This pregnancy photo in the water of Lake Geneva is one of my most beautiful maternity photos. I was shooting throughout Caren’s first pregnancy, doing mini shoots every month to capture her growing belly. Because we had so many shoots to fill our ideas became more inventive, trying to capture some really unique maternity images. For this shoot at 30 weeks, Caren was a really perfect shape for pregnancy pics and still able to move around easily and safely in the water.

One of the interesting things about photography is that no matter how carefully you compose an image there are always things in the frame that you didn’t see at first. For me this maternity photo has this extra something that I wasn’t looking for but managed to capture.

The Story

For her 30 weeks pregnancy photos Caren really wanted to get into the water. We had scheduled the shoot so that it was just an hour before sunset, and the light was beautiful. I wanted to make sure that we did the photos in the lake at the end so that Caren didn’t get too cold and just in case we wanted to take some other styles of image too.

We had already taken some great shots on the little jetty thanks to my assistant husband making Caren laugh, and it was time to get into the lake. I waded in beforehand to find a safe path and then led Caren down to the spot where the light was perfect for what I had in mind. Checking she was ok before I left her, and having my assistant on hand, I returned to shore for some partially submerged images before the big dunk!

I often give my clients prompts to help them feel more comfortable posing. Here I asked Caren to think about what it might be like to be a first-time mum, how she was feeling about holding her baby in her arms. I asked her to look down and then carried on taking photos, eventually resulting in Caren getting down into the water and capturing the partial silhouette images she had asked for.

The unseen emotion

It wasn’t until I got the images back home and off the cards that one in particular stood out for me above all the others. In this image there is a look that, for me, goes beyond personal maternity photographs. Here in the mum-to-be’s glance we can see the maternal instinct, a look that seems to encapsulate all the emotion of pregnancy and the sense that the birth is near.

This aspect of photography is what makes me keep taking pictures. To be able to capture so much emotion in a single picture is rare and I feel especially lucky when my training and experience allows me to see it and capture it in a way I couldn’t have imagined. No matter how much planning goes into a photoshoot it is the collaboration between myself and my client that can bring about an unexpected perfect shot.