Family sessions at Stewart's Cove work especially well for groups that want something off the beaten path. The cove is private enough that kids can run, and the wide sandstone shelf gives plenty of space for portraits, candids, and exploring. Maternity and family-of-five both shoot beautifully here.
You may see a few photos from nearby locations here. Many shoots span multiple spots in the same session.
Mini family sessions (5 files, 30 min) start at $500 weekday. Standard (25 files, ~1 hr) is $1,050 weekday / $1,350 weekend. Hang With Chris (full day, all files) is $3,250.
Stewart's Cove
Pick what you're planning and we'll pull up the right pricing. Not sure yet? Start with a free 10-minute call.
Where we shoot, on a map
Stewart's Cove is a crescent-shaped beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, hidden in plain sight while Carmel Beach absorbs the tourist crowd a few streets over. Hundred-foot walk, reliable cell signal, restaurants five minutes away. Romance without the hike.
Carmel Beach gets the postcards and the parking lot full of rental cars. Stewart's Cove gets the locals who know what to look for. You park along a residential stretch of Scenic Drive, walk a hundred feet past a few quiet houses, and a crescent of sand opens up below the bluff. The cove curves enough to layer its own background, the rocks at the far end give you texture, and Carmel-by-the-Sea is five minutes from wherever you eventually want to eat dinner.
The lay of the land
Logistics & comfort
Parking
Park along the residential streets off Scenic Drive. Free, usually easy. The biggest mistake people make is letting GPS send them to Carmel River State Beach instead, which has a parking lot half a mile away and is the wrong spot entirely.
Where we meet
For most shoots we meet at the top of the stairs by the cars. For surprise proposals, I head down ahead of you and wait on the beach, dressed casually so I blend in with anyone else who happens to be there.
The walk in
About 100 feet from parking, plus a short flight of stairs depending on where you park. The main beach is friendly to almost any footwear. The rocky section at the far end needs sneakers or flats if you want to explore it.
Weather call
I push through almost everything. Light rain, mist, fog, and wind all still produce beautiful sessions here. The only real reschedule trigger is hard rain that makes getting from the car to the beach uncomfortable.
One time I was doing a family session here and tried to time a dramatic wave crashing behind them near the rocks. I misjudged the wave by about a foot and ended up absolutely drenched, head to toe. The family stayed perfectly dry. The gear survived. The photos turned out fine. Stewart's Cove is the kind of place that lets you take that kind of risk and still walk away laughing.
Make a trip out of it
Where to stay
Where to eat
Getting here
A few things about Stewart's Cove
Stewart's Cove is the northern pocket of the larger Carmel River State Beach, which runs about a mile from the river mouth south to Monastery Beach.
— parks.ca.gov / WikipediaApple Maps labels this exact spot 'Mara Beach' for reasons nobody on the web can explain. Google calls it Stewart's Cove. The locals call it Stewart's. iPhone users sometimes spend twenty minutes lost.
— Apple Maps place-id I28FDA8607E1CA69CThe Carmel River Lagoon at the south end of the larger beach is a state-managed wildlife refuge that draws pelicans, herons, egrets, and the occasional river otter, especially in winter when the bar is breached.
— parks.ca.govCarmel Bay is a State Marine Conservation Area, so the waters off the cove are protected; the kelp beds you see from the bluff are part of one of the most studied marine reserves on the California coast.
— parks.ca.gov page 27220The residential lane above the cove (Scenic Road) was paved in the 1920s as Carmel's original cliff drive and was never re-engineered, which is why the parking is informal and the access stairs are basically a neighbor's afterthought.
Stewart's Cove also appears as Stuart's Cove, Stewart Beach, Stewart's Point, Carmel River State Beach, Carmel River Beach, or Mara Beach.