Christine, Gareth, Grayson, Capri and the bump

This was Christine's third maternity session with me and so she wanted to make it really special and different. You may remember her maternity session from when she was pregnant with Capri, and before that, Grayson. We brainstormed for ages and finally decided upon Tom Moore's where we packed loads in from darling portraits with the family, and afterwards, some dreamy shots of the mama-to-be on her own. The whole shoot was just lovely to photograph and edit so have been bursting to share but what with homeschooling my littles these days, time is a little more precious. 

We didn't even intend it in the beginning, but the feel of the family part of the shoot ended up very natural and back to nature. 

Sweet little Capri and Grayson were troopers for all my suggestions and requests. I had a vision of all their hands on her belly and we arrived pretty close to my imaginings which was not easy, but worth it.

 

 

Capri was not even two when her little brother was born and so still very much a baby herself.

 

Little Grayson is a typical busy toddler boy but never too busy for a cuddle with his mama bear.

 

So this image has a history behind my vision. I have this mosaics statue made by Shelly Hamil and it is of a woman from the neck down (sounds creepy that she is headless but it isn't) and I love it. Shelly wanted to do a trade of a statue for a family session and I was thrilled but I had a very clear idea of how I wanted the next statue. I wanted her to have disproportionately long legs with a regular upper body. Sadly, that statue never came to be, but when Christine said she was too crazy in her life to think about what to do for the shoot and that she was going to leave it up to me to decide, I was thrilled with the carte blanche and knew I would make my dream of a long legged beauty happen. All the better a bulbous bellied long legged beauty. I am madly in love with the Grecian look I gave her and the way the dress turned out - much better than anticipated and all thrown together with the littles quietly melting as it was late.

Christine is such a good sport - she knows that it is not easy to get certain shots and she is willing to go the extra mile to make some magic happen. In this case, get in the water in a huge billowing skirt. This is actually the same dress I made for Julia in my Snow Queen shoot but I just folded down the bodice bit (that obviously would not be fitting over Christine's belly!). It was even still filled with all the feathers from the last shoot which I actually think adds to the romance of the dress.

Floating when pregnant is not easy feat, and to make it look effortless is even more challenging so was very proud of Christine for all her hard work. Love the results so worth it.

Thanks to the four of you for your patience and cooperation to make yet again, another fabulously unforgettable shoot. There is no way baby number three will say you dropped the ball for his maternity session! Much love to you all xxx