Who says families have to have little kids to be so much fun? This awesome family of six laughed and teased and splashed and played their way all over El Matador beach and every photo seemed better than the last. 

What an exciting summer Chrissy had! She got to visit Malibu to attend tennis camp and Pepperdine and while she was here, we snapped these beautiful senior portraits to commemorate her last summer before the end of high school. 

We started out at Westlake Village Inn, exploring the beautiful gardens and pathways (perfect for when the sun is high in the sky) and finished up at my all-time fave, El Matador State Beach. Thanks Chrissy for coming all the way out to California just to shoot your Malibu senior portraits with me ;-) 

​(PS come to Pepperdine) 

The Blunt family is growing and they get sweeter by the day! I have loved documenting this beautiful family as they celebrate milestones and their love deepens as their numbers grow. What a beautiful, softly lit afternoon at El Matador State Beach for family and maternity photos. ​

Does something look a little different about Ilse and Louis' gorgeous elopement photos at El Matador Beach? That's because we did the shoot at sunrise! That's right, this awesome couple got ready and met me at the beach at 6:45 am for sunrise (which turned out to be perfectly cloudy and all pastels all morning long) and it was totally worth it to have the WHOOLLE beach to ourselves! If you've been to El Matador, you know that it can be challenging to have a clean background due to other people enjoying the beach (who can blame them? It's stunning.) But a sunrise session at El Matador meant we were alone with the beautiful light, freshly smoothed sand, and expanse of rocks to climb all over. It was a dream come true! 
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Though based inland, Ilse and Louis wanted to snap elopement photos at El Matador because they getaway to the beach any chance they have (and I can totally see why!).

I'm so thrilled they found me online (yay Google!) and we got to spend these special moments together making some truly frame-worthy images to commemorate the beginning of their life together. 

Christmas time is usually the time of year when family portraits consist of magical frost-covered everything, cozy parkas and fur-lined boots. But in Malibu? We go to the beach and get our bare feet in the Pacific 365 days a year. Check out this sweet family of four on their Christmas vacation to Malibu, CA. (PS daddy-o is my brother Peter!) 

Natalie Backman is one part gumby, one part philosopher, and all dynamo yoga teacher, based in sunny southern California. She's one of my favorite people to shoot because she's like the Audrey Hepburn of yoga—exquisitely beautiful and photogenic and spunky but also soulful and authentic and down to earth. 

You may recognize Natalie from her wine country wedding to the dreamy Ivo >>

Who says you have to wait until you're a senior in high school or getting engaged to get awesome photos made?!? For Lily's tenth birthday, mama Michelle had a brilliant idea: snap some beautiful portraits of this incredible stage in Lily's life. I love the way these photos capture the half-girl-half-woman stage, where she's playful and beautiful, sporty and sweet, silly and captivating, uncertain and unhindered.

​And at the end of the session, after the sunset, she INSISTED that we snap some photos of her getting soaked up to her belly button in the waves of the Pacific Ocean—jeans and all. Every photo in this set seems to capture a different side of Lily, a different emotion, and different thought, and I had the best time snapping and editing these special memories! 

Love this idea? Got a ten-year-old in your life that would love a portrait session? Check out my rates page or shoot me an email to talk dates! >> cecily.breeding@gmail.com 

A quick foggy fall session at El Matador with the Kurtz family, which recently acquired a new member!

Junya and Yuki eloped in Los Angeles, but they wanted some photos to commemorate the start of their married life together. They picked El Matador—smart choice—as the backdrop to these sweet sunset portraits, which they will treasure for years to come. 

Location: El Matador State Beach