Tag: bognor regis family portraits

Reasons For a Maternity Photo Shoot

REASONS FOR A MATERNITY PHOTO SHOOT

You are counting down the days until the arrival of your little one which is a truly magical experience and you might be considering having a maternity photo shoot. However you may feel unsure about this because of the changes to your body and even possibly the cost.

In this blog I will go through the seven reasons for a maternity photo shoot….there are of course more than seven! But these are the one I feel are the most important.

DOCUMENTS YOUR JOURNEY INTO MOTHERHOOD

A maternity photo shoot is about documenting the incredible journey that pregnancy is and allows you to focus on the new life your body is creating. This is a moment you won’t get back whether you’ve been pregnant before or plan to have more. Each pregnancy can be different and bring its own set of challenges. This photoshoot is about your own journey into motherhood and will remind you of the excitement and joy that comes with pregnancy.

TIME FOR YOU TO FEEL FABULOUS

Often during pregnancy you might not feel your best. The changes to your body and hormones can really have an effect on how you feel about yourself. Maternity photoshoots are the perfect reason to do your hair and makeup and spend some time for you to revel in the beauty of your body and all the amazing work it’s been doing! So many ladies come in and tell me they don’t feel beautiful, but by the time we are finished the shoot every single one has left feeling fabulous!

QUALITY TIME WITH YOUR PARTNER

Another reason for a maternity photo shoot is that it’s a great opportunity to spend time with your partner and to reflect on the life you have created together. So much will change once your baby arrives so getting a photograph of your family before, is a beautiful memory to capture. A maternity photo shoot with your partner is a real bonding experience and gives you time to focus on each other.

REVEAL THE GENDER

A maternity photo shoot can be a fun way to reveal the gender of your baby. There are so many fun ways to announce your little ones gender and it’s become increasingly popular. You can be as creative as you like with the photos. You could even use the images as a way to reveal the baby’s name or your due date.

CAPTURE THE JOY AND ANTICIPATION

Having a maternity photo shoot is a never ending reminder of those feelings of excitement, joy and anticipation of waiting for the arrival of your little one. Once baby is here we can easily forget how we looked or how we felt during pregnancy (well we always remember the hard parts, like nausea, back pain etc!) son maternity shoot capture you as a reminder of all the amazing things your body did. You will never regret having a photograph of this moment. After all most women only experience pregnancy a few times.

YOU CAN SHOW THEM TO YOUR CHILD IN THE FUTURE

In a few years your child will ask you about where they came from. This is a great reason to have a maternity photo shoot because it gives you beautiful images to show your child of them growing inside you. They will be able to see the love and excitement that you felt when you were expecting them and gives them a connection to that time in your life. The couple in the images below are Harry Potter fans and used this as a theme at their wedding and they wanted to continue with this at their maternity shoot.

IMAGES WORTH DISPLAYING

I am a firm believer that getting your photos printed is so important. It is an everlasting tangible moment and memory captured in time to be treasured forever. Having a professional maternity photo shoot when you are pregnant will give you images worth hanging on your walls or printing in an album as a legacy to pass down to future generations.

I really hope that this has helped you with reasons to have a maternity photo shoot. I would love to be part of your pregnancy journey so if you have any questions or would like to book a photo shoot get in touch.

xX Fiona Xx

Family Photographer Chichester | The Youngs

I’m very fortunate in my line of work. I get to meet some awesome people, and when I’m really lucky, these awesome people become my friends! Take the Youngs family for instance… Despite having many mutual friends, we met properly on their Engagement shoot. This led to shooting their wedding (and even doing some solid marriage prep with them in the interim, cause, you know… I’m a guru 😉 LOL!!)

Fast forward a little, along came their first bump to baby shoot with Amos, to whom I’m now a proud Godmother! Here’s a little throwback to those sessions with a peek at their totally bespoke Graphistudio Album to preserve that moment:

My friendship with the Youngs has continued to grow stronger, we even managed a cheeky Caribbean Cruise together last year where they announced their pregnancy with Baby no.2! My family photographer Chichester brain kicks in so we’re already planning the next shoot whilst sipping a mojito (me) and ice water (Jess) in the presence of the turquoise Caribbean waters!

Jess’ first experience with childbirth was traumatic which led to some adjusting as she prepared for the next one. In my mind, I wanted her to reclaim her power as a woman, to feel like a strong Queen who was in charge of her body and this beautiful change that was happening. Photography for me isn’t just about capturing a moment in time, it’s psychological. I want my subjects to feel empowered and stronger by the journey we take together to create these photographs.

The first part of this was to get Jess on her own, I wanted the first session to be ALL about her. The buzz words in my head were: Queen; Warrior; Strong; Gentle; Sensual; Feminine; Maternal; Expectant… I wanted her to claim these words as hers and own them. So, with that in mind, off to West Wittering we went…

The weather was just perfect! A cool sea breeze, warm sun on our faces. It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

The next session was in the studio… we wanted to just quickly capture a moment with Amos and his parents before little one arrived! This was quite a funny session as my girls and Amos adore each other, so the concept that this was a photoshoot came with its challenges haha… who wants their photo taken when you could just play instead!!

The day of Josiah’s birth came! This was brilliant news! Jess felt empowered, in control and superbly happy to have had a more positive experience second time around. It also came with a brand new Godson for me!! As with all things babies, you can’t really control when they come or when you’re going to feel up for visitors, so with careful (ish) planning around my holiday plans, I was able to swing by to see Josiah and capture a quick newborn portrait on the way to the airport. What a cute and cheeky looking chappy he is (and I wasn’t late for my flight either!!)

Capturing your life and those that are important to you within it is high on my list of things to do within my work, be it a standard family shoot, something more creative, considered and empowering, or just something totally on the fly to create that legacy of memories to look back on in years to come. What’s on your list to capture that you haven’t yet? Give me a shout, we can make it happen!

xX Fiona Xx

Family Photographer Chichester | The Youngs

Family Portrait Photography | Bognor Regis

Zainab and I had talked about getting her family together for a photo session for some time. Finally, in May we managed to pin down a date to get them in the studio in Bognor Regis for a family portrait photography session.

This was not going to be a quiet affair. With 3 sons, each of whom seemed to travel the ground in their own whirlwind of energy I needed to find the balance between a fast enough shutter speed to catch them, and one slow enough to let in the flash of the studio lights!

Zion, Zebedee and Ziggy (L-R) were hilarious to get to know…cheeky, active, funny, not at all shy about posing…. and in Ziggy’s case a keen escapologist! Not even the confines of the studio door could keep him in!

Zainab and her husband Nii had come prepared with a variety of clothing props….the main challenge was to get them to pause from the fun they were having to get dressed! There were traditional Ghanaian robes, football kits and the boys own choice of outfits. It certainly made for colourful photography for their family portrait.

The boys laughed and danced with each other enormously, this was a family who were very comfortable laughing and having fun together….it was so good to see! I’m sure no one came to any harm as their constant bundles ended in collapse!

We tried very hard to get the family to stay somewhat still and engaged with the camera in some group photos, but when there are bundles to break and mischief to find it was a tough one, but so much fun! (N.B. no one was hurt in the picture below!!)

With a moment of calm, I managed to capture a few portraits….but hopefully what really has been photographed is the fun energy that this family have in abundance!

Hopefully I will see more of these guys in the future for another family portrait photography session….in the mean time I think I would need to stock up on high locks for the doors to keep Ziggy in and double sided gaffa tape for the floor to slow the boys down a touch!!

Fiona xx