Sunday, February 25, 2018

Maternity Photography

Maternity Photography as a genre is kind of peculiar if you think about it… By the time the end of pregnancy rolls around, most moms have gained a substantial amount of weight. It’s healthy. It’s good. …but no mom is excited about it!

Just yesterday a soul-sister of mine was at my house for her baby shower. This girl is gorgeous, let me tell you, and she’s one of those women who has the figure where a belly button ring makes sense. But even she felt larger than life. I didn’t really notice any particular weight gain other than her actual baby bump, but she certainly did. And EVERY woman I photograph for maternity pictures seems to feel this way.

So why are women happy to be photographed when they’re pregnant at all?!…

Because motherhood from the first minute is amazing. (I could seriously rattle on for an hour about how unbelievable it is that a person can grow a tiny human, but I digress.)

I believe that photographs of a woman carrying a baby are as gorgeous as they are because of the relationships behind the bump that are forming. The woman, becomes a mommy, and the man becomes a daddy. It’s the beginning of their whole world changing. (Did you see my post about relationship newborn sessions? This maternity topic and that one go hand-in-hand.)

Emotion plays a significant role in maternity photography. In many cases, dads are a huge part of the sessions. Yes, I literally am posing, and photographing a belly, and making sure I avoid things like double chins, and wide arms, but I wouldn’t say thats what the session is really about. It’s about drawing out the woman’s love for her husband, and the man’s for his wife, and photographing THAT.

Now on to why you’re really reading this post…

WHO:

Maternity sessions are usually mom + dad, but siblings are welcome too.

WHEN is the best time to take maternity pictures:

It’s up to you when we shoot. A bigger belly photographs the best. However, most women don’t prefer to wait so long that they have cankles, and are grumpy 24/7. …annnd babies can certainly be early, so that’s another reason to not put it off. Shooting the session between 30 and 36 weeks is about right.

WHERE can we shoot:

Most sessions are in studio. It is very important to me that I control my light and shadow enough that I can keep arms looking slim, and love handles to a minimum. Plus that tender love that I talked about drawing out makes more sense photographed in studio.

There is one perk now. Since we are now in my new studio space, just South of Lexington in Nicholasville, with quite the outdoor scenery, we’re much more able to shoot a couple images outside, weather pending.

HOW LONG:

Sessions last about and hour; maybe a touch more. maternity picture, pregnancy picture

WHAT TO WEAR/BRING to your maternity session:

Let’s talk. I wan’t to hear what kind of images you want to make, and what you will end up doing with your photographs..

HOW MUCH:

Obviously this one is up to you. After the session fee, the choice is yours. But at our ordering appointment, I’ll coach you on one thing. ..not going crazy on maternity images. Yes, I actually want to help you NOT get a million images. For lots of women, this is may be the first time they feel like they look beautiful in a photograph, plus they’re emotional, and they can’t wait to meet this kid they’ve been preparing for. So, some are temped to ‘get them all.’ And if that’s important to you, okay great, but I never want my clients getting home and wondering “what am I going to do with all these 4x6s???” and experience buyers remorse. What follows after that splurge, is she feels less excited about newborn photographs. Newborn images are my passion, my first love (photographically speaking), and I know they hold the most value in mom’s hands. I KNOW those images are going to be far more important to her. So, if there is ever a choice you have to make maternity or newborn pictures. Choose newborn every time.

So what’s a good plan for maternity photographs? Here are some ideas: a coffee table book of all your favorite maternity images is a perfect way to start a library. Coffee Table Books are insanely popular among my clients. A canvas or two for the master bedroom is a nice place to hang images that are more intimate in nature. The baby’s nursery is a great place to hang the light-hearted, fun, laughing images. And hubby and your mom usually likes a couple small desk prints to keep.

Pricing info is unpacked here on the Investment Page. Look for the Collection at the bottom that is designed with maternity clients in mind.

You can review my maternity gallery HERE.