One of our top requests for maternity photo sessions at our Los Angeles photography studio is the bohemian look. We have countless moms come in with their Pinterest boards of flower crowns, flowy Free People dresses and ideas for beautiful glowing sunlight for their pictures. When we get moms-to-be who love that look, I always recommend the Venice Canals for their pregnancy portraits – I love it there!!!
I love the Venice Beach Canals because you get a little bit of everything. The canals themselves bring in the element of water (the light plays so beautifully on them at sunset!) which so many of us Southern Californians enjoy incorporating into our pictures. There is also a lot of greenery along the paths of the canals. After all, the canals are really just a neighborhood with houses lining the water. We essentially just walk along the “sidewalk” and use the lovely landscaping people have growing in their front yards! So you have water, greenery – the urban element of the houses and then there are the amazingly picturesque bridges that connect the little peninsulas. Each of the bridges is totally unique in design, some have crosses and others just simple slats. If you look at people’s photos taken at the Venice Canals, you can always tell where they took it by the bridge in the background 🙂
All of those background elements aside – what truly makes the Venice canals the perfect bohemian photo session location is the light. The light is incredibly tricky at the canals because of the linear nature of the peninsulas and their skinny sidewalks (meaning you can’t walk 10 feet to the left to get the angle of the light correct) and the light also goes very quickly. The perfect, glowing sunset light shifts from one side of the canals to the other within an hour – so you need to time the pace of your session perfectly. If you idle too long on one side, the light will die (aka be thrown into shade) and you will be stuck on the wrong side of the peninsula until you come to a bridge that will connect you to the other side. Also, that beautiful glowing light – what we like to call a”PodGlow” can only be captured for about 20 minutes before sunset. So, as a photographer I need to hustle around and get the good shots before sunset starts and then get ready to kick it into overdrive right at the end to capture that hippy-sun-kissed glow. I’ve been shooting at the Canals for at least seven years now, and there is still so much I learn every time I shoot there. You wouldn’t think it would make that big of a difference, but the angle of the sun at different times of the year makes shooting at the canals different every time you go!
The amazingly inspirational family that we photographed at the Venice canals a few weeks ago truly delivered on the bohemian, fabulous, mother-daughter, images that we imagined for them. We especially loved giving them matching flower crowns for the in-studio portion of their photo session… they looked A-MA-ZING!!
Interested, in having our photography studio capture your maternity portraits? Check out our website at www.ThePodPhoto.com and give us a call at 310-391-4500.
