Redwood Maternity Photoshoot in the Oakland Hills

The Fosters are one of our regulars for annual holiday Family Photos. So when they reached out to me to let me know they were expecting, I was super excited to help them do a combo family photoshoot + maternity session! 

We’d shot previous photo sessions at a few of our favorite “cozy” outdoor locations around Alameda, but for this special occasion they wanted to take it up a notch. Easy, since there are so many dramatic shooting locations around the Bay Area. We discussed the Golden Gate Bridge, the beach, and a few other parks, eventually settled on the Redwoods of the Oakland hills! 

I know a section of Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland where there is a gorgeous grove of young Redwood Trees. During the Gold Rush era, all of Oakland’s Old-growth Giant Sequoias were cut down to build much of the Bay Area infrastructure. The hillside was eventually repopulated with these redwood “babies” (now a mere 150 years old 😆) However, they are still pretty sizable. For portrait photography, the good thing about them not being as tall is you can really “see” the tree, since it’s canopy is not towering hundreds of feet overhead. This makes for fantastic filtered morning light!

I’ll be honest: I always thought this place was my little secret. Even though I shoot here frequently, every time I come there are very few people around (other than mountain bikers). But since this was a weekend morning shortly before Christmas, the place was packed! Not just with hikers, but also other photographers doing holiday photos 😲 It required a little coordination and clever framing to be able to not have other families in the background.

I such had a great time shooting with them again for this memorable moment, and am looking forward to meet their newest family member next season!