Pregnancy photoshoot – Page 2

Katja was on holiday in Cape Town when I met her in 2012, she was 6.5 months pregnant with Tim. Our idea was to take some natural light portraits of her and her partner and a few images of her alone.

We shot at the reservoir near Rhodes Memorial. I had planned to have her in the water but there were two eco-officers lying on the far side wagging their fingers at me when we started to wade in to the water so instead I worked with her at the waters edge.

It improves a shoot when your subject is comfortable or at least feels she can say when she isn’t. I asked Katja if she was alright posing totally nude for a few shots at this location, knowing the two officers were likely watching from the far side in-between napping. She agreed, and this image below is by far my favourite from the day. It is feminine, magical and has a soft, dreamy vulnerability about it which reflects Katja’s shy beauty.

I used a light colour filter on the background of the image in post production to enhance it a bit bit otherwise the image remains natural.

I photographed Elloise at 8.5 months pregnant which was approximately two and a half weeks before her son Daniel was born. She arrived in the studio just as Sabian Ransome, one of my Playboy Playmates and also a fitness model was changing to leave from a shoot with me. The comparison at that moment, Elloise pointed out, of their two bodies was quite something.

The shoot was very simple and natural. I shot some images of her in her clothes with the natural light that was coming into our studio and then this series (shown here) which I lit to highlight her shape. It’s a lighting style I’ve used before with pregnant women but I positioned the lights on both sides of her and not so far back as I wanted to capture more detail in her face and on her body as apposed to just a very fine line of silhouette.

Just a few weeks later and about 9 hours after her natural home birth I photographed this portrait which I find very special… Daniel, just a few hours old with his Mother on the left and Grandmother on the right. Three generations, so much love and pride… Photographing women at this changing point in their lives is repeatedly inspirational and moving.