Family portraits at the Huntington Beach State Park with a happy family of 6

I had a lot of fun taking portraits of this family of 6 at the Atalaya Castle area and beach in the Huntington Beach State Park. Even though it was hot and a little windy, the family was very happy to be taking pictures and had great smiles from the beginning. We have had some very hot weather in Myrtle Beach the last couple of weeks, but near sunset time and by the ocean the heat isn’t too bad. I’m still really happy with my decision to switch away from the Myrtle Beach State Park to the Huntington Beach State Park as my regular photography location this year. Even though it’s a 30 min drive south from Myrtle Beach, it’s so much less crowded and the dunes and beach are much prettier. I had some clients recently comment on how clean and white the sand is in that area vs where they were staying in Myrtle Beach.

For this family’s portraits we started out taking pictures on the walkway that used to go from the Atalaya Castle to Brookgreen Gardens about 75 years ago. There was an event going on in the castle so we went over to the ivy on the castle wall for some individual portraits with the children. Because there isn’t a pier in the Huntington Beach State Park, I’ve found I can do some similar types of pictures by the trees and ivy wall like I used to do by the pier. Just without the crazy crowds of people around. If you still really love pier pictures then I’m happy to do portrait sessions at the Myrtle Beach State Park instead.

The younger brother and sister in the pictures were twins and they had a lot of personality, so I had fun taking pictures of the two of them together. I really liked the fun picture of all the kids hanging from the ironwork of the castle window. We had a beautiful sunset by the ocean as well. I loved the picture of the entire family laying in the sand together looking up at the camera and the ones of the kids running down the beach. That is one advantage of high end cameras is the ability to track moving subjects like people running. I hope you enjoy the pictures, if you would like to schedule your own family portrait session please let me know!