Lea’s Birthday Shoot At Malibu Beach
Malibu is one of those places that, if you ever get a chance to visit, you do it. It’s about 30 minutes northwest of Santa Monica, so it can be a drive, especially if there is traffic. Pacific Coast Highway is a double-edged sword. It is both beautiful and stressful. It also happens to be the only reasonable road toward Malibu Beach.
That winding road is always a fun experience regardless of the time. There’s just something magical about the weather, the beach, and the streets as you drive through PCH. And although Hollywood portrays Malibu Beach as this huge open beach where you can park your car along the road and walk down to the water, it’s not really as accessible as that.
While there are several places where you can park and walk down, you’ll be hard-pressed to actually find a spot where you can park easily.
But Lea had gotten a cool Airbnb right on the beach. The thing about Malibu is that there are only a few places where the beaches are sandy and human-friendly. Most of the coast is a bunch of huge rocks with small patches of sand for you to sit on. Unfortunately, the house she rented had a bunch of rocks right on the coast, so it wasn’t going to be a sandy photo shoot. On top of that, we were pretty far from the sandy beach where the surfers go, so we had to make the best of it—and the best of it we made.
We started off with a few photos on the porch. We moved some furniture around and placed Lea and her BFF right against the edge of the porch. The sun was setting, and we had these incredible pastel colors painted across the sky, so that’s something I was really looking to capture.
With the 35mm lens on the camera, I made sure to capture as much of the surroundings as possible. We shot quickly because the sun was heading behind the hills. Luckily, Lea is a pro when it comes to posing, switching from one pose to the next with ease. It was almost too easy capturing her birthday smile and attitude.
Her BFF was a joy to capture as well. I shot them individually and together. They were dancing and sipping on wine as we carried on with the shoot.
With 15 minutes of light left, we decided to head to the rocks. A bit sketchy at first, but the girls were fearless and determined to capture some images. With my assistant holding the flash, stretching as far as he could, we began to shoot.
As the waves crashed behind the girls, the poses became more fun and casual. Laughter overtook them, and before I knew it, they wanted to go under the porch. We slowly walked through the sharp, slippery rocks.
By the time we got to the flat, sandy area, it was already dark. I took a few photos and some videos. I loved these images. With the pastel blue as a background and the girls as a silhouette, the images displayed their fun and adventurous side.
We hung out for a few minutes, and then it was extremely dark. Using our cell phones as flashlights, we slowly maneuvered our way through the rocks and back to the safety of the house, where we took a few more photos.
The night ended with everyone wet and covered in salty sand, shivering from the cold. Happy that none of my gear got wet, we called it a night and drove back home through PCH, slowly cruising in the darkness, enjoying the cool breeze.
