This past weekend, I was blessed to be tasked with taking some photos for an expectant family. Spoiler: if the mama looks kinda like me, that is because she's my sister! I've gotten to watch these two grow over the last dozen years or so and go from dating to marriage, through schools, rescue a sweet pup-pup, and now, embark upon expectant parenthood.
This was a first for me, and, as you might already know, I was a bit overwhelmed with the ask! I'm not the best at taking photos of people, and this session had the added constraint of a puppy outside. We had hoped to get some golden-hour images early in the morning, but as the sun rose, the clouds moved in and settled for the morning. We were alright with dry cloud cover, but disappointed that the wildflower patches of the park we had agreed to meet at were... rich with grass. We had targeted a half hour of shooting given how tired mama gets with that HUGE baby on her little frame. All that worked against us, but we still got wonderful photos, and I may or may not have cried while editing. The clouds prevented harsh lighting, baby mama was able to go for a whole hour, and puppy was happy to be outside exploring while I held her for just-people-photos.
This shoot was so fun, and I am proud of how they turned out!
We started the session down. It was a HUMID morning, and we walked for a good 10 minutes in search of the wildflower fields that the park boasted online. Eventually, we settled for this spot at the edge of the park with some unmanicured grasses and more wild growth. This also helped settle down the pup who was 17 shades of excited to get in the car and meet up with me at a park. To be fair, the dog has also come to associate me with my puppy - one of her best friends (these two can go at it for HOURS... and definitely have a big/little sister dynamic going on when they do so. It is obviously cute, but even cuter that they reflect some of their sister-owners' dynamics from childhood).
Some of the last days of life as it was!
This mama-to-be (the best big sister, ever) wanted to have photos about baby or the parents, not ~just mom~ in a lot of them. She also wanted to avoid some of the seriously sad-looking, downcast maternity or immodest photos that she saw on Pinterest. Totally get that! And loved getting to capture these two in a wholesome, baby-centric way.
Its a girl's world: baby girl, girl dog, and girly girl mama in the pink flower dress. Very excited for this household to grow.
Tried to channel my inner Petra Collins filter at the end..... the pantyhose over the lens trick did work, but I think I got the wrong type of pantyhose. The photos were in desperate need of all lacking any/all blacks and the clarity was so lacking. But, I enjoyed getting to toy around with this at the beginning of the session. I wish I'd gone back and grabbed more later.