Your Maternity Session Is the Beginning of Their Story

I remember how I felt at the end of my pregnancies.

I did not feel beautiful or glowing. I felt hot and swollen and uncomfortable. My skin was changing. My body didn't feel like mine. During one pregnancy, I made the mistake of cutting my hair too short and remember thinking I looked like a mushroom on top and a big apple on the bottom.

At 36 weeks pregnant, I was hosting an event for Make-A-Wish Colorado. As I checked guests in that evening, three beautiful young women walked through the doors. They were dressed darling, looked amazing and seemed ready to go out and have the best night.

And there I stood, feeling enormous, sweaty and very pregnant.

At the end of the evening, those same women came up to me. They started gushing about how adorable I looked in my dress and telling me they hoped they looked as cute as I did when they were pregnant someday.

I can still remember exactly how that felt.

Because the woman they saw was so different from the woman I saw when I looked in the mirror.

Even now, that memory makes me emotional.

And I think about it often when a pregnant woman walks into my Denver studio.

She may see the swollen ankles and the sleepless nights. She may notice that her body has changed in ways she didn't expect. She may simply feel ready to meet her baby and have her body back.

I get to show her something she may not be able to see yet.

She is luminous.

And for a few hours, I want her to feel it.

A moment to press pause

Women carry so much.

We carry our homes and families, our work and appointments, the things that need to be remembered and the things no one else even realizes we're remembering.

Pregnancy doesn't make any of that stop.

So when I think about creating an elevated maternity photography experience, I don't think first about making it extravagant.

I think about creating a moment to press pause.

When you arrive at the studio, you'll be greeted by friendly faces who are genuinely excited you're there. There is calm music playing, sparkling water and something to snack on. If you've chosen to add professional hair and makeup, you can sink into a comfortable chair while someone else takes care of you for a while.

We talk. We laugh. We have the kind of girl talk that happens easily between women and mothers who understand a little of what you're going through.

While you're having your makeup done, I'm pulling out fabrics and dresses, showing you ideas and talking about what we'll photograph first.

Everything slows down.

And for once, you don't have to take care of any of it.

The experience actually begins long before that day

Before I ever photograph you, I want to know your story.

I've photographed women who have waited ten years for the baby growing inside them. Rainbow babies who arrived after tremendous loss. Women who were surprised by pregnancy while they were exploring adoption.

Every story is different.

So when we plan your maternity session, I'm not only asking what dress you like or whether you prefer something romantic or modern.

I want to know why these photographs matter to you.

I'll think through the timing of your session and when during your pregnancy we'll create the photographs. We'll talk about what you're drawn to and how much of your body you want to show. I'll help plan your wardrobe, shop for you if we don't have the right piece in the studio, and think about clothing for your children and partner.

I may spend time looking through inspiration and thinking about how we can interpret it through your story rather than simply recreating someone else's photograph.

You'll also receive guidance for preparing beforehand, down to the little things like caring for your skin and making sure you're hydrated.

I don't want you walking into the studio wondering whether you remembered everything.

I want you to trust that I've thought about it for you.

You aren't supposed to know what to do in front of my camera

This is one of the things I wish every woman knew before a maternity session.

You don't need to know how to pose.

You don't need to know where to put your hands.

And you definitely don't need to arrive feeling confident in front of a camera.

We usually begin with one of your more covered looks. I'll give you a lot of direction at first. I'll show you how I want you to stand and explain why. I'll help you move your hands around your belly, adjust your hair and make tiny changes to your body so the light falls beautifully.

I've been photographing women for 27 years, and I've photographed my own body through three pregnancies. I know how vulnerable it can feel to stand on the other side of the lens.

I also know how quickly an awkward silence can make you wonder:

What am I supposed to be doing right now?

So there aren't a lot of those.

I'm talking to you. I'm guiding you. We're moving. Music is playing.

And then something happens.

By the second or third look, I often notice that she's stopped waiting for me to tell her every little thing to do.

She starts moving her hands naturally.

She sways to the music.

Sometimes she's practically dancing.

That's when I know we're there.

She's no longer thinking so much about being photographed.

She's simply in it.

And that's when some of the most beautiful photographs begin to happen.

Experience allows me to see what you may not

After 27 years, posing is instinctive to me.

I understand how small changes in body position can emphasize the beautiful roundness of a belly without making the rest of the body feel larger. I understand different body types. I watch your body language and know when something doesn't feel comfortable.

And I'm always watching the light.

The way it moves across your belly. The way it catches your face. The way it can sculpt the body or soften an image completely.

But I think being a mother myself has taught me just as much as being a photographer.

I've stood where you're standing.

I've had three pregnancies and three maternity sessions of my own. I understand the vulnerability of being photographed in a body that seems to change every time you look at it.

That understanding shapes the way I photograph women.

I never want maternity portraits to become about glamour for the sake of glamour. I don't want them to feel overly sexualized or performative.

I want them to feel soft. Feminine. Artful.

I want to honor what our bodies are capable of doing.

Your maternity session begins with you, but it doesn't have to be only about you

If this is your second, third or fourth baby, I love bringing your children into the story.

For them, this isn't simply Mom having photographs taken.

They are becoming a big brother or sister.

Your family is changing.

And your partner is part of that story, too. He may never know what it feels like to carry this baby, but I've watched enough fathers to know there is often a sense of awe in witnessing what the woman they love is doing.

So yes, I want photographs of you alone.

I want to honor the woman and the body doing this extraordinary thing.

But I also want the tiny hands resting on your belly. Your husband's arms around you. The way your older child fits against your body before there is another little person in your arms.

The story begins with Mom, but it belongs to the family.

Because your child's story doesn't begin on the day they are born

When my youngest daughter, Mila, was little, I would often tell her to choose a book before nap or bedtime.

Again and again, she would choose her own newborn story.

It wasn't just an album of photographs after she was born. It included photographs of me pregnant with her.

She loved those photographs.

She would point to my belly and ask:

How big do you think I was there?

And the photographs would lead us into stories.

I would tell her about being pregnant with her. About the day she was born. About the moment I found out I was pregnant.

And even about the time before she existed, when I knew I needed her in this world.

Those photographs gave us somewhere to begin.

Now, nearly two decades into motherhood, I understand the value of that more than I ever could have when my children were babies.

I don't think you can have too many printed photographs of your family's story.

I want to walk down the hallway and see my son at three years old running on the beach. I want to see the five of us piled together on a couch, laughing. I want photographs of us running along the water as the kids got older.

I want the whole thing.

Because when your children are growing up, you realize there really aren't parts of the story that didn't matter.

And that includes the time before you ever met face to face.

There is something magical about a child looking at a beautiful photograph of her young mother and realizing:

I was already there.

I was inside her belly.

I was already part of this family.

I was already loved.

And then we make sure the photographs don't stay on a screen

I never want to create beautiful photographs for you and then leave you alone to figure out what to do with them.

Because I've seen what happens.

A gallery arrives. You love the photographs. You promise yourself you're going to print them.

And then life moves on.

Instead, I'll walk you through what comes next.

We'll sit down together and revisit your session. I'll help you choose your strongest photographs and decide what you want to do with them.

Maybe they become artwork on your walls.

Maybe they become part of an album that continues with your baby's newborn photographs.

Maybe one day that album becomes the book your child chooses at bedtime.

That is the part I don't want us to lose.

Because you're not really hiring me just to photograph your belly before you meet your baby.

You're hiring me to help tell the very first part of your child's story.

A story you can hold.

A story you can put into their hands.

A story that lets you tell them, years from now:

You were important to us before you even knew us.

ABOUT REESE & CO PORTRAITS
Reese & Co Portraits is a Denver portrait studio specializing in maternity, newborn, milestone and family photography. Photographer Laura Esmond has been photographing families for more than 25 years, creating thoughtful, artful portraits designed to live beyond the screen.

EXPLORE MATERNITY | EXPLORE NEWBORN | EXPLORE FAMILY | EXPLORE MILESTONES