Couples · Family · Maternity · Maui
Your story, in the colours this island actually has.
I shoot on quiet permitted beaches across South and West Maui. Twenty-five years living here means I know what the wind is doing at seven in the morning.
Cyrus Perry Photography
Most of a good photograph happens before I pick up a camera.
I started photographing my friends around Maui in 2012, took my first paid session in 2014 after a stranger messaged me on Instagram, and went full-time in 2022 when my first daughter arrived and ten years of working on a boat stopped making sense. Somewhere in the middle of that I shot 350+ sessions.
What I bring that most photographers here cannot is the twenty-five years before any of it. I know which beach the trade winds will ruin by two in the afternoon, which ones are permitted and which ones will get your session shut down, and which stretch of sand is empty at 6:40am in July. That is why my sessions run smoothly. It is not luck.
What I shoot
Four kinds of sessions, one way of working.
Couples & engagement
Honeymoons, anniversaries, and the ones who booked it just because they were here.
Family
From four people to thirty-five, and every uncooperative toddler in between.
Maternity
Best between six and nine months, with partners and big siblings in the frame.
Surprise proposals
I scout it, plan it with you, and shoot from a distance until the moment lands.
How to plan it
Which session, which beach, what time.
These are the three things everyone emails to ask. Here are the same answers I would give you on the phone — including the ones where I talk you out of something.
- 01
How long you actually need
Thirty minutes suits two people who already know what they want — one location, one look, and you still have your evening.
Forty-five is what most people book, and it is the honest answer for anyone bringing children. Half an hour is enough to get the group shot but not enough to let a four-year-old forget I am standing there, and that shows in every frame. Forty-five also leaves room for individual portraits of each child alongside the ones of everybody together.
An hour is the only length where the light meaningfully turns over while we are shooting. It buys a second and third backdrop, and an outfit change if you want one.
- 02
Which beach — and why you do not have to choose
Tell me where you are staying and I pick from a short list of permitted beaches on that side of the island, then send you photographs of the options and the reason I am recommending each one. Not every beach here is legal to photograph on commercially, and the permit matters more than the postcard.
If you are south
Kihei, Wailea and Makena. Long open stretches away from the hotels, and better in the morning before the wind reaches them.
- Polo Beach · Wailea
- Maluaka Beach · Makena
- Keawakapu Beach · Kihei / Wailea
If you are west
Lahaina, Kaanapali and Kapalua. Ironwoods has sea cliffs fifty to eighty feet above the water, which is why it is my first call for a proposal.
- Ironwoods Beach · Kapalua
- Kapalua Bay · Kapalua
- Launiupoko · Lahaina
- 03
Sunrise or sunset
Sunrise, and I will keep saying it. The beach is empty, the trade winds have not filled in yet, and the light half an hour after the sun comes up is soft enough that nobody is squinting or holding their hair down.
Sunset is genuinely beautiful on the nights the colour arrives. That is closer to one night in three, and you are working against the afternoon wind for the other two. If your trip only allows an evening, I will still shoot it — I would just rather you knew the odds before you picked.
If you are still not sure which of those is you, that is what I am for. Tell me where you are staying and roughly when, and I will come back with a beach, a time and the reason for both.
Worth reading first: what to wear and how permits work.
Investment
The price on the page is the price.
No complimentary session that turns into a four-figure bill for the files. No per-print upsell after you have seen the gallery. You pay for the session, and the photographs in your package are yours.
The Mini Island Experience
30 minutes · 20 edited images
One location, one look, and enough time to relax into it. The right call if you want beautiful photographs without giving up an evening of your trip.
$450
The Maui Special
45 minutes · 50 edited imagesMost booked
The one most people book. Forty-five minutes is the difference between rushing a family with young kids and letting them warm up — and it leaves room for individual portraits of each child alongside the group shots.
$650
The On Island Time Experience
60 minutes · 80 edited images
An hour buys you more than more frames — it buys a second and third backdrop, an outfit change if you want one, and time for the light to actually turn over.
$900
Kamaaina discount available. Lahaina and Upcountry fire families shoot free.
Selected work
Warm, vibrant, and unmistakably here.
A lot of photographers mute their colours. I do the opposite. I came up shooting landscapes, and I grade so that a Hawaii sunset still reads as a Hawaii sunset rather than a beach that could be anywhere.
254 Google reviews · 5.0 average
What people say afterwards.
Two hundred and fifty-four reviews and not one of them leads with the gear. They lead with feeling comfortable — which is the whole job.
While staying in Kaanapali, Maui, we had an absolutely wonderful experience with Cyrus Perry! He captured the true essence of our family of five—our personalities, connection, laughter, and love—in such a natural and beautiful way.
Cyrus did an outstanding job with our family photos in Lahaina. He has a great eye for capturing genuine moments, and the pictures turned out better than we could have hoped. Communication was easy, he was very responsive, and the entire process was seamless.
Worth knowing before you book anyone
Not every beach on Maui is legal to photograph on.
Commercial photography on Hawaii state beaches needs a permit pulled through the DLNR, and only certain beaches are on the list. Officers do check. A photographer without the right permit can be stopped mid-session and fined, and you are the one who loses the evening.
I pull permits for every location I shoot and carry full insurance, which is also why I will not photograph on Kaanapali Beach no matter who asks. If a price on Maui looks impossibly cheap, this is usually why.
Next step
Tell me where you are staying.
I will come back with a beach, a time and the reason for both — usually inside the hour.