The places I keep coming back to.

This is the one I'd bring you to if I could only pick one place in San Diego. Walk one way and you've got open sand with La Jolla Cove in the background, giving the frame real depth instead of a flat horizon. Walk the other way and you're under Scripps Pier, where the pilings stack into long converging lines.

There's a park just up from the sand for a completely different, greener mood, plus a couple of cliff spots I've found over the years that frame the pier and the Cove together. One location, four or five totally different photographs, that's rare, and it's why I end up here more than anywhere else.

The water runs turquoise here in a way that reads almost tropical, and there's a palm-covered beach shack that's become something of a local landmark, weathered wood against that water color. The rocks along the shoreline give couples something real to lean into and sit on, texture instead of empty sand.

It's a quieter, more intimate feeling than La Jolla Shores, which makes it one of my go-to spots for engagement sessions especially.

Some moments deserve a bigger stage. You're standing on cliffs that drop straight to the ocean, with Torrey Pines Golf Course rolling out behind you, nothing but open sky and water in front. It's dramatic in a way most San Diego spots aren't, the scale is the entire point.

A view just as big as the moment itself. I don't bring every session here, but when it's right, nothing else in the city comes close.

Balboa Park gets photographed constantly, so I've stopped competing with the postcard version of it. What keeps me coming back is the range once you get past the fountain everyone shoots, architecture with real detail, a botanical garden for something greener, quiet pathways tucked away from the crowds.

In one session here, I can give you three or four completely different visual moods without ever leaving the park.

Not every session should look like a postcard. Liberty Station is green space and open lawns mixed with real architecture, converted military buildings with clean lines and character, casual and unpolished in the best way.

It's become one of my favorite spots for families with young kids, there's room to run, and for graduates who want photos that feel current rather than staged.

This one surprises people. Tucked-away trees, a small creek, a stillness you don't get on the coast. It's one of the few spots around here where I can give a family something that feels genuinely seasonal, when fall hits right, the color shift is real.

Quiet, intimate, and it photographs like nowhere else nearby.

Tall grass, dense eucalyptus trees, that particular vertical rhythm the trunks create when you shoot straight through them. This is where I go when someone wants nature photography without the obvious beach look.

The light filtering through the canopy changes constantly depending on the hour, so no two sessions here ever come out looking the same.