The Supp Hykes Family – An Outer Banks Family Session at Lillian Street

Sometimes a great Outer Banks family photography session starts with changing the plan.

The Supp Hykes family and I were originally supposed to meet a little farther north, but after taking a look at the dunes, I decided they just weren't giving us what I wanted for their photos. So we called an audible and headed to the Lillian Street Beach Access in Kitty Hawk instead. That turned out to be a pretty good decision. The dunes there gave us exactly the classic Outer Banks look I was after, with beautiful sea oats, soft sand, and plenty of room to work before heading toward the ocean.

This was a family of six, with Mom and Dad, their son and daughter, their daughter's husband, and their son's girlfriend. Dad is a pastor, and from the beginning this was simply a fun family to spend an evening with. We started in the dunes while the light was still a little higher, giving us a chance to photograph the entire family together before breaking things down into couples, individual portraits, and some different combinations.

And then, as usually happens, things loosened up.

Those are some of my favorite moments during a family session. Once everyone realizes I'm not going to make them stand perfectly still and smile at me for an hour, personalities start coming out. Apparently that includes brothers putting each other in headlocks, Dad trying his best to maintain some dignity while his sons completely ruin the photograph behind him, and Mom and Dad wandering off toward the ocean while the younger couples get their turn in front of the camera.

In other words, pretty much exactly what I want.

We finished the evening closer to the water as the light softened, giving us a completely different background without ever leaving the beach. That's one of the things I love about photographing families on the Outer Banks. A single location can give us sand dunes, sea oats, open beach, ocean, and beautiful soft evening light, all within a short walk.

The Supp Hykes family was a blast to photograph, and I'm glad we made that last-minute location change. Sometimes you just have to look at what the Outer Banks gives you that evening and make the call. This time, Lillian Street was absolutely the right one.

The Supp Hykes Family – An Outer Banks Family Session at Lillian Street

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