Our July 4th was pretty mellow. A holiday falling right in the middle of the week makes it hard to plan any long weekend getaways. So we stayed local and met some friends at one of the more popular Northern California beaches – Stinson.

The irony of our escape from the usual city fog that day was that we drove straight out of sun-basked San Francisco, right into foggy old Stinson Beach! Ha! It always works that way right? I’m a total believer in the jinx. Apparently just thinking it makes it so. We’ll just make plans to run away from a typical foggy July 4th in the city for some sunshine and the opposite happens.

Oh well, it was chilly but kids don’t care about stuff like that. Sand + water and a few of their favorite toys, they’re set for the rest of the day.

Me? I actually was hoping for some cloud coverage so I could practice this week’s assignment for shooting under gray skies. So yeah, I was a happy camper too. I realized there is so much to love about flat light. It’s more forgiving than (if not as vibrant) as full sun. And there are shadows and depth to be found if you know where and how to look for them.

We didn’t stay too long. We pushed Jack-Jack’s nap as far past her usual time as we could and then we wrapped up and headed back into the city into sunshine again!

Happy weekend everyone! We’re off to a beautiful place with 90 degree weather for the next couple of days! <3