On this windy and chilly SoCal evening, I drove up to the beautiful San Diego mountains out by Mt. Laguna and Julian to a small area in between them called Cuyamaca. It’s a camping area surrounded by trees and gorgeous golden wheat meadows. Honestly, it’s hard to believe it’s actually part of Southern California! But that’s kinda how lucky we are out here. My favorite spot to shoot up here is just south of Lake Cuyamaca (another favorite spot in SD too!) right off the side of the road.

This spot has it all, and it’s always empty. I call it my secret spot ;). It’s in a valley surrounded by mountains and a cute forest for all the woodsy, cozy, rustic vibes. There’s a road, which can be really fun for couples photo shoots by having them run across it or pose (safely lol) on it. But the pièce de résistance is the meadow with the grand single tree in the center. It makes for an interesting photo background with the most perfect golden hour sunset lighting ever.

It’s so fun to see how the seasons change this small area too, but it seriously looks perfect any time of the year. It’s especially great when you’re wanting to beat the San Diego summer heat. But duh, fall and winter photos wrapped in cozy scarves and flannels? Heck yes! And spring where you can feel the cool breeze refresh you? Count me in.

I love having families and couples frolic in the warm light and play in the dried grass here. When Hailey and her family reached out to me to take their family photos (along with their cute dog, Milo), I was SO ecstatic. They met me up here and we spent nearly an hour and a half talking hundreds of photos. Sadly, I can’t blog all of them haha!

Their pup was the most well-behaved little guy, and her fam helped him pose and sit still for the photos, along with bribing him with some treats. Side note: if you’re planning on taking photos with your fur baby, make sure you bring some treats and toys for them! They’re like human babies… they need some bribery for photos too!

Hailey also brought her boyfriend, Alex along with to be the pack mule and also take a few photos together while he’s around. Might as well, right?! We took turns getting some group shots with everyone, some cute candid poses, and some smaller groupings and pairs with each person. We had such a blast listening to music and capturing their goofy and fun family. You can tell they truly love spending time together and enjoy making each other laugh.

Families like this remind me why I LOVE family photos. It’s so important to capture how your family looks and interacts NOW, because in 2, 5, 10, 20 years from now, these photos are going to be PRICELESS, and you’ll want to remember how things were (even if they don’t seem totally interesting at the moment haha!).

A sweet note from Hailey:

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