Growing, Changing, Mothering. How to make your maternity photos mean more.   

Pregnancy can often feel like a tangled ball of emotions, feelings and growing to-do lists. There’s plenty of unknowns and unchartered waters – whether this is your first baby or fifth. And many mamas will echo the sentiment that each pregnancy passes by quicker than the last as our plates overspill with love, laughter and time spent tending to our littles. Which is where this blog post comes in. 

Pregnancy remains the quietest time we have with our baby before one becomes two, yet it’s also the shortest. Weeks become months and before you can even say ‘birth plan’, your littlest love will be earthside. I’m passionate about creating maternity photos that hold more meaning. So they’re a genuine reflection of this little blip in time – rather than a superficial tick in the box. 

Sentimentality or comfort? Choosing the perfect location 

It’s possible to strike a balance between both –particularly if you’re envisioning a cosy, intimate story told from the comfort of your own home. Or perhaps there’s a location that holds sentimental value for you, like a park where your littles first learnt to ride their bike or a beach where you got engaged. When choosing locations, I always seek out secluded areas and can suggest quieter times of the day to make things as comfy as possible. If privacy is a concern for your maternity photos, I encourage you to reach out and have a chat. There’s plenty of quiet, serene locations to explore and I’m even offering 10% off when you mention the codeword Authentic Maternity – together we can make this a really beautiful experience. 

Blossoming bellies and baring all 

Authentic maternity photos make for beautiful maternity photos: your session should be a celebration of your body changing. However, I empathise with the feelings of vulnerability and sensitivity that can be equally overwhelming. Despite being the home to a growing babe, how we feel about our bodies and appearance can be up-and-down – ranging from sheer appreciation and wonderment, to uncertainty and fragility.  

Coming to terms with the change pregnancy brings can be made easier through journaling. Axel & Ash create a beautiful pregnancy journal that makes for a sacred space to pour our loudest and quietest thoughts and feelings. Working through the weekly prompts can help to unearth hesitations around your maternity photos, showing your bare belly and what it means to document your pregnancy. 

Maternity photos to last a lifetime

There’s many layers to time capsuling your pregnancy. Being able to share the photos with your littles as their curiosity around how they came to be grows alongside them, pointing to their own bellies and exclaiming in delight that they too, “have a baby in there!”. Not to mention the emotion that’s stirred by looking back on the nine months you spent growing, changing and mothering – it deserves to be remembered just as much as newborn photos and family heirlooms. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts and feelings around maternity photos – do they spark curiosity or seem a little scary? Let’s connect over email.