Maternity Shoot

So I did a maternity photo shoot on Saturday. It was not a proper 'official' professional shoot, since a friend of mine did it and he is not a pro, it's just hobby he has been experimenting with. But I think he is damned good and I have really liked the photos of his I have seen in the past year or so. We did hire a studio and good lens, and I got someone to make me up a bit though...

I am not a natural model, and in fact I have never even had a real photoshoot before. I didn't even hire a photographer for my wedding (way back when) and just got a friend to take snaps. So it is not something I have any experience or knowledge of at all. But I knew I wanted to do this as it is definitely, my LAST pregnancy ever. I have very few pregnancy photos for my previous pregnancies, and I kind of regret that. Also this time the pregnancy and birth are 'mine', but the parenting journey is not, so I want to cherish and remember this part of this very special journey I am on. I know I am going to cherish these memories and I wanted photographic reminders of it.

I spent a lot of time googling images of maternity shoots and for the most part I didn't really like them. I didn't want anything cheesy or too saccharine lovey-dovey, or the diffused lighting, lace and bows and ruffles so many of them have. Not to say the 'classic' maternity photos are not pretty, but they just didn't feel like ME. I wanted to do something authentic to me, who I am, what I am doing, and that show me as real and natural. I found I was most drawn to the black and white nude shots, especially the ones focusing on contrasts, lines, shapes, light and shadows.

Looking at all our local maternity photographer's sites, no one captured exactly what I was going for. So I contacted Joey. I used to work with him years ago. He has taken some stunning shots in the past few years, some quite edgy and boudoir-esque, and often of drop-dead gorgeous models (I think subconsciously I was hoping he could make me look like one of them HAHAHA). He had never done anything like what I was looking for in terms of lighting, and had not done any maternity shoots, but was open to giving it a try.

A was keen to be involved too - it is his baby after-all - and so we set it up, and decided to just do it and see what happened.

On the day I was a bit late getting to the studio (I was home getting make-up and hair done by the gorgeous and lovely Michelle), and A and Joey were at the studio getting it set up. There was a booking clash, so when we got there we thought we had very little time. So instead of arriving and being awkward and shy as I had expected, there was barely time for a hello, before I was told, "Get your clothes off and get in here!". So instead of warming up with some clothed shots it was straight into the black room and the nudes. Weird that worked well as I just had to drop my guard and go with it immediately. Also because the room was dark (except for when the flashes and lights lit up) I didn't even feel that exposed.

So all the nudes were done first and then I got dressed and when to the white room for the clothed ones.

 Note they are not yet edited or retouched at all. We still need to chose a few for post-processing and 'polishing'. These are a few that I have cropped and tweaked myself quickly - scars, stretch-marks, cellulite and all! 

The shoot was done at 34.5 weeks, and as you can see I am not that tiny at all. Something about my in the mirror selfies is a bit deceptive... Also in some of these they were telling me to try to accentuate my belly, so I was literally letting it all hang out...