When I was first contemplating how I wanted to capture this pregnancy process, I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go. My family (especially my mother and sisters) encouraged me to take weekly belly shots with a cute little chalk board or signs, etc. While that would typically be right up my craft-ally, I've spent a good portion of this pregnancy feeling like crap, and feeling pretty comfortable that I looked even worse.
As I got a bit further into my 2nd trimester, I started to feel a bit better, but by that point I'd already missed a bunch of weeks. As you know from previous posts, I did take the bi-weekly or so belly shots for the family that is missing the transformation, but shots of my reflection in a bathroom mirror isn't exactly how I wanted to memoralize the beginings of our family.
I started to think photographer, but I wasn't quite sure what type of photographer I wanted. I filtered through probably 100 maternity shoots online and didn't really feel all that inspired by any of them. On the whole, I thought most maternity shoots were pretty boring (no offense to anyone!) I decided upon a couple of things. 1) I knew I didn't want my naked belly hanging out for pictures. I wasn't looking for the "fine art" type of photo where I'm drapped in a gauzy sheet of some sort with a bandau around my boobs clutching my belly. There's entirely too much skin going on there for me to feel comfortable sharing them with co-workers or extended family. I also didn't want something cheesy where John kneels down and kisses my belly or takes his shirt off and clutches my belly from behind. I decided I was going for soft, romantic and real. Once I had that pegged down, I was able to better sort through all the photographers out there.
At some point in my search I remembered seeing photos of a friend of mine in labor and I remember thinking they were so touching and powerful, which suprised me because you'd think the initial reaction would be "Eek. That looks painful." The idea of having a stranger capture such an intimate (not to mention messy and volnerable) time seemed crazy at first but the thought was there. To my disapointment, I had a hard time finding a whole lot of options in the DC area that covered birth's (or "birth stories" as I had seen it put). I had almost given up on the whole idea when I found Heidi. Her website demonstrated she was new to the scene, but I connected immediately with her style. It was real, honest, and simultaneously managed to recapture some of the romance that gets forgotten or overshadowed during the birth process. I knew I had to reach out.
We met in northern Virginia to talk a bit and I loved her on the spot. I knew right away I would have no problems sharing this experience with her. The next decision was deciding whether or not her style was what I wanted for my maternity shots as well or just the birth. After looking through what work she had that wasn't birth related I decided to take a leap of faith and trust that her low-edit, uncomposed style would be right for our shoot. And boy was it:) I've never loved photos more than I love these. John and I had the pleasure of doing Day After shots in California with a very talented photographer (who I stumbled accross on Etsy of all places) and I love those photos (check them out here if you haven't seen them:
http://ashleymaxwellphoto.com/blog/sarah-johns-day-after-sessionnapa/) but the photos that Heidi took are our first "family photos" and you can just SEE and FEEL the emotions that John and I have in these photos. There is love, excitement, anticipation, and wonder. These photos do exactly what I hoped they would: take a moment in my life where I'm often too busy being uncomforatble or stressed to really appeciate what's going on and make it beautiful and romantic again. THIS is how I wanted to capture this experience:)
To see the full shoot, visit Heidi's blog at:
http://www.heidilouise.com/2013/03/belly-sarah-northern-virginia-maternity-photographer/
Here are a couple of my favorites:)
