Layover | Kahala Hotel photography

At 19+ hours, the flight from Australia to Canada is a painfully long one – especially with kids in tow. Meisha and her family were suffering through the long flight to visit family. Fortunately, Hawaii lies in between making it an ideal layover for a few days of tropical R&R – swim, eat, lounge, and gradually adjust to the time change. Since the beach is a big part of their lives back home in western Australia, they took the opportunity for a beach-y fun photo session.

To keep things simple, we scheduled their session were they were staying at the Kahala Hotel. The sun shone brightly as I drove south to meet them. As I got closer, however, traffic increased and I soon found myself in an unusual Kahala gridlock. Swarms of polo and visor clad people were moving en masse in the direction of the hotel. It was the Sony Open golf tournament. I lucked out with a parking spot about a mile from the beach, grabbed my gear and ran. My slippers slapped the pavement and awkward gear banged against my legs as I weaved through the crowds, but I made it (almost) in time. Sweaty and winded, I made a lovely first impression, but this sweet, silly family was unfazed. They were ready for fun. It turns out with everyone on the golf course, the adjacent beach was almost empty. We spent a couple happy hours playing on the beach and jumped in the water at the end to take in the peaceful sunset.

Want to capture fun memories from your time in Hawaii?

Find out more about my fun family photography sessions here.