California
San Diego is the easiest city in this catalogue to photograph in, and that is its defining feature rather than a throwaway compliment. Daytime temperatures move within a narrow band all year, rain is rare outside a short winter season, and the coastline faces west so every evening ends over water. There is no bad season here, which means no rush and no premium week. The market has a shape the weather does not explain. This is a large military city, and homecoming, deployment and promotion photography is a real and constant category. Alongside it sits year-round beach family work, a strong vacation-session market, and the Balboa Park architecture that makes the city look like nowhere else in California. Tides matter more here than in any other city on this list. Sunset Cliffs and the La Jolla tide pools are largely inaccessible at high water, so a coastal session is scheduled against a tide table rather than only against sunset.
September and October are the warmest and clearest months, with the best water and the smallest crowds — the local high season, not the tourist one. May and June bring the marine layer, which greys the coast until midday and makes superb portrait light. Winter is mild with the year’s few rainy days and the greenest hills. July and August are warm, busy and hazy, with beaches full from mid-morning.
Sandstone cliffs, arches and sea caves facing due west. The cliff edge is genuinely unstable and unfenced in places — the frames are taken from established ground, not from the lip.
Spanish Colonial Revival pavilions, a lily pond and the Botanical Building, built for the 1915 exposition. The most architecturally coherent park in the American west and superb in flat light.
Sea lions, sandstone caves and clear water. The colony is loud and smells of it, which is worth mentioning before a wedding party arrives in formal clothes.
Wide flat sand with mica in it that glitters in low sun, and the red-roofed Victorian hotel behind. The most-used family and homecoming location in the county.
Eroded sandstone bluffs above the ocean, with the rarest pine in North America growing on them. Tripods and large groups are restricted on the trails to protect the terrain.
These come under the San Diego rate: a photographer travels out from the city at no extra charge, and the session is priced exactly as it would be in San Diego itself.
September and October, which are the warmest and clearest months of the local year and quieter than the summer tourist season. That said, San Diego is the most consistent climate in this catalogue — temperatures move within a narrow band all year and rain is rare outside a short winter window, so there is no month that does not work. May and June bring the marine layer, which is grey until midday and excellent for portraits.
Because several of the best locations do not exist at high water. Sunset Cliffs’ arches and sea caves and the La Jolla tide pools are only accessible and photographable at low tide, and the difference between a low and a high tide at the same sunset is the difference between a beach and a cliff face. Coastal sessions are scheduled against the tide table as well as the sun, and the two do not always agree.
Yes, and it is a regular category in this city rather than an occasional one. Homecoming, deployment departure, promotion and retirement sessions are all covered. Timing is the challenge: ship and squadron return dates move by days at short notice, so these bookings are held flexibly and rescheduled without a fee when the date changes.