Family Photos on a Sydney Beach

The best hour on a Sydney beach arrives quietly. The wind drops, the light turns gold and low, and the sand still holds the warmth of the whole day. That's the hour I book a beach family photoshoot into, and everything else gets planned around it.

The coast hands a family something a studio can't. There's water to run at, rock pools to crouch over, and a horizon that makes everyone stand a little quieter. So much of my family photography in Sydney happens outdoors for that reason, and the beach is where children forget I'm holding a camera within about 5 minutes.

Most of the planning happens well before the day, and the tide chart is where I start.

Timing a beach family photoshoot to the tide and the sun

There are 2 clocks on the coast, and they move independently. The sun gives me the light, and the tide gives me the ground to stand on.

For light, I want the last 90 minutes before sunset, or the first hour after sunrise if your children wake early and the day is going to be hot. Low sun comes in sideways, skims the water and wraps around faces.

For the tide, I look for low, or a tide on its way out. That's when the beach opens up, with wide wet sand that mirrors the sky, rock shelves uncovered, and room to walk a long way from anyone else.

I read the tide chart for your week before I offer you times, so the hour that lands in your inbox is already the good one.

Rock pools and headlands, as well as open sand

Open sand is generous and simple, and I always want some of it in a gallery.

The frames that surprise people tend to come from the edges. Rock pools hold still water, and still water reflects. A child crouched over one, hands in, hair falling forward, gives me a whole run of pictures while she's completely occupied with a periwinkle.

Headlands bring in sandstone, warm and textured, plus scrub that softens the wind when a southerly comes through. Sheltered pockets like that are where a baby settles.

On a rock platform I pick a calm swell, keep everyone well back from the waterline, and ask for reef shoes or old sneakers on small feet.

Letting them get in the water

The session turns the moment the children are told they can get wet.

Up until then they're performing a little, holding still because an adult asked them to. Then a wave comes over an ankle, the shrieking starts, and everyone is suddenly themselves.

So I say it early and out loud. Go in. Hems get wet, and that's exactly what I'm after.

Bring a towel and a change of clothes each, then let the sea do the rest. Parents often find their favourite frame of the whole gallery is the one where they're carrying a soaked, delighted 4-year-old back up the sand.

What to wear near water

What you wear to a beach family photoshoot matters most in how it moves. Linen, soft cotton, a dress or skirt light enough to lift in the breeze, trousers that roll up past the ankle.

Soft warm neutrals sit beautifully against sand and sea, so think oat, clay, dusty rose and a faded blue. Bare feet are part of it, and shoes can live in the bag.

There's a fuller guide to what to wear for family photos with colour palettes and combinations to work from, and it holds up for the coast with 1 addition, which is a second outfit for whoever goes in deepest.

Sand, salt and the small practical things

A towel per person in the boot, and a bottle of fresh water to rinse feet before anyone climbs back into the car.

A dry towel and a soft brush take off more sand than you would expect, especially around ankles. A bottle of water in the boot for rinsing feet saves the back seat on the way home.

Sunscreen goes on 20 minutes ahead and gets rubbed all the way in, so faces photograph warm rather than chalky.

Hold 1 snack back for the last 10 minutes, for the stretch when the smallest person has decided they're finished.

Park as close to the sand as you can. A 600 metre walk over soft sand with a pram, a beach bag and a toddler spends goodwill you'd rather keep for the photos.

Which parts of the Sydney coast suit small children

I'm a Hills District photographer, so I know the run out to the northern beaches well, and that's where most of the beach family photoshoots I do out this way end up.

Long Reef and Collaroy at low tide give you enormous flat sand and a rock platform within the same short walk, which means variety without moving the car.

The harbour beaches are the gentlest introduction for babies and toddlers. Clontarf, Balmoral and Chinamans have calm shallow water, shade behind them, toilets, and parking close to the sand.

Further south, the dunes at Wanda are worth the drive for older children with energy to burn, and they hold late light beautifully.

For the full spread across the city, including the bush and garden spots I love just as much, I've listed the best photoshoot locations in Sydney with notes on who each one suits.

What you'll be looking at in 10 years

The frame that ends up printed and hung usually has salt drying in white lines down a small leg, hair stuck to a cheek, and an arm out for balance in the shallows.

Your children will outgrow this version of themselves in a season or 2, and the beach will look exactly the same on the day they walk their own kids down to it.