9 AM) and evenings (90 minutes before sunset) work best. Mostly because it’s cooler, and that is when the light becomes is harsh.

For mid-day portraits the light on the beach is too harsh. I do have alternate locations for that time of day. Please call me to discuss this option.

IMPORTANT: If anyone in your group has eyes that are sensitive to light, evening, or mid-day at an alternate shaded location, may be the best choice.

The location we will use for your session depends on the size of your group, ages of the subjects, mobility issues, time of year, and the time of day we’re scheduled for. I really like having compositional items in my images (rock jetty, pilings, pier, sailboats, etc.), but I also choose session locations where I am able to control the light, and with minimal background distractions, like people and buildings. I have locations in Naples and Marco Island that work really well, and I’ll direct you to the most appropriate one when we speak on the phone the day before your session.

I’ll do my very best to accommodate you, but yes, sometimes the weather doesn’t completely cooperate. We may be able to use an alternate location, or if not, then we’ll reschedule. I always leave open times each day in my weekly schedule to allow for those instances. A refund of your retainer will be made if we’re not able to come up with a solution.

Short answer – Navy blue, or black are not a good choice!

Please feel free to wear whatever meets your vision. One of my favorites is just simple white dress shirts and jeans. Hey, go barefoot too ! On the beach when you’re comfortable and relaxed it shows in your portraits. In addition, the white shirts don’t compete with the colors of the water and sun. I do suggest that you consider not wearing vibrant printed clothing, black, or navy blue. You most likely will be sitting in some images, so excessively short skirts, rompers, and shorts may not be flattering. At minimum you want to avoid any clothing that clashes, i.e., everyone in white with one person in orange (actually happened). As of late, some clients are using a watercolor pallet which is really nice and can be mix-matched. Mostly think light colored or white, not necessarily matching. Again, avoid dark colors like navy or black, except for pants/shorts/jeans.

NOTE: If you wear eyeglasses with photochromic (Transition) lenses, you may want to consider not wearing them, but it’s up to you. In addition, a select few clear lenses are highly reflective and will refract/reflect incoming sunlight and hide your eyes. This is your responsibility to make a determination prior to your session, and is not correctable in post production.

To achieve the highest quality images I shoot in a digital file format known as RAW. This type of digital file requires that the images be checked and adjusted for white balance, exposure, contrast, color tone, and sharpness in post production. Most people do not realize that I typically will spend three or more hours in post production for each hour I shoot.

If you are going to get a special enlargement of one of your images, like a canvas for your wall, I’m happy to go over that image with a fine tooth comb to remove any background distractions, as a courtesy – This is limited to 90 days from the date you receive your images. I do my best to point out distractions while making your images, however, especially with a group, we’re moving fast and I can’t see or correct things you should be responsible for.

Things that are not included are; fixing hair, eye and teeth whitening, fixing sunburn (that can’t be done), retouching of skin, removing/adding people to your group, changing clothing color, exposed undergarment, fixing incorrectly applied or smeared makeup, or Photoshop editing intended to alter the appearance of a person.

Any additional editing you require will be sent to a professional retoucher at a cost of $25 per image.

Note: Head swapping, or body reshaping is not done under any circumstance.

You do not… In the course of making images there are alway images that are not acceptable. It can be for a number of reasons; unflattering expression, subject moved too quickly and went out of position, or there just wasn’t any spark in the image.

At times I may shoot more than one image of a particular person(s) or scene. This is because I want to make sure I have one acceptable image with everyones eyes open, or just to match the vision of what I was trying to accomplish with the shot.

Please do not ask for every single one of those images, or for every single image I made, or for my RAW files. Those images are not part of the service I provide, or the final product that I deliver to you.