Extended Family

Navarre Beach Extended Family Photographer

Grandparents, cousins, the whole crew, on the sand while everyone is finally in the same place.

The one week everybody is here

Most extended family sessions I photograph happen during a reunion week, when three or four households have rented houses on the same street and this is the only time all year everyone is in one place.

That is worth taking seriously. These are often the last photographs of a grandparent with all the grandchildren, and everyone knows it even if nobody says it.

Book early in your week rather than the last night. If the weather turns, we still have days left to move it.

How a large group actually works

Big and everybody, then break it down. We do the full group photograph first while attention is highest, then each individual family, then the grandparents with the grandchildren, then whatever combinations you want.

Twelve people with small children in the mix takes about an hour. Twenty takes longer and it is worth booking accordingly.

Pick one person as the organiser on the day. Somebody who knows every name and can call people over saves an enormous amount of time, and it should not be me guessing which child belongs to whom.

Dressing a large group

Do not match. Coordinate. Pick three or four colors in the same family, cream, sand, sage, soft blue, and let everyone choose within that. Identical white shirts on fifteen people photograph like a uniform.

Send the palette to everyone at least two weeks ahead. Somebody always needs to buy something, and somebody always leaves it until the day.

My what to wear guide is written to be forwarded to a group chat.

Where we meet

Sand Dollar Pavilion has the parking, the boardwalk over the dunes and the bathrooms, which matters when you are moving fifteen people including someone with a walker and someone in a stroller.

The beach at Navarre is wide and there are no buildings behind you, so a large group still gets a clean horizon rather than a row of condominiums.

If your group is staying together in one house on the beach, we can start there and walk out.

What you get

A session sized to your group, full direction, and a gallery of edited images delivered digitally with a print release so every household can order their own prints.

Larger groups are priced individually. Tell me how many people and I will quote it. See the investment page for the standard sessions.