Maui Vacation Photographer

I have been waiting to properly write about this session because it hit home on so many levels for me.

This Spring Break season has been a busy one and I’ve met many families with kids of many ages. As a mom and a photographer, I always have an idea of what I want to capture for a family. You see, for me anyway, I want to capture where a family is at in this moment. I want to capture the goofy smiles, the laughter, and even the moody faces. Life isn’t always about just looking at a lens and posing for a smiling picture. Real life is about loving each other. Laughing. Embracing. Frolicking. Hugging & Kissing. And yes, it’s also about kids who sometimes won’t follow directions, and that’s ok.

I recently did a session that broke my heart. Adorable parents, adorable kids. But at 4 and 6 years old, the kids were more interested in playing and the ocean than smiling at a camera, and that’s something I can completely understand. Rather than let me play with the kids, earn their trust, and capture images of the family playing, the parents yelled at their kids, forcefully held their heads in place, and demanded they look and say “cheese” to the camera. Honestly, I cried in my car afterward. Yes, I am hired to capture images, but I hope that I’m the chosen photographer because my clients love the art of what I capture. I do strive to capture some posed “portraits”, but I hope that the real charm of my photography is the unposed, the fun, the emotions.

So when I photographed this family, I was moved to tears in a different way. Because they were exactly what my heart needed. Their session was exactly what I want to shoot. It was fun, loving, exciting, hilarious, wet – it was so full of love.

Mahalo “T” Family – you guys are so awesome! xoxo

Maui Vacation Photorapher: Mariah Milan // Location: Baby Beach // Time of Day: Sunset

This is what mom, Laurie, had to say:

We decided to do a session to capture the age of our kids and this amazing time of getting to visit Maui (and the beach) for the first time.

We loved  being in Lahaina- a town we spent lots of time enjoying as a family.  Baby Beach was beautiful that time of evening, the lighting, the water, the green.

It was awesome to see how great the kids responded to you Mariah. You made it a great time. So thankful for how easy and laid back it seemed. 

It worked out great that Hannah (who we thought would still need time to take to the water)…Just jumped right in 🙂

We found you on the internet (along with many other photographers).

We chose you Mariah because your work has such vibrant colors and just captures the true beauty of real life moments. 

There was no question that the shots we imagined in our minds could be captured by you Mariah!

We hope that as a family we will look down the road at these images and be reminded of the cherished time we had together and all of the amazing memories we made in Maui.

We plan on covering the walls of our home to keep the reminder visible. 🙂