Tips for choosing the best location for your family photoshoot - Geelong Edition
The post I wrote a few years ago about how to choose the best location for your outdoor photoshoot is one of my most popular posts, so I decided it was time to update it, with info that’s a little more specific to where I’m based now - Torquay! So, if you’re looking to plan your own outdoor family photography session in or around Geelong or the Bellarine or Surf Coast - here are some of the main points I think is worthwhile to consider when choosing your location!
Read on to discover my top tips for choosing an outdoor family photography location here on the beautiful Surf Coast, Bellarine & Great Ocean Road!
Privacy
Probably one of the most important factors to take into consideration! Crowded locations are not ideal for many reasons. But the biggest one in my opinion, is that it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to relax when you have a crowd of onlookers during your family photography session!
Locations like the Cosy Corner or Fishos in Torquay for example - are BEAUTIFUL, yes - but on a warm sunny day or during peaktimes (ie. SUMMER!) , they tend to get super busy - even by sunset, there are still quite a few people around.
For that reason, I tend to venture out that little bit further to some of the quieter beaches in the area. Another way around it is to have your session at sunrise - when it’s usually just us and the dog walkers!
Avoiding the more well known beaches and opting for quieter and lesser known locations is going to make your outdoor family photography session feel that much more enjoyable!
2. Your childs preferences - this is so important!
If your little one LOVES the feel of the sand between his/her toes, adores the ocean, get’s excited when going to the beach - then the beach is a GREAT option for a family session!! On the flipside, if your child does not enjoy those things and finds the beach a little bit of a sensory overload or is just not a massive fan of it - then it’s probably best to avoid the beach for your session! Scared and uneasy kids don’t tend to cope well with a photo session and so it’s always so much better to be led by your kids in this regard!
Similarly, if you want to have a beach session and have young children - come prepared for the fact that they are probably going to get a little wet! Even in the depths of winter, I feel like it’s almost impossible for kids to resist at least dipping their toes in the water. So if you feel like that’s going to really stress you out- let’s talk about some alternative locations!
If your little one LOVES the beach like little Spencer here, then the beach is a wonderful location for your session!
3. TIDE TIMES
This one may seem a little random, but tide times are worth taking into consideration if you are wanting to explore rock pools during your session - because they are only really accessible when the tide is low. Sometimes it can be a little trickier to line up a sunrise / sunset time with low tide - but if rockpools are what you’re after, it’s certainly worth having a think about it! Thankfully, we can search the tide times online months in advance which makes it easier to plan!
Keen to include rockpools in your photo session? You will need to take the tide times into consideration!
4. DISTRACTIONS & PRACTICALITY
When you have really young kids, it’s also worthwhile thinking about how practical a location is going to be for your session. Let’s say, for example, you’re thinking about having the session at a park near your house - but the only time you guys ever visit that particular park is for your toddler to play at the playground there, how do you think they will cope when we arrive and tell them they can’t play on the playground and that we’re going to go and do some photos instead!? For MANY kids, that can make things go badly pretty quickly!!
For that reason, I do try to avoid parks that have playgrounds, because once your toddler sees it, they’re never going to forget about it and you probably didn’t book a professional photographer to get 100x photos of your toddler going down the slide !!
5. SUNRISE V SUNSET
I mentioned briefly above, that choosing to have your session at sunrise can be a great way to avoid crowded, busy beaches ! Another huge benefit to having your session at sunrise here on the Surf Coast & Bellarine, is that at most beaches down here - the sun rises over the water, and sets back behind the dunes/cliffs. So not only do you tend to have the beach to yourself, but in my opinion, the light in the mornings is hard to beat!
It’s REALLY hard to beat sunrise here in Torquay. With the sun rising directly over the water, it makes for some pretty magical photos!
6. VARIETY
How lucky are we here in Torquay to have SO MANY amazing beaches on our doorstep!? My favourite thing about these beaches is that they’re all so different. Whether it’s cliffs in the background, rock pools, dunes - they all have so much variety and so family galleries always end up being so different and interesting! So if there are certain features of the beachscapes that you love - let me know and we can try to find the perfect spot for your family
Rugged coastlines, breathtaking cliffs, white sand beaches, grassy dunes… we are spoilt for choice in Torquay!
7. Acessibility
Unfortunately, not all of the beaches along the Surf Coast & Bellarine are accessible for prams, wheelchairs or people who have difficulty getting up and down stairs so that is also important to take into consideration if that is relevant for you.
Although there are some beaches that have limited accessability and lots of stairs, there are still some great wheelchair / pram friendly spots around!
8. One final thing to consider
If you have booked a photographer, whether it’s me or someone else, because you want photos that look exactly the same as another photo of theirs you have seen - please keep in mind that locations change - and there are so many variables that impact the look of your images!! Tides are different, the weather will be different , the sun will set and rise in slightly different spots depending on the time of year YOU GUYS will be different to the last family I photographed and therefore, your photos will never look exactly the same as another families. But personally, I think that’s the beauty of it all! Your photos should be UNIQUE to you, shouldn’t they?!
These sessions were all shot at the same Torquay beach location at sunrise - the final images were so different and unique to each family!
I really hope this was helpful to you if you are considering an outdoor session in Geelong, Torquay or anywhere along the Bellarine, Surf Coast or Great Ocean Road! If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch - I’m always more than happy to chat!
