A picture is worth a thousand words
“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a phrase often thrown around, but when it comes to capturing moments that can never be repeated, you truly understand the meaning.
Capturing images of one’s pregnancy or the size of your newborn’s feet – these are truly moments and memories you’ll cherish forever, so it’s worthwhile getting the perfect photographer. I had heard of a photographer called and researched her site before being 100% sure that I’d ask her to do my maternity shoot. I had heard that one should do a maternity shoot as late as possible, but herein lies the risk that you might actually give birth before you get a chance to shoot. This had happened to a good friend of mine, so I decided not to risk it and did my shoot at 34 weeks. Veronique and her assistant were phenomenal and quick which is great as one’s energy levels at 8 months of pregnancy are not exactly high. It’s also important to make sure that you get a good hair and make-up artist and a stylist who picks out garments that you’ll still be able to look at without cringing 20 years down the line when your preggy photo makes it into the photostream at your baby’s 21st birthday ;-) Veronique also does phenomenal shoots with babies and I can’t wait to have another shoot with her and our son in a few weeks.
Then, our first newborn shoot :-) was recommended to us by a few friends. She has also recently started a project where she photographs the first year of your baby’s journey and creates a photobook, one shoot per month – she showed me the one she had done of her daughter and I was immediately sold. It’s amazing how much a baby changes during the first 12 months and it’s important that inbetween the sleep deprivation, burping and nappy-changing mania, you remember to take as many pictures as possible :-) What I loved most about her style of shooting were the incredible close-ups of our son’s hands, feet and little features. She is very patient, which I suppose comes with having a baby herself, and managed to get incredible shots of our little family within 3 hours. And within those hours, our son decided to show his incredible ability to go through a record-breaking number of nappies ;-)
Even if your budget doesn’t allow you to have a professional shoot done, you can do so much with a cellphone camera and free photobook software, like the one . Digital photo’s are great, but there’s nothing like having a proper album or photobook to page through and reminisce :-)
Our baby had sever colic which made it difficult to have a photo shoot in those first weeks. She would cry for hours and hours which would not have made for great photos. So, we made it a priority to capture moments with our own camera in the best way that we could. I am no photographer and we have a mik-en-druk at best, but I tried to be creative. So our album has close up shots of wrinkly toes and fingers, baby in a fruit bowl at 4 days old, her tiny fingers folded around Ouma’s 86 year old hand and candid shots of my husband nuzzling her (he had no idea I was shooting). Now after 14 months I can hardly remember her as a new born which makes those pics the valuable treasures that they are.
Wow you just gave me the greates idea ever. I was listening to you on the Phat Joe show on metro fm this morning and thought to myself I have to check out this blog. Im almost three months pregnant and Im so excited:-). My fiance’ and I decided to have a baby early this year…we tried out for like one month and walla!!. When I saw your blog…I called him and asked if we can go for a maternity shoot around September/October. I’m looking foward to the whole experience of being a mom..preparing the room, shopping etc.
Thank you for creating this blog, very inspiring and also great that we can share our “mom experiences”..
I absolutely love the blog. Thanks for sharing your experiences. Just booked our maternity shoot yesterday and will also be at 34 weeks when it happens (approaching week 28 now). A friend of mine also missed out on her shoot because baby surprised them early :) Goodluck with the rest of this amazing journey called motherhood. I’m so excited for the arrival of our 1st baby!