I had seen the Flower Fields in Carlsbad on Instagram since I was in college at Chapman, but I had never made it down there. For anyone reading who isn’t familiar with Southern California, Carlsbad is a city in San Diego county, about an hour drive south of Disneyland.
My mom texted me and asked if I was going to go this year. I’m really trying to cross stuff off my SoCal bucket list, so I decided to book the tickets. I had recently reconnected with my sweet friend from college, Lilly, who just quit her real estate job and is pursuing photography full-time in Orange County. She has such great energy and loves bright colors, so she was the perfect person to do this photo shoot with! My other lovely friend Sierra lives in San Diego and was down to model for us, so she drove up to meet us in Carlsbad.
The flower fields provided updates on their bloom status on Instagram, and we went when it was about half in bloom. The flower fields open at 9 am, but we bought timed tickets for Sunday, April 6, at 10 am. We noticed the parking was pretty full by 10:30 am, and there were signs later that afternoon that said they were sold out. I think I’d go at opening next time, but it really wasn’t too busy.
In WA, we have fields of tulips and daffodils in Mount Vernon, which is about an hour north from Seattle. These are out away from the city, in the farmlands, so I found it interesting that the flower fields in Carlsbad were on a hill overlooking some outlet stores. It was also really cool that we were close enough to the coast to see the ocean in the background! Just California things! The weather was absolutely perfect! It was sunny and warm, but still had the ocean breeze.
The flowers seemed to be planted from left to right, so the earliest flowers to bloom were on the left side of the field, and then some flowers hadn’t bloomed yet on the right side. I think in the future, I’d look to go a couple weeks later in April when the flowers are 100% blooming.
There were benches and designated walkways to follow around the fields so people wouldn’t walk all over the flower beds. The website seemed kind of strict about photography and purchasing a photo permit, so I was nervous about bringing our camera gear, but it was totally fine! I think they just don’t want you to monopolize an area or bring a lot of lighting equipment. There were posted signs saying you could only spend like 6.5 minutes at a bench, and I feel like we were pretty quick.
We stayed within the caution-taped boundaries to protect the flowers. Please stay on the trails!! We went pretty far to the left where there were far less people, and I do recommend getting there earlier in the morning to avoid the crowds. With some creative cropping and flower Photoshopping, it looks like we were all alone in the middle of the fields, but this is just a reminder you can’t believe all the photos you see online!
Before & Afters
It was all about the angles and crouching down to make it look like there were flowers everywhere! I’m obsessed with how these turned out! For once in my life, I think I actually under-shot and wish I took more photos. I’ll want to go back next year for sure!
Sierra had been to the fields before and recommended that we get strawberry milkshakes at The Strawberry Shack (located below the fields by the entrance), and they did not disappoint! After that, we drove down to Oceanside to go to a thrift store Lilly wanted to check out. For lunch, we grabbed Mexican food at The Taco Stand, which is always a good choice in San Diego.
I still can’t get over these photos! It was honestly such a dream to shoot there, and I couldn’t have asked for a better day or better company!!
RECOMMENDED READING:
San Diego Zoo Staycation
Pasadena Photo Shoot with Rachel
Where to Take Your NY Friends in LA
