Evan, Chantal & Eli | Golden Hour on the Oregon Coast with a Very Busy Toddler
Let me catch you up.
The last time I photographed this family, Eli was still a mystery — a character not yet introduced, a chapter not yet written. Chantal was radiant and round in a green dress in the old-growth forest at Oxbow and there was so much anticipation hanging in the air between those ancient trees. I ended that post saying the table was going to need a new character sheet.
Reader, Eli has entered the campaign.
We met at Neskowin Beach on the Oregon Coast as the sun started its long golden descent. Neskowin is one of those quiet, almost secret-feeling Oregon coast spots — wide open sand, dramatic headlands, the water catching fire as the light shifts. It was the perfect backdrop for a very busy toddler who had recently discovered that waves exist and that he has opinions about them.
Eli is so much. He is a full person now, with a whole personality packed into a tiny coral henley and denim shorts. He tested the water with the intensity of someone conducting very serious research. He rode on his dad's shoulders with the solemn expression of someone surveying his kingdom. He held both his parents' hands and let the waves wash over his feet and stared straight into the camera like he was thinking something important. He is absolutely going to be a character who rolls for perception constantly.
What I love about photographing families with a toddler at the beach is that you can't really pose anyone — you just follow the chaos and look for the moments of pure, unguarded joy inside it. And there were so many of them. Chantal laughing while Eli grabbed her face. Evan mid-shout-of-delight with Eli on his shoulders, both of them lit up in the same golden light. The black and white of mom and son walking to the water's edge, her dress catching the wind behind her, his tiny hand in hers — that one stopped me cold.
The sun set through the entire session and just kept getting better.
Evan, Chantal, Eli — I love watching this story unfold. What an absolutely wonderful little family you are.
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