The Special Milestone | Maternity Portrait Session by NYC Photographer
I would like to take this opportunity and talk about maternity portrait sessions. The negative would be first… Generally speaking, in our studio, we do not offer hair/makeup or clothing. The reason being is that not every “standard” makeup will look well on all different women. Also, not all makeup artists are able to universally fully satisfy the look that mommy-to-be is going for. The last thing we would like to do is to capture anyone when they aren’t happy – that is not what sessions are about. The same goes for hair. Another factor is time. For those who are familiar will know and those who aren’t familiar… hair and make-up could easily take several hours preparing. It is the time that another client can utilize for their session and capture their memories.
Therefore, we encourage our mommies-to-be, to have hair/makeup ready to go when you come into the studio or for the session. There was a time when we used to offer maternity dresses. But I’ll never forget when I had a maternity session, where a mommy was about 5’10” and the dress was photographed well on her and that evening, the young lady was about 5′ and the dress didn’t flatter her at all. It was upsetting and disappointing not to be able to deliver the service we intended to with the looks we intended to. Yes, we improvised, and in the end, both clients were very happy, however, at that moment awkward circumstances have occurred that ought to be avoided. Therefore, to minimize discomfort, we decided not to continue offering hair/makeup/wardrobe. But, we offer our services…
In the last 12 years of Picture Perfect NY being in existence, I’ve yet to meet a mommy-to-be who came into the studio and felt full of energy and excitement. I understand, by proxy, how the woman is feeling. I have four kids. It is a time in a woman’s life when she’s singlehandedly raising and nurturing another life inside her. This puts lots of stress on the woman, anxiety, often self-doubt. Therefore, when the mommy-to-be comes in for a maternity session, it often goes against her current feelings and it is my responsibility as a photographer to capture the positive attributes of my clients.
Once the outfit is on, hair/make-up is ready, we start working. Whether I am at the client’s house, in the studio or somewhere on location, the first set of images, I know the client won’t necessarily like. The reason for that is as we start working and mommy-to-be is experiencing the session, regardless of the preparation work and verbal explanation, once the person is in front of the camera, doing what needs to be done, the sensations are different then it is explained. The experience is real! Therefore, we start slow, with basic poses, basic lighting.
We encourage partners to join in on the session, as it adds an element of familiarity as well as captures the start or continuation of the family.
We utilize the landscapes. Often our clients aren’t from the NYC area and their goal is to (1) capture this milestone in their life and (2) capture the location where they are.
Sometimes, we get very lucky with location, it’s as if this place was reserved for just us.
With certain clients, we can take the editing to the next level and get more creative. All while maintaining the theme of keeping it classy and timeless
The goal from every session is to utilize the elements that are present at the moment and bring out the best in people.
When it rains… we capture. It is an opportunity to create some very unique pictures. We jump at these opportunities.
We appreciate the opportunity to be with families as they are starting their journey.
