Golden Hour, Warm Sand, and Summer Stories

What to Wear for Summer Family Photos

This is one of the questions I get most often, and I love it, because it means families are thinking ahead and taking the session seriously. The truth is, what you wear matters, but it does not have to be complicated. Simple, comfortable, and coordinated is always the goal. Here is what photographs beautifully in summer light at the Delaware beaches.

Colors that work beautifully

Think soft, warm, and coastal. Colors that feel like the beach itself tend to photograph the most naturally in summer light. Warm linen, soft blue, sea glass green, sandy tan, driftwood, warm terracotta, soft white, and coastal blue all work beautifully together in any combination.

Do

• Coordinate, but do not match exactly. Complementary tones feel natural together.
• Choose fabrics that breathe. Linen, cotton, and light jersey all photograph well.
• Layer textures within a neutral palette for depth and visual interest.
• Dress everyone at a similar level of formality so no one feels out of place.
• Wear what you feel good in. Comfort shows in portraits.
• Bring a light wrap or cardigan for cooler evening sessions.
• Consider one outfit for the group and one for individuals or smaller family clusters.

Skip These

• Avoid busy patterns and large graphics, which can compete with faces.
• Skip neon or very bright colors that reflect oddly in warm light.
• Avoid words, logos, or team jerseys unless they are meaningful to your story.
• Skip matching identical outfits, which can feel stiff rather than connected.
• Avoid brand-new shoes on little ones. Uncomfortable feet show up in expressions.
• Do not overthink it. Dave will guide the rest once you arrive.

And a note I always want families to hear: you do not need to spend a lot to look beautiful together. A simple palette of creams, blues, and sandy tones pulled from what you already own can look stunning. If you want a second set of eyes, I am always happy to talk through what your family is planning before your session.

Colors that work beautifully

Think soft, warm, and coastal. Colors that feel like the beach itself tend to photograph the most naturally in summer light.

Golden Hour: A Photographer's Favorite Time of Day

If you have ever seen a beach portrait that made you stop scrolling, chances are it was taken in golden hour light. That window of time just before sunset, roughly the last 60 to 90 minutes of the day, is when everything shifts. The sun drops low, the light turns warm and directional, and it does something genuinely beautiful to the faces in front of a camera.

This is why almost all of Dave's sessions happen in the early evening. He has been a professional photographer since 1990, and golden hour has been a constant through all of it. The way summer light falls across the sand, the way it catches the water in the background, the warmth it adds to every face in the frame, it is not something you can recreate at 2 in the afternoon.

"Summer light has a way of making families look the way they actually feel when they are together. Relaxed. Warm. Real. That is what we are always chasing at golden hour."

For families with young children who tend to fade in the late evening, do not worry. Dave is skilled at working efficiently, reading the group, and knowing when to shift into the moments that matter most. He has photographed families of 16, little ones who needed coaxing, grandparents with mobility challenges, and everything in between. The session moves with your family, not against it.

Summer sessions have a certain energy to them. Kids are looser and more playful. Adults seem to exhale a little. The barefoot-on-the-sand feeling is real, and it shows up in the portraits. These are not stiff, forced photos. They are your family as they actually are in this season of life, and that is exactly what makes them worth keeping.

July and August Dates Are Filling

Limited Availability

Summer sessions fill faster than most families realize. If you want a warm-weather session at the Delaware beaches, now is the time to reach out. These dates will not last, and we want your family to have the one that works best for you.

Reserve Your Date

What We Love Most About Summer Sessions

From Dave and Carrie

Here is the honest answer: we love summer sessions because of what happens when families finally exhale.

So many families book their session because they know, somewhere in the back of their minds, that this moment is not going to wait. The kids are growing. The grandparents are getting older. The cousins are scattered across different states and this vacation might be the only week everyone is together. There is an urgency underneath the surface that summer somehow makes easier to act on.

And then they show up at the beach, and the water is there, and the light is doing what it always does, and everyone takes a breath and remembers that this is what life is actually for.

Dave has a way of working with large groups that surprises people. Sixteen people on a beach who have never posed together before, and within a few minutes he has them organized, laughing, and genuinely connected. He guides every grouping with purpose, making sure every face is visible, every combination of family members is honored, and every person feels comfortable. Families walk away with portraits that work as heirlooms, not just a nice photo from vacation.

That is the difference between a professional portrait session and a photo someone takes at the waterline. Both have their place. But the one that ends up framed on your wall, the one your kids ask about when they are grown, that is usually the one someone thought about and planned for.

Summer Is Also a Good Time to Look at the Photos You Already Have

Memories In The Sand

Here is something that comes up a lot in conversations with families: they take beautiful photos all year, and most of them live only on a phone. The beach session happens. The portraits are ordered and hanging on the wall. And there are still 11,000 other photos sitting in a camera roll that no one has touched in three years.

Summer is a surprisingly good time to start working on that. The rhythm is different. There is more natural white space in the day. And if your kids are home, it is a good season to involve them in something that will actually matter to them later.

Through Memories In The Sand, I offer workshops, both in person and online, that walk you through a simple, practical system for organizing the photos you already have. We work through something called the Big Rocks System, which means we start with the most important chapters of your life and build outward from there. No overwhelm. No pressure to do everything at once. Just a clear place to start.

If you have been saying "I need to do something with all my photos" for longer than you care to admit, this is the invitation. It is not too late. And it is not as hard as it feels from the outside.

Learn About Workshops

Annual November Photo Retreat

Coming This Fall

This fall, I am planning an annual Photo Retreat designed specifically for women who want to give dedicated time and attention to their photos and family stories. It is a small, focused gathering, part workshop, part personal retreat, with space to actually make progress on something that keeps getting pushed to the back burner.

Details are still coming together, but if a retreat like this sounds like something you have been waiting for, get on the list so you are the first to hear when doors open. This is the kind of weekend that changes how you see your photos, your stories, and what you want to do with them.

Get on the List

Lily Beth Saves the Animals

New from Coastal Story Press

Summer is a great time for reading, and I will shamelessly tell you about a book I think your family will love. Lily Beth Saves the Animals is a children's picture book I wrote for families with young animal lovers and kids who have a big dream they are not quite sure what to do with yet.

Lily Beth loves animals more than anything. She wants to be a vet someday, but she does not want to wait. The story follows her as she discovers that helping is harder than she expected, finds her courage anyway, and rallies her friends to create the Animal Angels. It is a story about compassion, determination, and the idea that you do not have to be grown up to start making a difference.

The book is based on the real story of my daughter Lily, whose love for animals showed up early and never stopped. Writing it was one of the most meaningful things I have done. If you have a child who has a spark like that, I think this book will speak to them.

Lily Beth Saves the Animals is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and everywhere books are sold online. It also makes a lovely end-of-summer gift.

Find the Book

A Simple Summer Reading Plan for Your Kids

For Families This Summer

Speaking of books, if your kids are home this summer and you are looking for something that feels both structured and fun, here is a simple plan I love. It is built around a read-and-reward system that keeps reading feeling like a choice rather than a chore.

1. Set a small daily reading goal together. Twenty minutes is a great starting point for most ages. Let your child have input on the number so it feels like theirs.
2. Create a simple tracking chart, a paper chain, sticker chart, or even a jar with pebbles, so your child can see their progress adding up. Visual momentum is motivating at every age.
3. Choose a meaningful reward at the end of each milestone, not a big purchase, but something that feels special. A trip to the bookstore to pick their own next book is a particularly good one.
4. Read together whenever you can. Even a few pages out loud at the end of the day builds something. It slows the summer down in the best possible way and creates moments neither of you will forget.
5. Let their interests lead. Animal stories, adventure, mysteries, nonfiction about things they are curious about. Following their spark in reading is one of the best things you can do for a lifelong reader.

And if they love animals, well, I know exactly where to start.

This Season Is Worth Noticing

From Our Family to Yours

June has a way of feeling both slow and fast at the same time. The days stretch long, and somehow the summer still moves quickly. If there is something you have been meaning to do with your family this season, whether that is finally booking the portrait session, or spending a Saturday afternoon going through old photos with your kids, or reading a book together on the porch, I hope this post gives you a little nudge.

Your family's story is worth noticing. The moments you are in right now, the ages your children are at, the way everyone looks this particular summer, it is not going to wait. And the good news is, you do not have to do everything at once. You just have to start somewhere.

We would love to be part of your summer.

With warm light and warm wishes,
Carrie and Dave

Ready to Plan Your Session?

Reach out and we will take care of the details. Guided posing, beautiful light, and portraits your family will love for generations. No sales tax in Delaware. Pets and boats welcome.

Let's Plan Your Session

Portraits In The Sand  ·  portraitsinthesand.com  ·  302-226-9226
Serving Rehoboth, Lewes, Bethany, Dewey, Fenwick Island, and Ocean City