6 Tips For Preparing For your Maternity Photoshoot
Guest Blog Written By Ebby Forsyth
Drew and I recently had our maternity shoot with Bec and to say I’m over the moon with all aspects with it would be an understatement. I absolutely love the photos, the adventure we went on to capture them was so much fun, and all in all… Special memories were created and captured. We’re expecting our little girl any day in June and while waiting for her, I’ve written down my top 5 tips in preparing for your own maternity shoot so that you get the best out of it, as we did!
Ebony & Drew soaking up a moment during their Maternity Shoot at Gordon’s Sandbar in Paringa, South Australia.
1. Firstly, don’t question booking the maternity shoot!
Since my session with Bec, I’ve had a few people say I’ve convinced them that the maternity shoot is just as special and important as the newborn shoot. AMEN. I see the maternity shoot as a celebration of the magical journey you, your relationship, your body and your new baby have been on. It’s honouring one of the most sentimental and important stages of your life that you’ll reminisce on forever. It’s giving that little babe tucked up in your belly these beautiful photos of the bump that they first were!
I know what it’s like, when you’re bringing a new baby into the world, there are a lot of expenses and things that need to be bought and things you WANT to buy. We can’t always have it all. But when weighing up if the maternity shoot should be on the list of things to spend money pre baby… I encourage you to look at it like this:
You CAN’T go back in time and get those photos taken.
You CAN buy those cute nursery items later after baby is born.
Those photos WILL live on in your family for generations!
Those ‘things’ WON’T all be loved so hard and be so sentimental later on in life.
Those photos will hold great value for years to come and even if you don’t think that yet, I’m sure you will when this time of your life is a very distant memory.
2. Have a vision, but keep an open mind.
I’m a visionary, so this tip may be a little bias towards my personality… But I do think it’s important to have some idea about what you want. For me, this looked like thinking about what poses I wanted to do, the colours I wanted involved that suited my taste, the angles I like of myself, the overall look and feel I wanted my photos to have. I found it helpful to surf Pinterest and Insta for a few images I adored and shared them with Bec to help communicate what I liked / wanted to do. I do think it’s important however to keep an open mind and be willing to experiment on the day as you never know what you’ll REALLY love once captured. Also, Bec will never copy your inspiration images to a tee, she will use her own creativity to create the images in her own style. Also be open minded towards weather!... Bec will make you look fantastic no matter what mamma nature has planned for your day.
Initially I didn’t want scrub/greenery in my images, but Bec took a couple shots with these backdrops at the Sandbar and I actually really love them. Using multiple backdrops added diversity to the overall gallery Bec delivered.
3. Pick a location that has meaning to you.
This is a biggie for me! I’m super sentimental. Hence why images are important to me.
The more special the ‘spot’ is, the most special the photos will be. See if you can make something work! Be creative and really think… you don’t have to do what anyone else has done before.
For us, we went out to Headings Cliffs near Paringa. We took the boat and went up river a little to Gordan’s Sandbar. Half our shoot was there, in the boat, and up on the cliffs. It was PERFECT. Drew and I spend a lot of time on that part of the river and have made many memories there right back to when we were 15 and 16 years old when we first started dating!
The river, boats, cliffs and sunsets are some of my favourite things in life. I felt right at home, in my element, very comfortable.
4. Choose at least two outfits / looks that are YOU.
I’m not going to lie, I found choosing outfits hard. At first, I thought I was going to wear a gorgeous white dress that showed off my bump. Have my hair down, you know… Look like a pregnant angel haha! BUT, I struggled to find that dress. I then realised I was struggling because that look just wasn’t me. It was what some other people did. I loved those photos of those ‘other people’ but it really didn’t look like me at all. I never wear my hair down, I never wear makeup, I rarely wear pretty dresses… Unless it’s going over bathers of course! So I decided to wear what I’d normally wear in those settings but just a little more strategic. I chose one outfit for the sandbar setting and another outfit for the cliff setting. Bathers and open white shirt for by the water, and a white knit jumper with cream jeans (not done up… because, pregnant!) for up on the cliff. I wouldn’t change a thing! I think it’s really important to consider a second outfit so that your photos have variety.
5. Prepare your partner.
Okay, real talk.
You probably booked the shoot because it’s most important to YOU and not so much something your partner is extremely absolutely excited for? But you really want him to be himself and love on you and the bump without seeming awkward? YEP that was me!
I know Drew. He’s super affectionate and loving when it’s just us but he really doesn’t love being in front of the camera. Quite common for guys I’d say. For me, I found it absolutely beneficial to prepare Drew prior to our photos. It worked fabulously and I was so grateful.
Here’s my tips:
- Have a genuine chat about how important these photos are to you.
- Share your visions with him… the poses you’d like him to do, how you want to be held and looked at. What you don’t want him to do (kindly, obviously)
- Organise their outfit to work with yours. Make sure it’s something they also feel comfortable in and something he might actually wear. Let them know you’d like them to remove their watch, hat, sunnies, things in pockets etc if that’s what you’d like
- Tell him Bec’s a legend and she makes it super easy to be yourself! Bec did say Drew could bring some beers along to loosen up.
Do all of this prior to your shoot, so that you both feel good and love each other before rocking up to your shoot! Nothing worse than having to smile and seem content when you’re actually tense on the inside!
6. (BONUS TIP) Bring music!
I brought my UE Boom with me and had some songs playing from my birth playlist during our photos! (Bec does bring her own UE Boom to shoots, so you could just create a playlist and send to Bec prior to your shoot). Having the music made me feel the love and baby vibes even more which made my experience even nicer as well as letting that emotion into my photos! Highly recommend!
A note from Bec:
Big thank you to Ebby for writing these tips to help future mamas plan their Maternity Shoots. Ebby is a talented Graphic Designer in the Riverland of South Australia, you can follow her on Instagram at @ebony.forsyth. I am really looking forward to photographing Ebby & Drew with their precious little girl earth side later this month.
