Salt River Arizona Family photo session

When the Hammond family reached out to schedule their family session, I was not prepared for the cuteness overload I was about to endure!

I remember reading through their session inquiry; Mom, dad, and a little boy. Baby boy just started walking recently and mom wanted to capture some moments together since they had not had photos done in a while.

Little almost 10 month old Harrison was one happy baby, mom said in her questionnaire; he smiles and laughs at everything and she suspected he would be interested in the camera.

We decided on Water users Recreation area for the location. There is a nice big parking lot, you can pay for your tonto pass at the kiosk and then head down towards the water for some great spots. We chose this location because its a place where the family could get down to the water and play a bit, since their session was taking place in April and the weather was just warming up here in the desert.

I always wait for my clients in an area we can identify each other, considering some of the locations I photograph at are used by lots of other photographers, it just makes it easier to get right in to the session in a relaxed way, when the anxiety of not knowing who your looking for is just out of the way.

Once we found each other, made our way to the shooting spot and I could not believe we were the only ones there! I was mind blown, I have never seen water users empty on a Saturday evening just before sunset. So we used this to our advantage. We moved around the beach area, I got some great shots with the rock formations behind them. Switched gears and got over to the south part of the beach where the grass meets the water, here I took advantage of a few moments mom was having snuggling her baby boy.

After Harrison was finished with his mama snuggles we headed over to dip our toes in the cool water and get some playful shots. All giggles and smiles like his parents said, he wanted to walk ( mom and dad holding his hands of course) out in to the cool water and check it out. I was so excited mom and dad were up to let him play and explore.

This is by far one of my favorite locations on the Salt River in Arizona.