Locations Guide | Gemma Rose Photography

PICKING YOUR DATE, TIME AND LOCATION

So here is a bit of information to help you with choosing your date, time of day, and location for your session. Each of these three components tie in with each other, so have a read through 1, 2 and 3, then have a look below at my favorite locations. These are just my favorite West Side Maui locations, but keep in mind if you want to do a session in another part of the Island, I will definitely go to other parts outside West Maui for a $100 travel fee. If you have any questions, definitely reach out to me and I will be happy to help you find your perfect spot.

BEGINNING OR END OF YOUR VACATION?

This one is for the visitors! There are pros and cons for both. Towards the end of your session, you might have a nice tan, OR you might have a burn...yikes. For this reason, I always try to recommend doing your session towards the beginning of your vacation. Something else to consider is that chances are, you are going to be a bit jet lagged towards the beginning of your trip. This makes for super easy sunrise sessions (my fav!) because you will already be awake. It can be a fun activity to do while you are waiting for the day to get started. I will touch a bit more on sunrise sessions in the next segment. Another pro to having your photos taken in the beginning of the trip is that I will probably deliver your gallery while you are still in Maui and can post them on social media! Wooooo! Something else to keep in mind when choosing your date is that weekends are usually a bit busier than weekdays for sunset.

SUNRISE SESSION OR SUNSET SESSION?

Sunrise: Like I just mentioned, if you will be waking up early due to jet lag, I would take advantage of this and go for a sunrise session. Especially if you have little ones, sunrise sessions work great because they are well rested and haven't gotten too tired after a full day in the sun. A big plus side is that there is next to no one on the beaches. This means we can take our pick from pretty much any location, and we don't have to worry about big crowds/parking issues.

Sunset: This one kind of speaks for itself... the sunset! A downside is that the beaches are usually quite crowded with people photobombing all over the place. Another downside is that there are certain locations that are really hard to access during sunset due to parking limitations. There are only a handful of places that I feel comfortable and confident using for a location during sunset.

PICKING THE LOCATION FOR YOUR SESSION!

Like I mentioned in the last segment, there are only a handful of locations that I feel comfortable photographing you at during sunset. Sunrise leaves us with so many options to chose from! Have a look below to see a more in depth summary of my favorite locations. I should also mention that there are a few other locations that we can use if you're not interested in a beach setting. Just let me know and I will help you pick out the best spot.

*Ka'anapali beach is not on this list because professional photography is prohibited. Luckily Ka'anapali is a short drive from some amazing locations!