5 Great Outdoor Locations for Family Photography on the Central Coast
One of the rather lovely things about living on the Central Coast is that we’re completely spoilt for places to photograph families.
Beaches, bushland, headlands, lakes, weathered old jetties and quiet pockets that feel miles away from civilisation, despite there being a decent coffee about ten minutes down the road.
But choosing a location for your family photography session isn’t simply about finding the prettiest backdrop.
The best location is somewhere that suits your family.
If your kids have approximately seventeen seconds of tolerance for standing still, we want somewhere they can run. If your family is quieter and a little camera-shy, a secluded beach or bush setting might work beautifully. And if everyone feels happiest barefoot with sand between their toes, there’s probably little point dragging you into the forest.
So, here are five of my favourite kinds of locations for outdoor family photography on the Central Coast, and the families they tend to suit.
1. Bouddi National Park, for the little adventurers
Bouddi National Park gives us a ridiculous amount to play with.
There are native bush tracks, sandstone, coastal heath, beaches and those enormous ocean views that make the Central Coast look particularly magnificent. The park stretches through wonderfully varied landscapes, from rainforest and heathland to cliffs and secluded beaches.
Photographically, I love that variety. We can create wide cinematic portraits with tiny humans amongst a huge rocks, then move closer for quieter moments among the grass and bush areas.
Best suited to: adventurous families, energetic kids and people who prefer exploring to posing.
This is a good choice if the phrase "family photo session" makes your children immediately suspicious. Rather than constantly asking them to look at the camera, we can walk, explore, climb, cuddle, investigate things and let the photographs happen around them.
It's family photography disguised as a small adventure. Much less painful for everyone involved.
2. Avoca Beach, for the barefoot beach family
There’s a reason beaches appear in so many family photographs. They give children something to do.
At entityAvoca Beach, we have sand, water, rocks and plenty of space. Instead of trying to manufacture a moment, I can photograph you walking together, chasing kids along the shoreline, exploring rock pools or simply sitting together while the sun disappears.
The Coast also gives us beautiful late afternoon light around the beaches, when everything becomes softer and a little less "Australian summer at midday trying to cook your forehead".
Best suited to: relaxed families, younger children, water babies and anyone who doesn't mind finishing the session with sandy feet.
Beach sessions are particularly good for families who want natural photographs with plenty of movement rather than lots of traditional posed portraits.
And if somebody ends up with wet trousers, so be it. That's probably the photograph you'll like most in ten years.
3. Norah Head, for families who like a bit of drama
If you want your family portraits to feel a little more cinematic, Norah Head Lighthouseand the surrounding coastline are hard to beat.
You have the lighthouse itself, open sky, headlands, rocky coastline and the Pacific stretching off behind you. It feels unmistakably Central Coast without necessarily screaming "BEACH PHOTO".
There is also something wonderful about photographing children in a big landscape. The wind catches hair and clothes, people naturally move closer together, and suddenly a simple family portrait has atmosphere.
Best suited to: confident, playful families, older children and teenagers, or anyone wanting photographs with a slightly moodier, more editorial feel.
It's also a great location for families who want something a little less conventional than everyone standing neatly on a patch of sand in matching white shirts.
No matching white shirts required anywhere, incidentally.
4. Long Jetty, for the quirky family
Long Jetty Foreshore Reserve and the old jetties along Tuggerah Lake give us a completely different visual language.
Instead of crashing surf and rugged cliffs, we have calm water, huge skies, weathered timber and those wonderfully long lines disappearing out across the lake.
Around sunset, the lake can become beautifully still and reflective. It gives photographs a quieter, slightly nostalgic quality.
There's also something a little odd and wonderful about an old timber jetty stretching off towards nowhere, which is precisely why I like it.
Best suited to: creative families, quieter kids, slightly quirky humans and anyone who wants something different from the classic Central Coast beach session.
It's particularly good if you like photographs that feel simple and graphic, with plenty of space around the people in them.
5. Terrigal Haven, for the family that wants a bit of everything
Terrigal Haven is useful because we can create quite a lot of variety without embarking on an expedition worthy of Burke and Wills.
Around Terrigal you have the harbour, headland, beach, rocks and open grassy areas, giving us several different backgrounds within a relatively compact area. Terrigal Beach itself also has family-friendly facilities, parking, picnic areas and public toilets nearby.
That can matter enormously when you're photographing a family with younger children.
Beautiful scenery is lovely. A nearby toilet when your four-year-old announces an emergency is lovelier.
Best suited to: families with younger children, larger or multi-generational families, and anyone who wants plenty of variety without too much walking.
It also gives us room to change the energy of the session. We might start with something calm and relaxed, then head towards the water once the kids have decided I'm probably not a complete lunatic.
But there's another brilliant location: your home
For all the spectacular places we have around the Central Coast, sometimes the best location for family photographs is the place where your family actually lives.
Your home already contains your story.
The couch everyone piles onto. The kitchen bench where breakfast happens. The backyard trampoline. The ridiculous collection of Lego. The dog wandering through the frame at precisely the wrong moment.
Those details might feel completely ordinary now, but they're exactly the things that become meaningful later.
Home sessions can also be fantastic for young children, neurodivergent kids or anyone who finds unfamiliar environments overstimulating. There's no need to perform. Food is nearby. The loo is nearby. Favourite toys are nearby. Everyone can settle into familiar surroundings and we can create photographs from there.
You can read more about why I love photographing families at home in my guide to at-home family photography sessions on the Central Coast.
So, where should we photograph your family?
That's something we can figure out together.
I'm a family photographer based here on the Central Coast, so part of my job is helping you choose a location that works not just photographically, but for your actual family.
Tell me about your kids. Tell me whether you're beach people, bush people, homebodies or a mildly chaotic mixture of all three. Tell me if somebody hates having their photograph taken. That's useful information too.
I can suggest locations I think will work beautifully, or we can find somewhere together that has meaning for you.
Because the goal isn't really to photograph your family standing in a beautiful location.
It's to find a place where you forget about the photography for a while, start behaving like yourselves, and give me the chance to photograph that.
