Kimi - Maternity - Before and Before That

I had the privilege of documenting Kimi's first and second pregnancies. The initial idea was to document a before & after set using the same poses and wardrobe during her pregnancy and again after the baby was born. Once I completed those composites, I wondered what it would look like to see her standing side-by-side with herself during each pregnancy. At first glance it may look like twins, or sisters experiencing pregnancy together. There is a maturity that is visible when you compare her to herself from four years ago. The first pregnancy was in 2013 an the second in 2017.

Kimi - Maternity - Before & After

Planning a before & after set takes patience. Remembering what lights were placed where in the studio with which backdrop and what pose and wardrobe. Its a lot to keep track of, but it pays off when the images are merged and you see the beautiful results. While some of the composites don't use the same poses as the first session, a compromise is made when coordinating colors or themes are chosen.

Kimi - Maternity - Before

I had the great privilege of documenting Kimi's second pregnancy. This time we opted for a before and after set. We planned the shoot to include similar poses and wardrobe to her first maternity series. The poses will be duplicated after the baby is born. Once all the photos are done, a before & after set will be created. While we wait, here are some favorites from our "before" session.

Milestones of Maternity

My goal is to document the Milestones of Maternity.

My years of experience capturing the different stages of pregnancy, I have come to describe a shortened maternity series as the Milestones of Maternity. The milestones are essentially four different points along your path to motherhood. Here, we establish a series of poses that will be duplicated throughout your pregnancy to document the changes you experience. For those who want to document their pregnancy progression but cannot afford to dedicate the time or money to a monthly series, this is a wonderful option.

I have had the good fortune to help several women over the years preserve the memories of their pregnancy through photographs. When you decide that you want to document your pregnancy with more than just mirror selfies, there are several options for how to proceed. How often do you want to take your photos and how many different poses and outfits do you want to use for those photos?

I maintain a portrait studio in the living room of my home. I have a selection of props and wardrobe that can be utilized for each session. If you would be more comfortable in your own home, my studio kit is fully portable and can be set up within a few minutes. A living room, dining room, or bedroom can be converted into a studio without the need to fully clear the room. My kit is battery operated, so there are no cords to trip over. I also bring several fabric backdrops and my own backdrop support stands, so there is no need to nail anything into your walls. I have also assembled a select number of props specifically for adding to maternity sessions.

Revisiting Maternity Favorites with Chenisse

I am looking forward to new photo sessions and opportunities to provide beautiful photos to new clients. One of my personal favorite subjects to photograph is maternity. Whether it is fine-art or a photo-journalistic style, capturing the moments in a woman's life as she is transforms into a mother is a pleasure and an honor to be made a part. I like to capture the emotional interaction between a woman and her unborn baby.

As an artist, I am a trained observer who gently directs classic poses which help her be more natural without feeling self-conscious or awkward. My goal is to create images that go beyond snapshots and would not feel out of place in a coffee-table book. For anyone who is seeking a photographer to document her pregnancy, please contact me through the link at the bottom of this post.

In the mean time, I am revisiting my work from a progression series of maternity photos with re-edits and new favorites. Every now and then I go back through sessions from years ago and I am drawn to different images than I had initially culled into my favorites. I continue to learn about and experiment with new editing techniques. In my revisits I find images that fit well into these new, varied techniques and am able to apply them. This brings to light new and expanded perspectives within my portfolio.

Below are many newly edited selections I have added to my portfolio. Enjoy!

Wyatt at Six Months - Location Studio Setup

I photographed Wyatt and his parents when he was about one month old last year. Now he is over six months old and sitting on his own. I brought my lights and backdrop with me and set up in a living room space with hardwood floors and a lot of windows. I had a few hiccups with my lighting, but I was able to tweak the settings and pull out some great images. Wyatt sat very well for nearly twenty minutes just watching all the fuss that was going on around him. He needed a few breaks in between his outfit changes, and after a nose-dive into the floor. I moved between sitting and laying down on the floor to be at his level in order to better interact with him. I was able to capture a wide variety of expressions from him with the help of his family, who were all doing their best to get him to smile; so I have to thank them for making my job so much easier.

Below are my favorites from this session:

Family Photos At The Park

For baby's first photo session, we arranged to set up at a local park using the natural surroundings and weathered bridge as our backdrop. I brought two battery-operated flashes to use as we walked around the park to take advantage of the beautiful scenery. We started with some seated family shots, and moved on to some poses of just the mom and dad, then we laid a blanket over a park bench and focused on taking baby portraits. I was able to balance the natural light with my flashes to create depth without washing out the background, or having the portraits turn to silhouette.

As with all of my portrait sessions, I have trouble choosing favorites to share because there are so many fantastic images to choose from. I am never satisfied with just a few snapshots during a photo session, during this session I shot over 200 images. The first part of every session is used to get the jitters out and help everyone relax and let their natural expressions come out. Although I pick favorites, and edit those images; I provide every image from my photo sessions to my clients. I would rather you have them all to cherish than let those images sit unused on my computer. My clients are free to share the beautiful shots with friends and family, laugh over the funny ones, and scrapbook the rest. I allow them the freedom to choose how to preserve their memories.

Baby Riley's First PhotoShoot

Riley was born in November, and was brought in for her first photo session at five weeks old.

I photographed her mother at 28 weeks as part of a maternity before and after progression series.

You can find photos of her pregnancy in earlier posts on this blog, here and here.

We tried several different outfits, hats, and poses while changing the backdrop and props during Riley's photo session. In addition to her solo photos, we also photographed Riley with her siblings, and with the whole family.

You can find more beautiful photos of Riley below:

Maternity: Before & After for Nancy

Capturing a moment in someone's life is one of the best gifts you could ever give them.

Capturing two moments that span such a dramatic change as pregnancy is even better.

Nancy was 28 weeks into her pregnancy when we had our first of two sessions to document her pregnancy. She had two children previous to this pregnancy and knew exactly which week she wanted to be photographed. This proved to be the biggest benefit of our photo session, we were able to achieve dozens of poses with different wardrobe and background combinations. I could not have asked for a better model. She was full of energy and ideas, and willing to try poses I had never attempted before.

Although we spent most of our second session photographing the baby by herself, I wanted to get at least this one before & after pose of Nancy wrapped in purple, cradling her tummy, and then holding the baby. I was able to use the same background for each and with a little editing magic, combined the two images into a side by side composite.

I have included a few other images from the second set below: