A Hauntingly Beautiful Maternity Shoot

I’ve worked with Bree before. We work well together. She’ll try pretty much anything, and I’m always excited to see how far I can push her. Because of the fireworks ban, we weren’t able to do anything fire-ey, so we decided to start shooting at Kin Beach. There’s an area where the creek turns into lake. That’s where we started.

Always shoot water with a polarizer kids. Otherwise it’ll be all reflections.

We started out by all walking in the creek. The floor was muddy.

Fun fact: I come from a family of nine kids, being one of the oldest, I’ve seen my mother pregnant more than my share. There’s a certain beauty, a certain glow that a pregnant woman has. Some say it’s love. Others say it’s prenatal vitamins. I personally love working with them. There’s so much beauty when you mix a woman with the natural elements.

We let the light come in. There were shards of (carefully monitored for hardness) light coming in through the trees.

Green and yellow go well together. This was meant to be a darker shoot from day one, so I was excited with the texture the water was giving me.

Water was moving fast and it was windy. I was getting the shots I wanted, but it was tough to stabilize myself.

Sun was changing the shape of the light quickly. I had to act fast if I was going to find the perfect shaped shard.

And just like that. Light, light, and more light. Ghostly and haunting.

The light came in just right. The image I’ve had in my head for the longest time was right in front of me. I held that shutter button down, listening to the click click click of my camera. My LCD roared to life, presenting every photo for my approval.

Right after, we gathered together to review the images. I was speechless. I still am.

It’s a wonderful thing to see a beautiful image in your head, it’s another to see it on the back of your LCD. It’s a humbling, exciting, a beautiful moment.

But, you always need a few photos that aren’t overly artsy for the parents. Not everyone digs this artsy stuff as much as I do.

For a pregnant woman who doesn’t get much sleep, Bree was looking pretty dapper. She wanted to get a few more photos too. Don’t have to ask me twice!

But that doesn’t mean I can’t show off. If you have hard directional light, you can turn your camera down to EV -2 and get something incredible.

Thanks so much for reading this far. See the full gallery by clicking here. If you liked it, feel free to like me on Facebook or Instagram. Or heck, book your own shoot! I look forward to shooting you. 😉