Self-Shot Maternity Portraits During Lockdown
Soooo… 2020, what can we say !?!
We’ve all been quarantined in our homes having to make a ton of adjustments to the way we live. For me(Kim) personally, working from home is not new, but having Noah work from home as well has been an adjustment for the both of us. Now that we literally see each other every second with no social breaks or interaction with co-workers (for Noah) or midweek portrait sessions for me, we can both truly say that it hasn’t been all that bad working from home. In fact, we’ve surprisingly had more fun being around each other. Not to mention the growing anticipation of our baby being a huge and pleasant distraction for us.
While our professional calendar looks bleak, it’s so crazy to think how one special week marked on the calendar is all that matters. It is true, the number one thing that has kept us in high spirits has been this little gift. And while, we will not be having a baby shower, a maternity session of our dreams, or family visitations we haven’t let that dampen our spirits.
When we realized that things were drastically changing and that it would be an indefinite period of time for America to get back to normalcy, we decided not to put documenting my maternity on hold any longer! Tbh, I did not want to do this at home, especially with the feeling of being quarantined. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to hire another pro to take these maternity photos for us. I wanted to make a day out of it with Noah, dress up and have fun getting these special photos. Buuuut… that would not happen anytime soon and with my growing belly, time was of the essence! So I bit my tongue and we finally got around to shooting our own maternity portraits, in our tiny apartment!
So for these maternity portraits self-shot during lockdown, we decided to keep it simple and use certain spaces in our home. We set up our gear, I put on makeup for what felt like it had been years, picked out some outfits I already had in my closet and got started. These portraits are far from the idealistic ideas of us frolicking in a field of flowers with mountains in the backdrop. But the most important thing I realized was that it didn’t matter where my maternity pictures would be taken but that we documented them in the time and nature that existed. This truthful not so ideal documentation of my maternity pictures is a story that Noah & I will tell our child, a story that speaks of resilience and hope.
Noah setting up the tripod so he can be in shots too, and me trying to hold a pose and not suck at it. Yeah, even photographers are awkward!
“Um photographer sir, what do I do with my hands? Does this belly touching gooood?”
And then sometime mid-afternoon, the light hit just perfect in this spot and we experimented with harsh light.
It was starting to warm up in our make-shift loft studio and this mama needed some cool air… and simultaneously while fixing my ponytail and Noah taking some test shots this shot quickly became our fav.
Another fav. I feel like I’m channeling Ari Grande… I’m referring to the ponytail of course!
Went crazy experimental on the edits with this one… and yes, I will leave this here.
Some fun multi exposure because why not!?
ABOUT DAVIDANN
DavidAnn is an interracial couple captivated in celebrating love stories for creative, multi-ethnic, cultural and non-traditional couples. Apart from shooting weddings they enjoy celebrating milestones with families, seniors, couples anniversaries, lifestyle and editorial work.
