Couples Maternity Shoot: there's a first time for everything

Whenever someone who has seen my work asks if I’ll do a photography session with them, I shy away and mostly say no; I don’t like to be obligated to producing what someone else wants, and I don’t want my hobby to turn into a burden. If I know and like them personally, and they understand to not expect miracles, then occasionally I’ll say yes.

I recently said yes to my niece when she asked me, after a little bit of a chat about what she wanted. Then I did a bit of research online, and found a selection of maternity photos I really liked and showed her what I was thinking to get a feel for what we might try. Being not baby-inclined, I really had no idea, and was glad for the inspiration – especially the idea of using the scan photo. After that I put it out of my mind so that I didn’t talk myself out of it, and when the weekend rolled around I was relaxed about the day ahead, making for a better experience.

Our first location was very windy and challenged by dappled sunlight, but when we moved to the railway loading shed everything fell into place. It offered a good mix of aged industrial backdrop, along with ruined interiors and graffiti – perfect! When I put my head inside a door and discovered the graffiti (third image from top – remember kids, if you do this, you too could end up having a maternity shoot!) I exclaimed with delight: how could we not use that oversized expletive in our shots! Unfortunately my Olympus’ beloved grainy black & white mode didn’t quite handle the light as I hoped, which meant losing precious details of their faces, but you get the idea. After that we went from strength to strength.

We had a really enjoyable time, with lots of laughs and messing around, and I’m so pleased I accepted the challenge. These are some of my favourite photos – as usual, I tend to like the abstracted or the absurd or the downright random shots best.

 

About these ads