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

Most Certainly a Queen

Erica was inspired to do a glamour session after a few recent changes in her life made her realise if she didn't do something like this now, then when would she do it. Once the thought formed in her mind, it became etched in stone and she knew she wanted to capture herself in a unique way that would make her feel liberated and empowered. She wanted to shatter some of her comfort zones within. At the same tim, she wanted to not only feel beautiful but also radiate from the inside out. The certainly was not a skin deep journey for Erica, but rather the first step into the person she'd always been but was too scared to let out. Erica told me the fabulous story of how she had made a tutu for her three year old God daughter, just to try a new DIY project. Memories of her not so graceful ballerina days flooded back and in the midst of the production, the little girl was shown a photo of the "work in progress" and she blurted out that "Aunty Erie looks like a princess!". To which Erica's precarious retort was "Oh no, Auntie Erie may look like a princess, but she most certainly is a QUEEN!" And thus sparked an idea. Although Erica knows she couldn't recreate the glimmer in her god daughter's eyes that day, it was that majestic twinkle that inspired the making of the dress.

We decided to do the shoot at Tom Moore's jungle but when we arrived, there was only the last of the sun just disappearing behind the hilltops beyond. Poor Erica was so nervous at the idea of making real all her ideas that she had slipped into the Swizzle Inn for a few cocktails on her way to the shoot with her friend Shayla for support and constant jokes. But we chased to the highest point we could to capture the last glimpse of sun and in that particular spot, the wind was howling a gale off the south shore. We'd had visions of peaceful draped fabric but instead the material clung to Erica in the powerful breeze.

Next, Erica put on her fabulous creation which she had stayed up making late into the night before. It was layer upon layer of peachy flowy tulle and looked so fabulous as a skirt as she wandered through the tunnels of cherry trees.

Erica had wanted something really different for her shoot and not just a simple beauty session so she had her eye make up done in a very dramatic way for effect. We had so much fun on the shoot. Erica was trying desperately to not make what she called the "pouty fish face" which became especially difficult later as it grew colder and she was wet and her teeth were chattering.

Erica was such a trooper in the itchy grass they I insisted she lie down in for the perfect shot. The little bugs were apparently relentless, but Erica made it look like the softest sweetest experience of her life.

The darkness was falling fast, but lastly, we knew we wanted to have a few shots in the lagoon. I think the lack of light adds to the mood of the images in the water, but the poor girl was frozen.

It was officially dark when Erica emerged from the lagoon when she suddenly remembered she had brought glitter! Her friend Shayla came to the rescue and put on her cell phone light and we took a few last shots of Erica covered in glitter which worked a charm since she was soaking wet so they stuck as if with glue. I love the eerie effect of the weak phone light and think these last images are so hauntingly beautiful.

Thank you Erica for being such a star on the shoot. From the howling winds, scratchy grasses, biting bugs, freezing waters, and crazy amounts of glitter that you later had to get out of your hair, car and house, it was all worth it for the final images are glorious. Aside from all that you had to overcome, you were also insanely brave by simply getting over your own fears and shyness to make some truly beautiful images of yourself that I know you will look back on one day many years from now and be so so happy you took that risk. Congratulations. xxxx