Julia Pagano Photography

 Autumn is solidly settling in, with its gorgeous colours, cosy blankets and sweaters, rains, and this special something in the air. At home, we watch more movies, bake more pies, walk on the leaves and listen to their crunchy-crunch under our boots, and I want to soak in all these colours around us - I love autumn! It can be risky to have a photo session this time of the year, the weather becomes so unpredictable. But it's well worth the risk, because the light in autumn is often golden and magical, and you have all these gorgeous colours around you. I can be more flexible with my schedule so we can work around the sunshine. Favourite spots around St Andrews for autumn family photos. Of course Lade Braes and Botanic Gardens - if you want all these gorgeous colours and nature details! Outdoor walks in autumn are so much fin, kids up to their knees in the leaves, or hunting for autumn treasures together, making piles of leaves for jumping, weaving crowns, hide and seek - you name it...

Bright and sunny, with blue sky and blue sea and puffy white clouds. It's like they were specially made for the beach, splashing around and digging in the sand. We love our under the rain walks, but we also love our beach adventures on sunny days, even if they result in someone walking back home wrapped in my sweater instead of his own clothes. Some days we hop on the bicycles and go to West Sands. It's always windy, perfect for flying kites. Maya loves the soft sand there, she's content to dig around or just roll in it and watch how it flows through her fingers. Then there are football games, with shoes often serving as impromptu gates. Or hide and seek in the dunes, if we manage it to the very end of the beach. For swimming it's East Sands for us - we live quite close, so it's easier to carry all the towels, clothes, snacks, picnic lunch, water, toys, goggles, sun cream, book for myself... The list of things they want to take and do can be quite long, so it certai...

I love small beaches off Coastal Path, just a short walk from East Sands, and I used them a number of times already for family photo sessions. There are barely other people here, so you have the whole space to yourself. No need to worry about your kids getting a bit wild and disturbing the others, or that you have to wait and check that nobody else gets in accidentally in your family photos. There is also beautiful variety of natural textures and backgrounds - sand, water and rocks, greenery of the path on the way to the beach.  This family shoot was the last one in 'baby's first year package' we did with Francina and her twins, Lily and Elanor. As we already knew each other, and the kids were comfortable with me too - no ice-breaking was needed. In fact, we started taking photos already on the way to the beach! The family session is a good example of variety of photos I try to take. Everybody found something interesting to do on the little beach, yet it was ea...