Sunrise Goddess Photoshoot on the Beach in Boca Raton | Erin’s Story
Erin and I met in Toastmasters. She is not my typical client - she doesn’t wear crystals in her bra, but when I told her about a Goddess Photoshoot, she got curious.
“A Goddess Photoshoot? What’s that?” she asked with a sparkle in her eye. She ALWAYS has a sparkle in her eye.
“It is when you and I get to play in nature, I take pictures of you and then you will have gorgeous portraits of yourself. I can also take photos of you with your new cute puppy. Do you want to do it?”
I am not sure if it was the promise of making her dance in the forest or the photos of her cute puppy that did it, but she said yes. For good measure, we also added a mini session to create a few headshots for her work. This is what happens when an overachiever meets another overachiever :)
choosing the location for a boca raton sunrise photoshoot
Obviously, in South Florida, the best place to see the sunrise is the beach. But not all beaches are created equal. When I photograph someone at sunrise, I want as few people as possible there. I know, it’s the hog in me, but it gives my client the opportunity to relax into herself and not worry about people staring at her. Sunrise is the time when fewest people are on the beach. I told Erin that the Spanish River Beach in Boca Raton is the one that’s usually empty in the mornings, since you need to pay to get into the park. We set the date for the photoshoot, and decided to meet there twenty minutes before the official sunrise time.
PHOTOSHOOT OUTFITS
The only thing standing between Erin and her photoshoot was now the outfits. I gave her my recommendations for flowy dresses and anything that makes her feel radiant. She decided to go shopping and text me selfies from the dressing room to help her decide. We did just that and she ended up with four outfits: one long dark green dress and flowy hot pink dress that she got at Nordstrom Rack, a casual outfit for photos with her puppy Piper, and a work dress for a few headshots. She also chose accessories to go with each dress, so all four looks were ready.
the “empty” beach
When we met in the parking lot of the Spanish River Beach and walked through the tunnel to get to the beach, I knew we would get a gorgeous sunrise. I decided to start on the dunes (carefully of course, not disturbing the vegetation that helps preserve them) near the sea oats. The sky was slowly getting lighter and more golden, but we still had time before the sun officially rolled out.
As we stood there, me guiding Erin to stand and a pose a certain way, we saw a woman with a paddle board walk onto the beach.
“Another early riser like us,” I thought.
But then I saw another person with a board. And another. And another!
I am not sure if they were surf boards or paddle boards, but there must have been forty or so people who gathered on the beach that morning!
“So much for a quiet empty beach that would belong only to us,” Erin laughed.
I loved how she looked in the sea of sea oats. The truth is, there weren’t as many of them, but I love how using a certain angle makes it look like she is an a whole forest of them. Doesn’t it look magical? Giving Erin a prompt to wave her dress from side to side, and sway her hips created these “dancing” photos of her.
The sun had pained the sky golden by then and I took a few silhouette photos of Erin in the sea of sea oats.
It was now time to get closer to the water as the sun was about to make its grand appearance. The congregation of water sports fans was in full swing. We moved further away from them and laughed once again about being “all alone” here. These are the photos we created in this series.
The ray of light across her chest was a total coincidence and I don’t know how it happened. I cannot take credit for this creative serendipity but I will tell you that I absolutely love it!
I also had Erin walk along the beach, play with water, sit on the sand while channeling her inner super model. We had so much fun creating these images, and the ones that show her pure joy and sense of wonder are the most real and beautiful. Though I love her super model photos too!
She does look like she’s the only one on the beach, right? It is because the congregation of water sports fanatics is on the other side, behind me!
Erin was such a great model! She liked the ideas and prompts I gave her and made it super easy for me to photograph her.
Her dress was so long, and as I ask her to play in the water, she has to pull it up in order not to get it soaked.
“Just a few more photos and we will go play in the forest,” I say. It is hard to stop photographing when you have so much beauty in front of you, but I had to pace myself!
Erin puts her hair up in a pony tail, which makes herr girl-like spirit even more playful, and we create these photos.
We say goodbye to the surfers congregation, thank the beach for the gorgeous sunrise, and we are off to the second part of Erin’s photoshoot.
We found this one spot in the park that looked like a passage - lined on both sides with tall trees. This roofless tunnel lead to the intracoastal, and the light was beautiful there. I asked Erin to walk looking magical, fake laugh, scream off the top of her lungs, dance, and do some dramatic acting and I love the vibrant photos we created here.
After the forest we headed to Erin’s home where I got to meet and photograph her puppy Piper who was the cutest thing!
After photographing baby Piper, Erin made me two eggs sunny-side up, an avocado toast and some coffee. We shared breakfast together before heading out to Carmela coffee in Boca, where I was planning to capture a few headshots. That turned out into another mini session of its own, and we had fun doing it. Here are the images we created.
That was quite a magical morning, if you ask me. ✨
I got to know Erin in the Boca Raton Toastmasters Club, where we both honed our public speaking skills. We joined the club around the same time, and I got to see Erin speak, grow and I admire this woman on so many levels. She ran a bunch of marathons in her life, she raised an amazing hockey-playing son, she dared to audition for a part in a musical, GOT the part, and then performed the show I don’t know how many times. She won multiple awards for her speeches not only at the club level, but also participated in Toastmasters speech contest at the district level and WON! I love that every time you see her, she has a positive attitude and so much zest for life. It is always refreshing and energizing to be around her and I feel honored that I got to play with her and create these beautiful portraits. ♥
Curious about what YOUR photoshoot could look like? Let’s connect and create something beautiful together.