It seems like I go in cycles with maternity portraits. I won’t have a maternity session for a while then I will have several all in a row. Now is the time for lots of maternity sessions!! I love maternity sessions where the baby is going to be joining brother and sisters. Why? Because it gives me a chance to work with big brother and sister before the newborn session and I just love pictures of brother and sister hugging the sweet baby bump…. add that with a beautiful radiant momma… wow… I love my job!! Here are some highlights from my recent maternity sessions, be on the look out for the newborn sessions very soon!

This beautiful momma is half of the talented Nolen Photography. We see each other from time to time when our sessions are at the same place and I talk with her in facebook. I knew she was towards the end of her pregnancy and I offered to take a few maternity pictures of her and her son. I was nervous offering because I didn’t want to be turned down but I also knew that as photographers we usually put ourselves last… WHY??? Because we hate to be on the other side of the lens. But every mom wants pictures of their babies. I was so happy she allowed me to serve her in the way that she serves so many (including my family last Fall!). I was nervous, she was nervous being on the “other side”… and her son was typical 2 year old photographer’s child. I brought my Elijah along and he saved the day. He made funny faces then played with her son afterwards. I love the results and I am so honored to serve another photographer. Congrats on the new sweet baby!! Having two is a blast and it just gets better and better!

The day after the wedding was a quiet day. The family woke up early and cleaned our cabin and checked out. We made the trip back to Cory’s cousins and planned to spend the evening hanging out, resting. It was such a great night. Our original plans were to leave the next day but we just couldn’t leave yet. Family is so precious and I had no idea how much our family would love our California family. No one knew what to expect, but by the end of the week… it was like we were old friends! You know how it is… you invite someone to stay at your house and you never really know how it is going to go. Would my kids drive everyone crazy? Would be too loud?  But, none of that happened. Today was the day that I realized our trip was nearing the end. I was sad but at the same time incredibly happy to have made so many great connections.

But sappiness aside… before dinner I decided to have a quick mini session with one of the cousin’s family. They are expecting a sweet little princess in November and mom wanted some beautiful maternity portraits. I was excited to get to “do my thing”. The session was the back yard and very casual but the results are so lovely.

This kid is one of the coolest kids I have ever met. He played so sweetly with Elijah all week. I know there is a huge age difference but he was so kind and included him in everything. And just for the record… he is way more cooler than I could ever be and he is only 7!

I love this close up with him hugging mom’s belly!

And some of the entire family!

And then we spent a little time without the kiddo… the lighting was PERFECT!!!

Thanks to all the families that came out for our urban mini sessions. The mini sessions were WAY more popular than the gardens sessions. I love it that so many families wanted to try something different. I know I must have looked crazy posing the families next to the dumpsters. I had a few families that offered to get into the dumpsters. Hehehe… we decided to go with something a little less “trashy”.

This first family is one of our mini session contest winners. We met THREE days before the baby boy in mom’s belly made his appearance. I really love that we have a few shots of the the siblings before they welcomed the new baby.

Next Family… this little princess was no having  us putting her on the ground. You can tell from the crying picture. Mom was laughing that I took the picture. Turns out she had a double ear infection… poor little sweetheart! We still got some great shots, I just had to be creative on my posing. Doesn’t she has the most incredible eyes??

The next sweet little girl is a natural… she loves the camera and is incredibly beautiful. At the end of the session, she wanted to take a few pictures with her “duck, duck”. As a mom with a child with a special lovey…. this warms my heart!

When we headed up to Nashville for Cory’s flash photography workshop, I knew one of our brides had moved there after her wedding. She told me they were expecting a sweet little baby in September! This is so full circle for me. She was one of our first brides and she is also the first to have a baby. It is so special for me to photograph her son and the new sweet baby in her belly. I love how big brother did some pictures with his favorite “whiz kid” shirt and I love that he showed up to the session in sunglasses. I mean, you just can’t beat that!!

And Nashville is a photographer’s paradise! There were several times that I told Cory I wanted to move there just for the locations for sessions!!

This picture make me gasp… I love it so much!