Just a few thoughts when scheduling your South Walton Family Beach Session with Kansas Pitts Photography
(all of the images shown were taken before, during, or immediately following sunrise)
I am writing this as I watch an amazing sunrise from my office window (stormed all day yesterday and supposed to storm all day today but right now? Its drop dead gorgeous.
And no I am not up because I am a morning person – see below- I got a steroid shot yesterday and apparently that means zero sleep for me for two days!
I know, I know…most people aren’t morning people and if they are, they certainly aren’t sunrise people. I am not either, I assure you. Anyone that knows me knows that I avoid mornings like the plague – I like my sleep. Going back to school this year has been brutal with a 7:45 am tardy bell for the elementary schools. But there is something to say about considering it for your next beach session. I was never an advocate of this until I really started thinking about it and noticing some things during those early morning hours that are a little bit different than the afternoons.
1. It is usually less windy. In fact, usually much less windy! There are some exceptions to this rule of course but if you want the best chance for your hair sunrise is definitely a better choice! I did a sunrise session the other morning because of a chance of rain, storms, wind and rain; she knew her hair was like mine, if it gets even a sprinkle on it it will puff up like a puffy fish and soon she would look like she had a clown wig on! But the next morning it was calm, cool, and flat out serene….not a single hair out of place.
2. Speaking of cool, Florida can be anything but cool in the summer (or really 8-10 months out of the year) but the mornings definitely have an advantage – cooler temperatures definitely reign supreme in the mornings before & during that sunrise. But once the sun is up, heat ensues.
3. It’s not just the heat that is normally better, the humidity tends to be lower in the mornings as well – it hasn’t had time to quite to gain momentum in the heat just yet. This allows your hair to stay smooth and straight or curls to stay put! Since humidity hinders the bodies’ ability to cool itself down as effective, less humidity means feeling cooler as well!
4. In the summertime it rains in the afternoons a lot. The sea breeze builds up bringing in those afternoon showers. While most are short-lived, not all are and so that makes for a much higher chance of your session getting rained out in the afternoons than in the mornings! Sometimes it can be pretty but not if it actually rains – my equipment can’t get wet & the lightening that comes with our afternoon thunderstorms can be dangerous for you, your family, and, well, me! And not all storms are this pretty, sometimes all those clouds just bring in the damp washed out white and grey with no light at all. Usually those can not even be edited to appear anything other because of the non direction/colorless light.
5. No distractions! Have small kids that are easily distracted? You don’t have to worry about that in the mornings…a few runners maybe but no influx of sunrise gazers…99.9% of people save that for sunset gazing.
6. Also with that comes way less, if any, clutter to work around. Chairs, umbrellas, tents, toys, and everything else that comes along with a beach day are not set up that time of morning and with our Leave No Trace Ordinance, you can’t leave anything on the beach overnight or it gets picked up by Code Enforcement and taken to the landfill.
7. Avoid that dreaded late sunset time during the summer for those sweet babies. The sunset in the summer can be as late as 8 pm – with kids and babies being off their schedule anyway, staying up that late and being ready to go & have fun can sometimes be challenging. Although they may not be morning people, once kids are up and have had some time & breakfast, they are usually good to go!
8. With everything that can go wrong during the day (late fishing trip, sunburns, tired babies, etc.) there is something to be said about getting up and getting it done. You can always nap on the beach later & it doesn’t take up any vacation time that you would have been using anyway!
After all, sunrise can be the most gorgeous time of day…
And let’s be honest, you don’t have to wait to have that afternoon cocktail on the beach!!! Sooo what say you? I would love thoughts, opinions (just leave a comment!)
