You know those glorious golden fields you see glowing at sunset that you just want to run through?  Yeah, I found one.  Right. In. My. Backyard.  Well not literally, but basically. 

Living on the beautiful central coast of California definitely has its perks when it comes to being a photographer.  You want mountains, you got ‘em.  You want the ocean, right there!  Grassy fields with big trees, pretty much any park here.  Vineyards, urban downtown vibes, the dunes!  The central coast is a gold mine when it comes to beautiful family or couple’s photography locations.  I am so fortunate to have all of this in my “backyard”.

I have been dying to do a session during golden hour in those gorgeous blonde fields on the hillside.  Lucky for me, I happen to have the Orcutt Hills, a popular hiking destination, less than five minutes from me.  Also lucky for me, I have two adorable boys and two beautiful nieces!  So when my nieces spontaneously decided to spend the night at Grammy’s house (also less than five minutes from me), I spontaneously decided that we would have a photoshoot!  Picked out some cute dresses from their closet and found shirts to match for my boys and we were on our way!

I have to admit, I was very skeptical that my boys would even cooperate for more than two minutes.  They have what we call “Photographer’s Child Syndrome”, where they are horrible in front of the camera!  We also went out like 30 minutes before their bedtime, so I thought for sure there would be some meltdowns.  I'm someone who sticks to a pretty routine schedule with my kids, so this was even stepping out of my comfort zone a bit!  I fully expected to go in hopeful and come out disappointed, but I was pleasantly surprised of how well the evening went!  My boys love their cousins so much and the girls are so great with them, that the evening was actually pretty cool and a lot of fun.  Playing Ring Around the Rosie, tickle fights, piggy-back rides… It was just all so endearing.  I only had to bribe them with ice cream like once... But it stuck. 

The whole session was just awesome.  Not just the beautiful setting of the blonde Orcutt Hills on this magnificent Central Coast, but also seeing that we can step out of our normal routine, and things aren't going to fall apart.  And if they do, oh well.  It's just for one night and you'll have the photos to cherish forever!  And of course not to mention editing these photos is so much fun.  Playing with the light and the dreamy gold tones of the sun going down is just magical to me.  It’s my favorite part of the whole photography game (other than actually taking the photos!).  Making a great photo straight-out-of-camera, turn into something that takes your breath away and makes your heart smile. 

Plus, we all got ice cream afterwards and got to stay up past our bed time.  Win for the kids!

TMH08993 TMH08829 TMH08856