My First session, what started it all.

I have been in and out of photography throughout the years. At times I had a camera glued to my face, then there were a few years I barely picked a camera up. I had people tell me in my 20's, "you should get into this professionally." At that time I thought that there was too much competition and I was really not that good. So I lost sight of that for a while. In my early 30's I was playing with the camera again as this is when I had gotten my first DSLR, a Nikon D3300 . Once again I had people tell me, that I need to get into it professionally. One day I decided to try it out. My creativity was at a stand still, I felt like I had lost it entirely. My 30's were a rough decade and I lived day by day just trying to make it through each day. Having the camera and taking photos was where I felt myself. Although I never realized this until recently and I will share more of that story in another blog.

In the summer of 2022, there was this beautiful couple from France that lived on their sailboat just a few boats down from where I am docked. Jen and Mattias were expecting, and Jen was really pregnant! Her due date was near the end of July and so we had a wee bit of time as she was a couple weeks away from having the baby. I offered a maternity session as a gift and she said yes! I was so excited and yet so nervous!

I chose to do the Maternity session at East Sooke Park, BC to play in the daisies and the forest. East Sooke Park is very diverse and offers a lot of creative areas for a photoshoot. In the beginning of the session we were both nervous. She was nervous in front of the camera and this was my first actual photoshoot with someone and this time I couldn't be that fly on the wall taking photos! When we both got into it, our nerves calmed and the creativity started to flow, as did the photos!

We laughed all throughout the session and enjoyed every moment. There was one particular moment when I had Jen lay on a large part of a tree. We both started laughing as we watched her belly move! As you can see in the picture I shared below. It was such a precious moment managing to catch some of it with my camera. With her belly being all baby, it was quite fascinating to see the baby move, even at a distance. Guess he wanted to make sure he was in the photo the best way he could.

During the time together, I wanted to know if Jen had any ideas that she wanted to have photos of. I feel that even though I am the photographer, I also want to know what ideas people have during the session, and what they would like to have photographed. As everyone is a creative in their own ways. In this case, Jen wanted to stick a flower to her belly button! How were we going to do this, we both questioned? We looked through everything we had brought with us, and when we almost gave up, Jen says, "I have gum!" Who knew gum would work so well!

After playing in the daisies, we ventured into the forest of East Sooke Park and played amongst the ferns. Jen was absolutely stunning throughout the whole photoshoot with that coming into motherhood glow.

When we were half way through the session I realized this, this is what I need to be doing. I never realized in the beginning as to how much I needed to do that photoshoot. It felt so good to feel that creative side of me again, the part of me that I thought I had lost. I felt alive, I felt awake, and exactly where I needed to be. I had never gotten any maternity photos when I was pregnant. My daughter will be the only child I have in my life, and to this day, I wish I had photos to look back on, reminding me of all the special moments I had with her while she grew in my belly. I was going through hard times during my pregnancy, and even though things were hard, I still wish I had gotten photos some how. This is why Maternity Photography is so important for me, as those times are incredibly precious. Whether it is your first, 2nd or 3rd, to be a mother is a blessing that not all woman are capable of being. It is to be cherished and honored. I am incredibly grateful for this Maternity session with Jen. It woke me up, woke my creativity up, and it got me dreaming of bigger possibilities! Thank you Jen! :)