Hannah and Andrew

Not every pregnant woman likes to have their picture taken, in fact, some women do not like to be the center of attention at all, and therefore do not like to have their picture taken whatsoever. This was the case with Hannah... she told me point blank that she does not like to have the attention on her and dislikes having her picture taken, and she wanted me to come to her and Andrew's home and capture some images of them as they are expecting their first child. Hannah told me that she knew it was important for their child to have some images of Mom and Dad as a couple before the birth and that she would tough it out for the sake of their child. 
Going into the shoot, I knew I would have to have my "A" game on more than ever... I wanted to make sure that Hannah was comfortable with me and the camera before we started shooting at all, so we 3 spent some time chatting in the kitchen, simply hanging out in their home, playing with the cat, discussing possible spots to shoot in and laughing a lot. By the time the camera came out and we were ready to shoot, Hannah was having a good time, goofing around with Andrew and doing great in front of the camera. In fact, she let me take some shots that she had said "no, thanks" to during our consultation, so I knew I was gaining her trust and she was feeling more comfortable by the minute. I don't want to discount Andrew's role in this process... he is supremely supportive, funny, and loving with Hannah... it was this combination that allowed us to get some great shots that range from documentary to down right goofy (those are not public) for their new child to look at when the time is right. 
Hannah went into labor on Tuesday and I am anxiously awaiting the news of their child... they choose not to know the sex before the birth... I am sure Hannah and Andrew are home basking in the joy of child birth and taking it easy and I will hear form Andrew soon enough. 
Blessings to Hannah and Andrew and their new baby.. hopefully I will be shooting images of the baby very soon... stay tuned...
Here are a couple of my favorites from the shoot...  

Sabrina and Rob

It is a real blessing in my line of work to be able to shoot someone's wedding then have the gift of being able to shoot images of them during pregnancy and on to pictures of their children. I shot Sabrina and Rob's wedding in June of 2008 and now, here we are closing out 2009 and Sabrina contacted me to do a maternity shoot and I was thrilled. 
I spent some time talking with Rob and Sabrina about what they were looking for in the way of images before they came to the studio. They expressed to me that they wanted classic black and whites with simple poses, something understated that displayed their love and showed Sabrina in her beauty as a pregnant woman. 
The soon to be parents came by my studio after their work day last week and we started shooting. During the shoot, we laughed a lot and saw the baby moving around and we concluded that the baby was having as much fun as we were. Rob and Sabrina are so wonderfully in love with one another, they are a joy to be around. Their love shines so brightly that it infects all those around them.
Here are some of the images from their shoot. I think Sabrina is radiating as many pregnant women do this close to the birth...
Thanks so much Sabrina and Rob for including me in this wonderful time in your lives... I can't wait to meet the little person in a couple of weeks!
 

Mother Earth

Hello all...

I realize I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, I have been busy with the volunteer work I do, plus a good deal of shooting, editing and marketing. I feel like I have been in front of the computer for weeks! I did get out to do a little hiking and disc golf during the nice weather we have had recently, thankfully! I also had a great Valentine day with my sweetie and hope all of you had a wonderful time that day as well.

A while back I took pictures of a family that I have been shooting for several years. Mom was pregnant with their second child and I thought it would be fun to have their first daughter paint Mommy's belly with her finger paints. That shoot went great! We had so much fun painting Mommy, getting paint everywhere and even Daddy got in on the painting as well. During the editing I thought that some stages of the painting on Mommy's belly looked like a globe... and a light bulb went off... why don't have I have my artist friend Gabriel Shaffer come by the studio and paint a pregnant Mommy's belly like a globe. So, last week we did.

Thanks so much to Gabe (drop by his site and check him out) for donating his artistic talents and to Maria for being such a wonderful model. I love the way the image came out and I hope to do more paintings with some local face painters and pregnant Mommy's, so if you know a pregnant lady (preferably one who is late in her term) let me know.

Hope you like it!