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Women I've Shot

Pregnancy & Birth: This is Jacky

Pregnancy-Photography-Cape-Town-010--by-Leah-Hawker-Photography

My beautiful sister Jacky fell pregnant with her first daughter in 2008. She was one of the first pregnant figures I worked with and I documented her a total of about seven times during her two pregnancies.

I shot a small series of images of her in our Grandmothers shawl (below and above pictures), as well as a series of silhouettes, images with her husband and with her daughters (during pregnancy & after birth). Here are a selection of the ones I find most special.

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My Sister is the second oldest of the younger tier of our (female dominated) family on my Mothers side and was the first to have children, two daughters, confirming a recent comment about our family as “A Coven of Women” (which makes me smile).

I regret not documenting her first daughters “birth-day” but was terribly sick at the time and only got to photograph her a while later.

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During Jacky’s second pregnancy I documented her in studio and on the beach with her little girl.

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They stood on the beach for me, early one morning, when Jacky was about eight months pregnant.
Windswept on a beautiful Cape Town day these images are memorable for the sweet moments they shared talking about the soon-to-be new member of their family.

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We shot a series of the two in studio, all soft natural light. I’ve realised how much I prefer a more “honest” and natural approach to documenting this kind of subject matter, thus I will almost always use available light and or outdoor spaces.

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Her second babe arrived in June 2011 and I photographed their first moments together just hours after birth. Jacky stared at each perfect little piece of her while I captured these moments.

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