Should i get maternity photos?

Written By Sarah Austin

Pregnancy is this special slice of your life. It’s such a fraction of a moment. Nine months of perhaps sickness, of finally being warm all the time and cold no more, of watching your belly grow with delight instead of judgement, nine tiny months of blooming with this culminating end result of a living human being wriggling on your chest, wet and warm, and yours forevermore.

You might not believe it if you’re currently anticipating the arrival of your bundle of joy, but you will one day forget how those kicks feel. You’ll have a memory of the feeling, but my youngest is six year old now, and when I try to reach back into my mind to find how she felt inside me, I remember it viscerally, but it’s also like trying to grab at a bubble—as soon as you touch it, it’s gone. In the words of the great Rose Dawson, “he exists now only in my memory.” What helps me the most with remembering what those stirs of life felt like is watching videos or looking at photos of her actually in my belly—although, my troll of a baby would always stop as soon as I got the camera out or put her dad’s anticipatory hand on my belly.

One way to capture this time, like a dragonfly in amber, is the documentary evidence of a maternity photoshoot.

Doula Sarah Austin posing with her first pregnant belly in Severna Park, Maryland.

Image: HeatherBlairPhotography. Me pregnant with my first baby.

I cherish these pictures to no end. I’ll be vulnerable and honest here that when I was pregnant, it was the only time in my life up until then that I was absolutely in love with my body. I am a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl (even when I did venture into a club in my college years, I wore my Chucks because heels would have caused me to break my neck with all those Long Island Iced Teas) rarely wearing form fitting clothes. In my thirties, I have found myself holding up Costco shirts and thinking in Bilbo-esque terms:

So, style is not what I would call my forte. But let me tell you, I was all about those maternity clothes. I loved wearing so many dresses and shirts that hugged that growing magical belly of mine, fully of life and movement.

I knew from the start I would need to honor this sacred time in my life with photos. I’ve written about my sentimentalism before and mentioned my family had a fire when I was two years old. Everyone was safe, but we lost everything in the home. I think that’s when I started to want to hold on to every little thing. I have notes from my second grade best friend whom I haven’t seen in over twenty years, but I can’t bring myself to part with them.

My older brother lost most of his baby pictures in that fire and I have only found one picture of my mom with me in her belly.

So I made it my own personal mission to document the hell out of my pregnancy. I had a ball—I know I was truly lucky in that I had what is known as a unicorn pregnancy—one in which I only threw up twice and I found such peace and nourishment of my soul in growing the living being within. Not to say that those who threw up throughout pregnancy aren’t as happy as I was—but it helped that I loved being pregnant.

 

Pregnant client in Severna Park for pregnancy photoshoot.

Image: SarahJordanPhotography. This is from an always gorgeously fashioned past client and it makes me think of a reimagined life of Mary Shelley where she actually got her happy ending.

Maternity photos capture what selfies and well intentioned partners cannot—a professional photographer will help you know how to pose, will help with what colors suit you, will help you feel at ease and excited for the day’s unfoldings.

The best time to book your maternity photoshoot is between 32-36 weeks.

If you wait much longer after 36 weeks, you might run out of time to get those photos! But, you also tend to get most uncomfortable at the very end when baby is almost ready to come Earthside.

I recommend you review a number of maternity photographer’s websites to find what really matches your style. For my second baby, as a t-shirt and jeans kind of girl, I was surprised I decided to go with a high glam kind of photographer who included all the clothes with her shoot. I felt like a movie star that day with my toddler, husband, and my bun in the oven.

Sarah Austin, doula, poses for her maternity pictures with baby number 2.

Image: Henley Design Studio. Me pregnant with my then unknown car baby.

You don’t have to get all glammed up for them and be inside a studio—I love these outdoor photos that look so peaceful and full of joy.

Image: @revivalfamilies.

What a vibe.

I love the simple elegance of these photos. Such a beautiful mama. Let me tell you, I recently had a photoshoot for my business and that feminine urge to throw on a hat was hard for me to resist. This past client is absolutely stunning.

In the Annapolis area especially, there are some wild price ranges for these photos. Different photographers offer different services included, such as providing all the dresses, full make-up and hair, etc.

But some of my favorite maternity shoots I’ve seen are the simple outdoor fairie goddess style. Pinterest is fully of inspiration, so find what you like and look for a photographer to emulate that style.

 I’m a little obsessed with sunflowers, so I love this idea so much.

Maternity photos are really a work of art. Something to be displayed and cherished.

If you’re looking for a less conventional option, there are photographers who do underwater photoshoots!

This photographer is the only one I know of who offers these amazing underwater maternity shoots. She’s well worth the 1.5 hour drive, if you ask me. Henley Design Studio is just outside of Harrisburg, PA.

Water and pregnancy just work well together. It feels weightless to be in a pool fully pregnant, and I love all the analogies about waves and contractions; Birth is like the ocean- powerful and deep, with hidden undercurrents that float along and surprise you.  

So I love the idea of underwater pictures of the pregnant body, flowing and mythical, private yet open.

 

These photos hold steady a time that will eventually be such a blur.

 

Should I do a maternity shoot or newborn shoot?

This is such a personal question. So many women aren’t comfortable in their pregnant bodies and just want to focus on their babies after they arrive. I totally understand this inclination. Only you can make this choice for yourself.

I recently asked some friends if they still love their maternity pictures years later—everyone that got photos loves them still, but one friend commented:

“I will say, I never had pictures done because I felt huge and not like other “cute” pregnant people. But now, I sorely regret it. I wish I had more pictures of when I was pregnant.”

This absolutely broke my heart and I wanted to hug this mom up so hard.

I asked her if I could share her words and she said yes, that she wanted to warn other moms not to miss this chance.

Nine months is such a small slice in the pie of life. Don’t miss it.

Even if you don’t love how you look—I’m just going to give everyone the heads up that I gained about 60 pounds when I was pregnant with my first. I went kindof overboard. There was one incident where my midwife asked me about my diet. She asked what I had for breakfast that morning. I told her a donut and she told me to try eggs with toast.

I had lied to her—I had had two donuts. I really did try to eat well, but I worked up until the week before my daughter came (and only stopped then because the semester ended), and I just needed something quick in the morning.

So while I was not a tiny pregnant lady, I felt just so full of life and hope and possibilities. I love to see that in new birth doula clients that I meet—full of such hope.

Even if you don’t want a full out maternity shoot—take pictures of yourself. Take them all. Make sure you get that ‘last belly before baby is here’ photo, if you can.

 

Maternity Vs Newborn photos

If it’s in the budget, and you can make it work- get both. I’m not trying to sell you any of my services- I don’t offer those services. I just know I would have regretted not getting both for my babies, so I’m sharing my experience. AND Many photographers offer a bunded discount package for maternity, newborn, and beyond. I know for fact that Autumn Ka’Ree Photography has an awesome discount for bundling.

I had more than a few photoshoots with my first baby in that first year and overheard my uncle saying I had “first child syndrome.” Well, yes, maybe I did.

Children have this unique way of changing so much seemingly overnight. And my postpartum mom brain was so scared I would forget—that I would forget where each of her freckles were if I didn’t take pictures, or how the lines of her feet would change so much in that first year, how those chonker thighs from all that breastmilk would grow long and lean as she learned to climb things on the playground so high up that it made me more than a little nervous. I wanted to capture every fleeting moment.

The sandart of motherhood—the temporariness of each unfolding month of an infant’s first year—felt like it would just slip through my fingers if I didn’t hold on to something tangible like a photograph.

I also had to do a breastfeeding photoshoot to honor that journey and I am so glad I did so. That’s a post for another day though.

 

Good luck on your pregnancy journey and I hope you can look back on it in 20 years and get to see the images of your now college age child as they grew inside you. Motherhood is sacred and magical.

Whatever way you decide to honor it, I hope it brings you joy for years to come.

Thank you to all the amazing clients who shared their photos and their thoughts. And thank you to all the photographers who made these women fall in love with their pregnant bodies at little bit more. I truly appreciate it.

Sarah Austin
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