Plum Island Beach Maternity

I'll be the first to admit, I wasn't one of those photographers (let alone people) who really understood what maternity photography was all about until recently. While I spent my life anticipating the day I would find out I'm pregnant, I always dreaded the changes that inevitably would come along with it; namely an ever-growing belly, which is the exact opposite place women typically want to gain any weight. I thought to myself... why would women want pictures of themselves looking huge? Don't you want to just hide and emerge 9 months later with a cute baby in tow?

The more groups I followed and maternity sessions I photographed, I found myself more and more drawn to the beauty of the belly.  Being pregnant myself with my first, I can appreciate more the desire to capture this moment in time forever.  Yes, I feel huge. Yes, I feel fat. Yes, my body is changing in more ways than I'd like to ever imagine, but I'm growing a human and it's an incredible(ly weird) feeling. 

I met Kim and her family last winter for family portraits. She and her husband have 2 boys and are now expecting a baby girl together in September.  When she reached out to me to say she was pregnant and wanted maternity photos, I was over the moon! Kim knew she wanted beach portraits and while we were chatting together, I mentioned the idea of Plum Island. It's a bit out of my way and not super convenient, but I had never been and thought it would be a beautiful location for a maternity session.  She immediately said she and her husband used to go to Plum Island all the time so I thought, even better! Then we narrowed down the spot and she said thats the exact beach they used to go to together, so that pretty much sealed the deal for us!

We met up about 2 hours before sunset (luckily both finding parking spots) and walked toward the beach. Usually I prefer to scope out my locations in advance so I know what I'm working with, but since this wasn't one of my usual spots I wasn't able to get there ahead of time (Google Earth is my friend in these situations!)  Sometimes I work better on the spot anyways, so we made the best of our hour-long session and went with it! Luckily I had some amazing clients to work with who were open to my antics :) I hope you enjoy these portraits and cherish every moment with your baby girl!

Champagne colored gown is from Sew Trendy Accessories.