Anna's Blog

Pregnancy Portraits with beautiful fabrics

I encourage my clients to bring in fabrics for their fine art maternity portrait sessions that they find beautiful to make their session extra special and personal.  Here are some of my recent favorites both with gorgeous fabrics from india...

Vintage Maternity Portraits - Veils and Orchids

I love including significant items into portraits to make them more special and timeless. For maternity sessions, I encourage women to bring fabrics and flowers that they love.  For this recent session, Maria brought in her *gorgeous* veil from her wedding as well as orchids which were her wedding flower.  Here are some of my favorite from the session with a vintage flavor...

Tattoo Maternity Follow-up - the babies are here!

Here are a couple of pics to follow up from my maternity tattoo session with the newborn sessions...

One from a newborn photography session in the studio...Meet Trulee

And this one done as a natural light newborn session in the home - Meet Carter and Isiah

Things to Consider for a Professional Pregnancy Portrait

This is an article I wrote for a series on maternity and newborn photography....

Professional pregnancy portraits have become very popular in the last ten years.  Women want to capture the pregnancy as a specific time in their life, and often include other family members in the photos as well to celebrate and document their family's evolution.  There are some key elements to consider when going about getting professional maternity photography, such as when to do the session and what to wear.

The timing of the maternity session is very important. You do not want to do the session too early and not have an impressive belly, but you do not want to wait so late so that the woman is swollen in the feet and ankles and miserable. Given these parameters, 32 to 36 weeks is a good, happy medium that usually works well. Of course if the woman is having multiples, then adjust the time accordingly.

Another consideration for the maternity session is who will be in the photos? The pregnant woman will be there of course, but should there be photos done with the partner? Are there already other children eagerly awaiting the birth of their sibling to be included in the session? This is a great time to do some family portraits before the family dynamics change with the new addition.  Some shots should also be done of the woman by herself as a more private study of the female form and the beauty of the new life growing inside of her.

Where should the maternity session be done? Most maternity sessions involve showing a good deal of skin, so the woman should consider whether she would be comfortable doing that in public space like the beach or a meadow or a more edgey urban city look, or whether she would prefer the privacy of a photography studio or home session.

The desired style of the resulting images should also be carefully considered. Should they be more moody and shadowy, or light and airy, more traditional, or sexy, or fun and funky? Figuring out the style or styles of the pregnancy portraits can be done by looking on the internet for examples of other maternity photography that you like.

After having figured out the location and the styles, figuring out what to wear should be a bit easier now.  For maternity sessions, the choice of what to wear includes; wearing clothes with the belly showing, doing semi-nudes with clothing, bathing suits or lingerie, doing semi-nudes with fabrics and sheers, or full nude maternity photography.

After having decided to do the session, another thing to think about is where to put the resulting prints from the session. If they are family portraits that are clothed, they may be able to hang  anywhere in the house. If they are more black&white nude pregnancy portraits it may be better to hang these in the bedroom.  Another great choice is to consider a fine art maternity album for the images.

Complementing the maternity portrait session with a newborn photography session after the baby is born is an excellent idea. Once you have professional photographs of the pregnancy, putting professional newborn portraits into the same room or album can really finish up the project and create a family keepsake that will be treasured for generations.

Anna Myers is a widely acclaimed Bay Area Pregnancy Photographer who specializes in artistic maternity photography.

Maternity Session with One Hot Mama

This maternity session was sooo fun. We laughed and laughed as we watched little Jordan changing shape in her belly during the session. We did some fashion, contemporary shots, shots with fabrics as well as fine art and black and white silhouette, and artistic nude maternity portraits.  Here is a sampling of some of my favorites...

Circling Back

It is always so exciting when my clients families grow. 

I love to be part of that time when they are going
from one number to the next, especially when I was there for the last time.  These images are some of my favorites that were assembled as framed pieces for Jen and Dan's new baby boy - the maternity session with their two year old, and the newborn collage featuring the new family interacting with the baby.

Grandmother's Lace

Here is one of my recent favorites - a client brought in lace that was her grandmothers, and she had used this lace in her wedding.  Now she wanted to incorporate it into her maternity session.

Sheer fabrics are great for maternity sessions - and it is way more cool when the fabric has meaning and history. Love that!

 

New Store Display in San Francisco

I just found a fantastic maternity boutique in San Francisco...  It is called Mom's the Word and it is located on Sacramento St.  Way chic maternity wear for the very hip Mama-to-be!  And they selected me for their photographer of the quarter.  My maternity and newborn photography will be featured on their walls for the next 3 months.

But I can still say wihtout bias that their clothes are spot on for the modern Mama, and their service is great! Check them out online at momsthewordmaternity.com.  They have locations in both San Francisco and Walnut Creek.