This maternity session was the first one in our “Embrace Winter” Maternity Project. The idea behind the campaign was to show how beautiful winter is, and maternity of course. We booked 16 expecting mums and their families for these sessions. It was all very exciting. Unfortunately we only got to shoot four of these sessions and had to cancel the rest, due to the COVID crisis here in Sydney. I’m so happy that we managed to photograph this lovely couple before all the drama. It was a fun day and the photos turned out amazing.
We filmed the whole session, including hair styling and professional makeup, studio, garden and location shoot. Watch the video below to see the whole experience.
Preparations
Before the session we had discussions about Marina’s preferred style. I prepared a plan for the day, based on everything we agreed on.
The portrait session started with Professional Makeup and Hair Styling. My incredibly talented hair and makeup artist did an amazing job – as always – and Marina was really happy with the results. After that, we had a last check on the dresses and accessories and finalised the plan.
Window Shots
I always start my maternity sessions at the window. The studio has wall to wall large windows which let lots of beautiful natural light in. Marina was wearing the white maternity photoshoot dress that opens up at the front to reveal the baby bump. She looked absolutely gorgeous in it. We even used a small shirt that was already waiting for the baby to arrive.
The White Background
We continued with one of my seamless paper backgrounds and studio strobe lights. Marina was wearing the same white outfit and then changed for her own black stretchy dress. I shot individual photos of her first and then couple’s ones too. Cherry blossom on the below image was added later in Photoshop.
The Grey Background
The dark grey paper backdrop is one of my favourite ones. I use it at almost all of my sessions. Marine chose the a blue maternity photoshoot gown for these shots because it was her favourite color. We even made the veil of the gown fly. We also made the coulple’s photo a bit more playful.
Garden Shots
When we finished everything we planned to shoot in the studio, we went outside to the garden. Even though it was winter, our backyard was full of flowers. So many of them were blooming, we even had a flower wall. It was hard to ignore my crazy puppy Lola, who was trying to catch reflections, but we got to capture some really nice images.
Woolwich Park
We wrapped up the session in the studio – and in the garden behind it – early afternoon and made plans to meet in Woolwich later. I absolutely love that park by the water, overlooking the city skyline. We timed it perfectly, the city centre was illuminated by the setting sun beautifully.
Marina chose the maroon maternity photoshoot gown for these photos. It looked stunning on her. We found some amazing locations by the water and had lots of fun capturing twilight maternity images. I even brought accessories like the tiny knitted baby shoes and the cute bunny.
I really hope that these images will be lovely memories and Marina and Alex will treasure them for many years to come. They chose 3 of their favourite ones to be printed as museum grade mounted fine art prints. I think they will look stunning on their wall. They already had their precious little baby boy a month ago, congratulations to them. I can’t wait to meet him, once this lockdown is over.
I’m so happy that they chose me to capture memories for them about these special times. It was such a pleasure to get to know them. Back in Europe, our countries of heritage are neighbours. I really enjoy meeting people from different backgrounds and photographing them. I miss my work so much! I’m looking forward to life getting back to – relatively – normal.
More Information
If you have any questions about our maternity sessions please get in touch with us via our contact page or call Janette on 0431 591 096. You can also book a free consultation online.
If you would like to see more of my maternity work please visit the maternity page and have a look at the maternity galleries.
