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“YOU DON’T MAKE A PHOTOGRAPH JUST WITH A CAMERA. YOU BRING TO THE ACT OF PHOTOGRAPHY ALL THE PICTURES YOU HAVE SEEN, THE BOOKS YOU HAVE READ, THE MUSIC YOU HAVE HEARD, THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE LOVED.” – ANSEL ADAMS

Booking summer of ’19 Family Portraits and High School Senior photos on the beautiful beaches of Monmouth and Ocean County!

They’re all yours for a week or two, that’s cause for celebration in and of itself!

Booking a Jersey Shore Portrait Session

Jersey Shore beach portraits by Bill McKim are taken the hour or so before sunset, or at sunrise, June through October. Those times of the day are when we find the perfect light for portraiture and helps us to create a portrait you will always treasure.

When you’re ready to book and have checked your dates and found out about all we offer, we ask for a $375. deposit to hold the date for you, the session fee. For senior portraits it’s also $375., the session plus a $100. deposit. We can accept payment online, in person, through the mail, whatever’s easy and works for you. Once your date is booked you’re all set. All of our portraits are by appointment only, and although we book months in advance, please don’t hesitate to call if you haven’t pre-booked. You never know, we may have had a cancellation or might have a rain date that wasn’t used.

What to Expect from your Session

We work with you to find out what it is you’re looking for. In general, our clients choose us because our family portrait sessions include some beautifully and naturally posed family photos, and different groupings within the family – maybe just the kids, each children alone, whatever combinations you may want. We also always take some more storytelling or interactive images of your family enjoying being together, capturing the relationships within the family. These storytelling images may include sandcastles or writing in the sand, or kites, or whatever will make your portrait perfect for you. The interactive portraits are always some of my favorite images from the session, they are the ones where the true love between you all really shows. I love capturing smiles and laughter that’s created by simply being together and enjoying each others company. Photographing life.

In multi-generational portraits we take each individual family, and the grandparents with their grand kids the cousins together, and if it’s a celebratory anniversary, the happily married couple! We always take some where the emphasis is on each other rather than the camera, and again those images where you’re laughing and hugging and talking and just being silly and enjoying the togetherness are incredibly special.

Our senior portraits are all about you, the senior. Choose a location you love, bring props, or don’t, wear ballet shoes and dance in the ocean, bring your football jacket, bring a ball or instrument, or pet… Dress formal or casual. Whatever you like. Whoever you want to show the world you are at this moment in time. There’s no one else like you in the whole world, let’s celebrate that. Let’s celebrate you. All of our senior sessions include a yearbook photo if you can use it in your yearbook.

Jersey Shore Weather

Everyone on Jersey Shore says, if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute… for a reason. It’s a quirky place we live. Because of knowing what happens here, we don’t cancel our sessions until 3:00 pm on the day of the session for weather related cancellations. The light after a storm or rain can be some of the most spectacular. We do cancel for rain, thunder and lightning, or extreme wind. Bright sun, filtered sun, fog, overcast, cloudy, sunny, partly sunny, are all gorgeous conditions and we can create beautiful portraits for you. If the weather doesn’t cooperate on your scheduled day, we can try to find a mutually agreeable alternate date, find an alternate location or if we’re unable to reschedule or relocate, we will refund all fees paid. Cancellations by the client, not due to weather, made within 72 hours of the session date will not be refunded.

Once you’ve booked your Jersey Shore portrait session

We’ll chat about what you’re looking for, and give you ideas about clothing, and all sorts of things, we’ll walk you through the entire thing. Some of our clients get photographed every year or two, some it may be their first time, and we understand there are a lot of things you want to know. We’re always here to help.

For clothing, you should start by deciding where your portrait is going to hang and make sure that the style and colour of your outfits go with the decor. We recommend earth tone clothing at the beach, tans, whites, pinks, light blues, pale yellows and greens, etc. (unless of course you’re matching a specific colour scheme and then the skies the limit) and prefer longer sleeves and pants, capris are great for the women, pants for the men, please try to avoid mini-skirts! Solids are generally best in large groups for the majority, though a bit of pattern looks great, these guidelines are especially for the adults. Props are great for more storytelling type portraits; props you might consider; your dog, sand pails and shovels, toy boats, kites, tea sets, etc.

Viewing of your beach portraits can be done here at our Ocean ave home studio, Belmar New Jersey the day or two after your portrait, viewing sessions will be scheduled at the time your session is booked and are available during weekdays only, late afternoons/evenings are reserved for the beach sessions and weekends for portrait sessions. This will be your viewing and ordering session, so all decision makers should be present. Or, we can of course, show your images online if we aren’t able to go through them together.

Call or email the Studio anytime with questions, or for additional recommendations. 732.451.6003

isn’t it time for your Jersey Shore family portrait?

This couple chose a unique venue for their summer wedding . The Oak Tree Lodge in Howell New Jersey , a great sprawling place for a summer wedding

Getting Ready Location: The Breakers on the beach in Spring Lake New Jersey

Wedding Ceremony location: Belmar beach Belmar New Jersey

Wedding Reception Location: The Oak Tree Lodge in Howell New Jersey

Wedding Band: Undisputed they were great!

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