The Foley Family at Lori Wilson Park — Lexington, Ky Family Photographer
This one didn’t start with an email or a phone call. It started in Orlando, where my daughter and Joslyn Foley were both playing in the National AAU volleyball tournament, and Derrick and Jennifer Foley and I found ourselves talking between matches. I mentioned that I’d photographed sunrise portraits of my own daughter, Marley, the year before at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, and before the tournament was over we’d made a plan to squeeze in a family session for them too.
That’s the fun part of being a family photographer who also happens to be a volleyball mom. I already knew exactly how good the light was at Lori Wilson Park, because I’d stood on that same sand watching the sun come up over the Atlantic myself, and I knew it would be worth talking a tired tournament family into one very early alarm.
So that’s how a group of us ended up setting alarms for 4 a.m. in the middle of a tournament week, piling into cars in the dark, and driving out to the coast to catch the sun rising over the ocean before anyone had to be back on a court.
Why We Chase Sunrise at Lori Wilson Park
Lori Wilson Park sits right on Cocoa Beach with a long, open stretch of sand and a clear view east over the water, so the sun doesn’t rise behind a building or a tree line, it comes straight up out of the ocean. That’s rare, and it’s the whole reason I keep going back. There’s a stillness to the beach at that hour, before the crowds and the heat show up, that just doesn’t exist later in the day.
If you’re ever weighing whether an early start is worth it for a beach session, my answer is always yes. You get the beach mostly to yourselves, and you get to spend the rest of the morning actually enjoying the location instead of packing up before it gets too hot. It’s a brutal wake up call, but nobody has ever told me afterward that they regretted it.
Derrick, Jennifer, and Joslyn: All In Before Sunrise
Derrick and Jennifer were up for anything, and I mean anything. When I asked them to wade into the ocean at 5 in the morning, in water that had absolutely not warmed up yet, they didn’t hesitate for a second. That kind of willingness makes such a difference in a session like this, because it set the tone for the whole morning and made everything after it feel easy.
Joslyn, on the other hand, was a teenager who did not love the idea of waking up before sunrise on a rare morning off from volleyball, and honestly, fair enough. But the second we got out onto the sand and the sky started doing its thing, she turned it right around and had a genuinely good time. She’s a natural in front of a camera, the kind of person who doesn’t need much direction once the light shows up.
One of my favorite moments of the morning was talking Jennifer and Derrick into laying together on the sand for something quieter and more intimate. It’s not the kind of thing most parents jump at with their teenager standing right there watching, but they went for it without any hesitation, and that easy, no-fuss trust from both of them is exactly why the morning worked as well as it did.
Behind the Lens: When the Sunflare Doesn’t Show Up
I had a plan going in, and like most beach sunrise plans, the sky didn’t fully cooperate. I was hoping for classic sunrise sunflare, the kind where the sun breaks the horizon and you get warm starburst light streaming right into the lens. Instead, the morning turned mostly overcast, with clouds rolling in right as the sun should have been breaking through.
What I did instead: rather than chase a sunflare that wasn’t coming, I leaned into what the sky was actually giving me. Overcast light at sunrise gets soft and diffused, almost moody, with color spreading across the whole sky instead of concentrating around one bright point. It’s a completely different look from a clear sunflare morning, but every bit as good, just quieter.
The other new thing I tried on this session was handing my daughter a camera to shoot video alongside me. She’s been learning video, and I let her run with it during the family portraits. She edited the footage once we got back to Kentucky and turned it into a moody, 16mm style vibes video, and watching what she made ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
After the Sunrise: An Hour Just to Be at the Beach
Once we wrapped up shooting, nobody rushed off the sand. We stuck around for another hour or so, just relaxing on the beach while the sun climbed higher and the morning turned into an actual day. That’s one of my favorite parts of any beach session, honestly, the stretch of time after the cameras come down when a family gets to just enjoy being somewhere beautiful together.
If you’re planning a sunrise session of your own, build in that extra time if you can. You already made the effort to get up early and get there, so let yourself enjoy the location once the work is done. Some of my favorite family memories from mornings like this one aren’t even in the photos, they’re in that quiet hour afterward with your feet in the sand.
To the Foleys
Thank you for saying yes to a 4 a.m. wake up during a week that was already exhausting, and for trusting me, and my daughter, with your family that morning. Letting her shoot video alongside me and get real, hands on experience meant a lot, and getting to see what she made afterward is something I won’t forget.
I can’t wait to do this again next time you’re in town for a tournament, especially once your older daughter is able to join us. Sunrise at Lori Wilson Park will be waiting.
Let’s Talk About Your Session
Whether you’re local to Lexington, Ky or you’ll be traveling somewhere for a tournament, a wedding, or just a family trip, I’d love to talk about building a family session into it. As a Lexington, Ky family photographer, some of my favorite work happens outside the studio and outside Kentucky entirely, wherever your family already is. If an early sunrise and a beautiful stretch of sand sounds like your kind of morning, let’s talk.
