So a few months ago, I decided maybe it was time for some new family photos… you know, since I hadn’t gotten any since our son joined the family over a year ago (oops). So I employed the fabulous Will Parris of Parris Studios to take some shots of us.
Of course, outfit planning was a whole thing in and of itself (because I’m crazy), but location was another struggle. We wanted something different (we had done “urban” one too many times), so we decided to find a way to get to this amazing Redwood forest in Carbon Canyon Park. Redwoods are traditionally found in Northern California, but these were transplanted in SoCal a few decades ago and are the only ones you’ll find this far south. They are much smaller than their northern counterparts due the warm climate, but beautiful nonetheless.
The problem, however, was that it’s over a mile hike to get to them from the front of the park, and I knew that wasn’t going to work well considering we were all wearing nice clothes and the weather was probably going to be in the 80s. We ended up finding a horse trail online that could be accessed from a residential neighborhood and was supposed to lead right down into the redwood grove. But when we got there, we couldn’t find it… So instead, we ended up hiking down the side of a hill with 3 kids (our 2 and the photographer’s daughter), plus a stroller, diaper bag, and camera gear. And it was HOT.
It. was. awesome.
Once we got down, all was well and the shade provided some relief from the heat. And as you can see, the pictures turned out amazing (I’ll credit both Will & the redwoods for that – oh, and my cute kids, of course). I couldn’t be happier with the results, and I am glad that Lincoln is now officially a documented part of the family!
