Extended family portraits – Half Moon Bay

Sometimes the ones you love don’t all live under one roof anymore. It’s then that photographs as wall art are even more important.

We ventured to Half Moon Bay for this extended family portrait session.

Mina & Paul Cole have three handsome grown sons, a gorgeous and sweet daughter-in law, one incredibly adorable grandson and a beloved nearly-daughter-in-law. Their hearts are full to say the least.

Mina, loving matriarch of the Cole family, found us on a very special day in her life, the wedding of her eldest son. (See our blog post of their wedding here)

During the reception, she told us she’d be calling us for family portraits someday, and she was absolutely true to her word.

We scheduled the on-location family session for a bit of a destination for all of us, Half Moon Bay. Mina’s husband is an Assistant Fire Chief and works with Cal Fire in Half Moon Bay so they have lots of fond memories of visits through the years, especially at one beach spot.

Mina envisioned portraits of her favorite people at her favorite place, decorating her home for years to come. An extended family portrait session specifically geared towards wall art. That’s exactly what we love to hear and were excited to help make happen.

We met up with the Coles about an hour before sunset and took a short walk to a beautiful bluff overlooking the ocean. The weather was a bit misty, which is characteristic of Half Moon Bay, and we all hoped the sun might make an appearance on the horizon eventually.

We started off with some posed group photos to warm everyone up.

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

We had a mental list of groupings that were important to Mina, and started in right away. Getting a photo with all the gentlemen in her life.

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

It wasn’t long before the boys had loosened up and their personalities started to shine through.

Here, loving on their mama

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

Cracking themselves up

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

This is the image they decided to order as a 24″ x 20″ wall portrait.

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

On Mina’s request, Mischa artistically retouched this family portrait image beyond the look of a traditional photograph. This is the version that will grace their walls in a gorgeous custom frame:

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

It was time for an outfit change and a walk down to the beach. So we had a few minutes to photograph the family interacting. This image made the final cut and will remind us all how small little Paulie was last Fall. (personally, it also reminds me how many times I sang “the Itsy Bitsy Spider” during their session to get his attention and make him smile)

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

How gorgeous is this family and this beach! This is another one of the images they chose to print and display in their home. Rather than change the aesthetic of this image, they decided to leave it natural. It has a custom frame as well and is more than just a photo on the wall at 60″ x 30″.

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

We took advantage of the empty beach and increasingly beautiful light to capture some individual portraits of Mina & her family.

This one of Mina got a special artistic treatment before printing. Here’s the original:

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

Here’s the artistically retouched version, following Mina’s request for “purples” and the freedom to design an art piece without being confined to reality:

Half Moon Bay extended family portrait

 

Working together with our clients to create the art pieces that they want for their homes is so fulfilling. Getting to collaborate and use our talents to inspire daily happiness when they see these images, is what it’s all about for us.

Shooting is a really good time too. You can see how seriously we take ourselves in the expressions we get from our subjects.

extended family portrait

 

And you can see that the sunset finally cooperated too. This was one of  the last images of the night. A stunning image for a very special family.

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Not long after this session, we found out that this family is expecting a new member in 2016, a little girl, Mina’s first granddaughter. She will grow up seeing these images on the walls of her grandparents’ house and we couldn’t be prouder.

We hope you enjoyed this Half Moon Bay extended family portrait session and that it inspires you to decorate your own home with images of the ones you love.

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