Maternity Shoot, #1

When I found out that my friend Louise was pregnant, aside from being very excited for Louise and Rohan, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to do my first maternity shoot. Louise and I shared ideas and talked about what she wanted from the shoot, and in the end settled on nude, at the beach, late in the day. Now it was just a matter of timing it all right and getting the planets to align.

Weather needed to be right, and we wanted to leave it as late as possible to make sure there's plenty of belly, but not so late that bub decides that they've had enough of it in there, and that it's time to come out.

In the end, we decided that 35 weeks was the right time, and that we would do another one later, if possible. And then maybe a third with bub after the birth.

The second shoot hasn't happened yet, but it's in the works. We both learnt a lot from the first one, and it'll be great to do it all again.

The planets aligned. We had good weather, mild swell, and some clouds for sunset.

We shot a lot of digital photos, but also a roll of Ilford HP5 through the Rolleiflex (you know, the camera from the 50's (or early 60's) that I've been using for street portraits).

Louise became more and more comfortable as the evening progressed, and the proof is in the pictures. Louise looks gorgeous, and I know that the photos and memories will be treasured.

Bring on shoot #2!

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