If you’ve been around me long, you know that I love a good project. In fact, this whole photography business was born out of a self-driven project to improve my photography skills by photographing my family regularly. (You can learn more about the project on my about page.) This year, I set a little goal to do more styled maternity Chattanooga TN sessions throughout the year. I’m raising three young children and running a business. Therefore, I resist putting many parameters on this project in terms of schedule and number of sessions.

The Beauty of Maternity

I specifically chose to focus on maternity sessions because there’s a certain calmness and room for creativity that comes with working mamas solo. Pregnancy is also such a miraculous, fleeting time period of a woman’s life. The maternity season is a time of excitement and anticipation. However, it also brings discomfort, self-sacrifice, and anxiety mixed with grief (more for some than others). These huge transition in a family’s (and woman’s) life deserve to be documented.

Most commonly, mother’s schedule maternity sessions for the first pregnancy. Then life gets busy. The thought of an extra photo session with big brother or sister may feel like too much to schedule. Maternity sessions for subsequent pregnancies often don’t happen. This saddens me for a couple of reasons. Second and third children will still want to see images from the time that their family was preparing to welcome them into the world.

Making Mother’s Feel Seen

But perhaps more importantly, I want the mothers to feel seen and celebrated as they prepare to welcome another life into the world. Mothers sometimes begin to feel invisible. They sacrifice so much of their time and energy to nurture their children and keep their house afloat. Personally, some days it’s a total struggle to find the time and energy to take a shower and get myself fully ready. Self care tasks and leisure activities slide lower on the priority list.

When a family is expecting, the load can grow in those final months of preparing to welcome a new family member. Maternity photography sessions can offer the opportunity to slow down for a moment. They give expecting mom’s a reason to put on a dress that makes them feel beautiful. They make room for considering the joy and anticipation of this season.

Erin

I am so grateful to Erin for being willing to pose for me. Erin actually didn’t officially schedule a maternity session for her first son. Several pictures were taken at her brother’s wedding during her 3rd trimester. Yet that’s not really the same. (We’ll forgive for that.) While a maternity session wasn’t something she had on her mind, she was so kind to “play dress up” with me as I brought my vision to life.

Erin is a natural in front of the camera. However, more than that, I enjoyed getting to spend some uninterrupted time with her. Our children are friends at preschool, so I usually see her at least once a week while our kids play on the playground after pick up. Still, if you have young children you know that these conversations are filled with interruptions and are fractured in a nature. I loved getting to hear (without interruptions) how she’s feeling about adding another family member and what her plans are for introducing the new baby to his big brother.

I went a little crazy for this styled session, renting a gown for Salt Gowns and a fresh eucalyptus garland from Etsy. If you saw my recent Valentine’s Day post, you know that I’ve gotten into experimenting with florals, fishing line, and backdrops. While I would have loved to take Erin outside, February weather in Tennessee proves very unpredictable. She’s actually the president of our garden club, so I just had to incorporate some florals into this photoshoot.

Maternity Sessions Chattanooga TN

If you are looking for a maternity photographer in Chattanooga, TN, I would love to chat! Whether you are looking for a simple outdoor session with your kids or a more stylized session like this one with Erin, I would love to create with you! You can see more of my work on my portfolio and instagram. Learn more about my process and pricing by visiting my “details” page.