Jeremy and I don’t share a lot of personal stuff online, but that is about to change as we gear up to welcome a new addition to the family. We would love to start sharing with you how we document our own family life, and also how we preserve and display those memories.
Starting with pregnancy.
I have long loved photographing pregnancy, as has Jeremy. In fact when I first visited his studio in Crows Nest Sydney many years ago, I was immediately taken by two huge maternity portraits he had on display, and how beautifully he captured them. Sadly, I never had portraits taken when I was pregnant with Toby 11 years ago, and so since I launched Heartstory, I have captured women in the way that I wish I’d had my own memories captured.
Although maternity portraits have become more popular over the last several years, we still don’t do a lot of them. At times I’ve felt sad when women have privately told me that they didn’t want too much focus on me taking solo portraits of them because they felt that it was self indulgent, or that they wouldn’t know what to do with photos of themselves afterwards. Most of us have body image stress follow us our whole lives, and it’s something we never really overcome or rise above. I wish that pregnancy could give all of us at the very least, a temporary break from that. It’s this one time when we have no choice but to accept our bodies in an entirely different way to normal every day life. It’s an uncontrollable and life changing journey which can be simultaneously miraculous and horrifying. Some women find that they love their pregnant bodies more than they’ve ever loved their non-pregnant bodies. And it certainly seems a more natural thing to allow ourselves to love our bodies when we know they are serving the purpose of bringing such a beautiful gift into the world, don’t you think?
Pregnancy is transformative. It’s empowering. It’s vulnerable. It’s beautiful. What better time for some beautiful photographs.
First, pregnancy progress portraits…
Together Jeremy and I set about documenting my pregnancy with fun progress images every 4 weeks, starting when I was 20 weeks pregnant. This is something anyone can do for themselves, and I would love to encourage mums-to-be to start here and see if it changes your ideas about being photographed while you’re pregnant. The key is to be consistent, and use the same pose/angle for each set of of shots, so you can really see the changes in your body. I enjoyed playing with my clothing too, and the background I was being photographed in front of, because I wanted to look back at these images in decades time and see my fashion sense, and the places I’d chosen to really get the memories of time and place flowing.
Also, a family portrait session…
I’m only 5’5″ and so I knew that I would reach my nicest pregnant shape by 30-32 weeks and after that I would probably feel too big and uncomfortable. So we booked a professional family shoot to take place around that time. We chose a photographer who would focus more on our family connections than my belly because we knew that we had our own time to get creative with solo portraits. We love the photos that Kim took of us and we were sure to have her take portraits us looking at the camera as we want our child to grow up seeing our love for him/her in our eyes when he/she looks at these pictures on the wall. These photos are just as much for future him/her, as they are about celebrating our last weeks as a family of three.
And finally, some unique and creative maternity portraits, by us
Around the same time, Jeremy and I started planning some super special portraits of me on my own. Now, I was not at all well at 30 weeks. I had dangerously low iron and it was an absolute struggle to do anything physical for a few weeks. I was super tired and very pale, but when I looked at my naked body in the mirror, I was amazed. I wanted it captured because I knew that if I felt like this about it now, imagine how I’d feel in 20 years. Admittedly, I was also appalled by how flabby and horrible my thighs looked and how much muscle definition I’d lost, but I know as a photographer how caught up people get in small details they hate about themselves that others can barely even see, and that barely translate in a picture when all the other elements have been put together skilfully. So I let it go.
Mums and mums-to be, let me promise you, there is nothing self indulgent about having maternity portraits taken. This idea of self indulgence comes from the fact that as women and mums we are conditioned to put everything and everyone else before us (even if secretly we wish we didn’t have to!). All you need to do is give yourself permission to celebrate what is an incredibly unique and special time in your life, and then just enjoy the moment. Every single pregnant woman has been engrossed with thoughts of how bizarre and wonderful it is to grow a human being inside their body. It really is truly amazing. So if there’s only one time you do something like this, it should be this time. Especially given you are soon about to devote 100% of your time and body to ensuring a tiny helpless human being is nourished and cared for. Taking the time to do this is enormously good for your self esteem and your future self with thank you.
Each pregnancy is completely unique, and has it’s own set of joys, challenges and new things to learn. For me, this pregnancy was very much about gratefulness. I am incredibly grateful at the age of 41 to have fallen pregnant so quickly, to have had such a healthy textbook pregnancy, to have a husband who is so excited to be a Dad and has been the most supportive and loving rock for me as I struggled through morning sickness, shooting while pregnant and figuring out how to step away from the business and let him take over. I am grateful for the opportunity to go through this experience again as an older mum, with less anxiety and more experience, with a gorgeous nearly 11 year old who is beyond thrilled to finally be a big brother. I can’t wait to meet this little human and see how he/she changes our lives and fits in with what we’ve already built. I guess for this reason, it was easy for me to want to celebrate and document every step of this journey. I know it’s not like that for every woman or every pregnancy. But I believe in the power of photography and the space it can help create for you to see and be seen, in exactly the way you need.
The last photo in this series is my favourite photo of me ever. It is the perfect combination of Jez and myself combined… our creative vision, our love and this moment in time.
We would love to encourage more women in Canberra to have maternity portraits taken. We live in a visually diverse city and can celebrate this time with unique and creative portraits in any season. You don’t have to take your kit off (but it feels really great when you do, believe me!) You can do urban, nature, quirky or classic. You can include your spouse/partner and the kids if you like, but let us use some of the time just for you. Let us create something that you’re really going to love and want to hang proudly on your wall. Let us show you how extraordinary you are. Celebrate being a woman, doing one of the most amazing things that women can do. We think you’re amazing, and so does everyone who loves you.
Jeremy took the first three images in this set when we went on our babymoon to the beautiful Kim’s Beachside Retreat on the central coast when I was around 35/36 weeks pregnant.
The umbrella ones were the most fun and spontaneous. We had planned on going to the river for a swim on a really hot day and were going to do my 36 week progress photo under the bridge while we were there, but on the way there, a sudden storm blew up so we had to change plans. We ended up going to the museum and shooting in the rain, and I just love how unique the set turned out to be! It was so much fun! But yes I did have a few little embarrassed panics over stripping off in a public place and wondering what would end up on the CCTV!!!
We plan to make all our pregnancy portraits into a book, with a couple of our favourites on the walls, and I will share some pictures of that with you when they’re done.
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our lives!
Katie xo
