Family photos that look like your trip.
I'm Daniel Wesley, a family photographer in Orange County, and before we pick a beach I want to know who's coming. The kid who will not get out of the ocean. The grandparents who flew in for this. The family whose favorite vacation activity is doing absolutely nothing. That's what makes the photos look like your trip instead of a brochure for one.
You pack the sunscreen. I'll plan the hour.
Rated 5.0 on GoogleThe Picture Book · $650 · About an hour · Full curated gallery
Sunrise, golden hour, or whenever your crew is at its best. Nap schedules honored.
One session. Here's how it works.
Every session starts with your family, not a shot list. Who needs a few minutes to warm up? What do you actually like doing together? What would make this feel like part of the vacation instead of an appointment in the middle of it? That's what I plan the hour around, and it's what sets the pace on the day. A quiet crew gets a quieter hour, a loud one gets to be loud, and nobody has to perform.
The Vacation Session
The Picture Book
$650 About an hour · One location · Up to six people
One price. A different hour for every family.
Check Your Dates →- Where, when, and what to wear. Location and timing guidance, help with the outfits, and a session guide so you know what to expect.
- Easy direction, room to be yourselves. A few classic portraits, prompts when they help, movement when it fits, and the candid photographs in between.
- Your full curated gallery. Every finished photograph I select and edit to tell the story of your hour, lightly retouched and delivered within two weeks. All of them are included. Nothing to choose, nothing extra to buy.
- Up to six people, then $30 each. Your private online gallery stays up for six months, and everything in it is yours to download.
A few locations charge a photography permit. Laguna Beach, for example, is $100. I handle the paperwork and add it to your total at cost, and you'll know the number before you book.
Dogs are welcome wherever the location allows. Staying in Los Angeles instead? I photograph families there too, with no travel fee.
The California you came for.
You don't have to arrive with an idea. Finding one is part of the job. If you want a longer look at the area, I keep a guide to Orange County family photo locations, with what each spot is actually like once you're standing in it.
The family comes first. The formula comes second.
The classic surf pier
The postcard, basically. Warm sand, surfers drifting through the background, and a pier that glows once the sun gets low. We start late and let it drop, shoes tend to end up in a pile, and if someone was always going in the water, they go in the water.
The rocky Laguna coast
The stretch of coast that makes everyone pull over on PCH. Cliffs, coves, golden rocks when the light gets low, and tide pools to poke around in if the water is out on one of your dates. Tell me when you're here and I'll check the tide.
The rolling golden hills
Tall grass, wide open hills, and a sunset that takes its time. Green after the winter rains, gold the rest of the year. There's room to run if you've got runners, room to just stand in the tall grass if you don't, and the whole place feels a world away from the freeway just past it.
Pancakes at the Airbnb
For the crew that came here to do nothing, and means it. We never leave the house. Pancakes, pajamas, bedhead, syrup on somebody's cheek. We pick the hour together once I know the place and the people: which way the windows face, who's up early, who definitely isn't.
Want more than one of these, or more time at one? The Fun Zone, then the pier as the sun goes down. A park first, then the beach. A whole second hour on the same stretch of sand. That's Another Chapter, just below: an extra hour for an activity, another nearby spot, or a longer story in one place.
Add a little, or don't.
Another Chapter
+$200
An extra hour for an activity, another nearby location, or a longer story in one spot. Planned together.
Print Edition
+$150
A softcover magazine of your session. Eight by ten, forty pages, about 55 photographs in the order it all happened.
Polaroid Pack
+$100
Eight Polaroids made while we shoot, in a keepsake case. The one thing that goes home in your carry-on.
None of these are required. The Picture Book is already the whole thing.
Start Here
Send me your travel dates, who's coming, and a little about your family. That's enough to start.
No location or plan needed. I'll write back within a day with what's open and a couple of ideas.