THE POWER OF A PREGNANCY PORTRAIT
March 22, 2024
A Fleeting Time to Capture Forever
Pregnancy. The start of an incredible life journey and such a special time of miraculous and magical changes to your body as you grow your baby. For many this can seem like a fleeting time in their lives once their bundle of joy arrives and the busyness of parenthood begins.
Preserving your pregnancy in portraiture allows you an everlasting memory of this wonderful and unique period in your life. One to share with loved ones and reflect on as a family in the future.
There really is only one chance to capture this amazing time so it’s worth considering what a pregnancy portrait would mean for you, say “goodbye bump” and “hello baby”! Because in years to come, you may just forget what it felt like to be eagerly anticipating your little one’s arrival.
As well as choosing framed portraits, our clients often use their pregnancy shoot as the start of their Life Box or Life Album where we help capture the poignant stages of family life all beautifully presented together in one place documenting their, or your family’s unique story.
Studio Comfort
The location of a pregnancy portrait can really make the difference as to how we capture you and your bump, as well as what it says about you and how you’d like to remember your experience.
We’ve used a plethora of locations to showcase our expectant mothers and their bumps over the years, all of which add their own creative vibe.
Using our studio setting as a blank canvas we create compelling images by harnessing clean lines and simple tones. The results lend themselves wonderfully to black and white images, allowing us to highlight the shape of a bump and the incredible changes of the mother to be’s body producing slightly more abstract portraits to focus on the new life being brought to the world.
Your portrait could be a personal reflective image taken on your own, or equally you could choose to include your loved ones. If you already have children then including them is a really lovely way to illustrate the unique connections between them, you and the imminent arrival.
You may like to take the opportunity to share this moment with your partner. In these portraits we have used the shapes of these expectant parents to create intrigue in an abstract composition firstly working with solid shapes and lines ….
…then experimenting with shadows to accentuate the bump celebrating the power and beauty of this blooming mother to be.
Gull or Bouy?
Venturing out of the studio you are given the scope to choose a location that has personal significance or special meaning to you as a family, giving you a beautiful landscape setting and a beautiful moment in time.
A beach location allows variety and wonderful versatility. We know how to time it just right to catch the sun setting - a stunning time of day offering a delightful warm glow, to rival your own! This time of the day allows us to work with the shadows and silhouettes cast from the sun to again, showcase your bump.
It’s always lovely to see our couples taking a grounded moment together to reflect on the future as they stand before the horizon with waves lapping at their feet and all the romance of a glowing sunset.
If a more abstract, bolder image is your vision then there are some iconic props that can be incorporated into your shoot mixing natural and man made lines for a more contemporary feel such as the rustic groins and bright solid beach huts.
Fields of Gold
If you are a country lover then you may prefer a more rural location. There’s nowhere more dreamy than a sweeping field of grasses or crops bathed as the seasonal sun lowers to create the most stunning of golden backdrops. It can really make for a very elegant, feminine portrait whilst capturing that irresistible carefree summer feeling.
In contrast the fields can also offer opportunities for an unexpectedly bold and striking portrait. By using this epic stack of hay bales with its towering proportions we’ve posed this mother-to-be as she looks out into the future ahead, the curves of her perfectly formed bump contrasting with the linear geometry of the structure she leans on.
Long grasses can be great for framing the human form. We’ve framed this couple as the sun’s glow behind them creates their silhouettes whilst representing the ever dreamy pregnancy glow that is often talked about.
The Evolution of a Family
Planning a portrait that can develop and evolve as your family does can create a series of very special, symbolic and clever portraits. These family images convey the very miracle of human life as the baby curled inside their mother’s womb becomes a poignant part of the family portrait. Keeping consistency with location and stances serves to amplify this.
The Timing is Right
You may come to your shoot knowing exactly how and where you will display your pregnancy portraits but if you do need a helping hand then we are here to guide you through all of the options.
You may like to consider whether you will be hanging your portrait on the wall and if so, what colours would suit the space and what size will give it your required prominence or, if it’s a part of a series of portraits, how it sits with others.
It may be that you’ve decided to start documenting your child’s life all in one place using one of our gorgeous Life Boxes or Life Albums. In this case you may like to think of the milestones that you are keen to capture in years to come and the style and locations best to do this.
To start a discussion or book your shoot, to buy vouchers for the expectant mother in your life or to chat through ideas give us a call on 01243 375551 or email us at [email protected] - we look forward to hearing from you!
Kelly x
Kelly Hearn A.B.I.P.P - A.M.P.A