Brett, Julie & Emily

Although this time of year I'm pretty busy with weddings, I still like to fit in family and kids shoots too. (You can check out my Ventana Kids website to view more work.) Yesterday, I headed out to Mission Beach to photograph a family who'd come down from Northern California to vacation here in San Diego at the Catamaran Hotel.

Initially, the idea was to head over to the ocean side of the beach. Before doing the shoot, I scouted it out and realized that it was going to be too crowded to look good. Instead, I suggested the bay side of the beach which was pretty much empty. So that's where we went for our shoot.



Two year old Emily was pretty shy when it came to the camera. Instead of trying to force her to smile and look at the camera, I just worked around her and let her play. I knew that the moments would come and that I'd be there to get them.







For more photography by San Diego wedding and portrait photographer John Mireles, visit VentanaPhotography.com.