Erica, Part One, the Silhouette. Expecting Parents.

Having seen a lot of so-so maternity photography out there on the internet, Erica and I knew we needed to come up with some creative ideas for her shoot. This is part one: the Silhouette.

Erica first approached me to create portraits of her, and her soon-to-be-born baby Nate, a few months back. She was inspired by my ‘As Yet Untitled’ Wonderland series, and wanted something special and unique. As I had never had the pleasure of doing maternity photography before, I started out by doing some base research on the internet. What sorts of things do maternity photographers do? My initial research found that, while there are some beautifully breathtaking shots out there, a large quantity of maternity photography left something to be desired. I saw countless pictures of mothers-to-be in less than flattering light and poses.

Our solution was two-fold. First we created a really fun series of images with a storybook fairytale feel, which I am still post-processing. Rest assured, I will blog as soon as they are complete.

Then we also created these glamorous silhouettes. I invited Erica to my home studio on a Sunday afternoon. Before she arrived, I set up my white seamless backdrop. Two speedlights with colored gels created the background lights. Needless to say, we had a great relaxed afternoon shoot, and ended up with this series of images. The silhouette is something that, we found, you can have a lot of fun with. It can be sentimental, it can be sexy, it can be romantic, it can be anything you want it to be. But most importantly, it can be very flattering!

Thank you, Erica, for being a wonderful model and friend. I love seeing all the positive comments you’ve received since you started using one of these as your profile picture :)

Part Two, the Storybook, coming soon.