Why in the world has it taken me so long to start showing off these photos? When you get the RAW files from a photo shoot featuring yourself you tend to be rather nitpicky about how they look. I want my blemishes gone, can’t deny using the liquify filter every once in awhile, etc. I’ve been making my way through them slowly and I’ve decided to post them in parts as I finish them instead of waiting until I finish them all (will that every happen?).

We took the photos at a park right next to my house, a spot that would have been much better if the snow a few days before hadn’t caused the water levels to rise drastically since I had spent time scouting it out. Oh well, amazing Bethany Jackman (who is now in Boston for 8 months, hire her!) somehow made my poor location choice look amazing. I had two different photographers there that day (one personal reason why networking is so important!) and I’ll be showing you watermark free shots that were taken by someone else and edited myself. Visit their respective blogs to really see what they can do, please don’t judge their skills by my editing!

My favorite headshot:

My hair and makeup were done by Emily Hudspeth, who I’m now using as my regular stylist for cut/color as well. This was my first time experiencing airbrush foundation. It feels so cool and lovely when it’s being applied! I went in with the idea that I might like to have my hair all down and curly, but Emily wisely suggested I put it half up due to the wind that day. I’m very glad I trusted her because it would have been completely flat within minutes.

When it comes to photo shoots, fake eyelashes are a must for me.

I came really close to framing this one for our wall. I love the blue sky contrasted with the dead foliage, and the teeny pop of red from my ring.

5 photos above captured by Bethany Jackman, edited by me.

I’m a bit insecure about my weight gain and resulting shape, so photos that are composed in creative ways like this one (you’ll see several more in future posts) are my favorites.

2 photos above captured by lynn in love photo, edited by me.

One thing I was really passionate about in coming up with the ideas for this session, is I wanted to help more pregnant women see that you don’t have to wrap your naked belly in a colored ribbon tied in a bow or stack blocks on your stomach spelling out the name of your little one at your maternity session. In fact, my naked belly won’t make a single appearance in these photos and I’m perfectly happy with that! (Although I’m planning a day frolicking around with big belly exposed in a field of Texas bluebonnets within the next few weeks, as I’m lucky enough to have the equipment I need to do a photo shoot pretty much any time. I just have to convince That Husband to act as the photographer.) If you’re considering a maternity session for yourself, but you feel like you only see sessions filled with watermelon bump ultra skinny ladies, just take a look at me in my 200+ lb glory after gaining 50 lbs in about 35 weeks and tell yourself you won’t regret it in the end. Because you won’t! You’ll be so glad to have these photos celebrating your pregnancy, I know I am.

Next post features some time spent nuzzling with TH!

One of the reasons why I wanted to move from our last apartment to this one, was the increase in natural light. Someday I look forward to living in a home, where light enters the living space from four sides instead of one (I guess we do have on window on the side of the apartment so almost two), but I do my best to be content with what we have now.

Living in this space means I have to look harder to find well lit spots for taking photos. I thought I would show you a few of my favorites for the still life shots I create for the blog, in hopes that it might inspire those of you who are feeling frustrated by your own still life photo adventures at home. For those of you who are posting photos of food you’ve cooked, try moving your dishes to different areas in the house that have natural light (if you are taking your photos during the day of course!) if you have a dark kitchen like I do.

First, the two spots I use in the living room.

Here’s a simple photo tip that can make a big difference when you’re taking indoor photos without flash. Strive to use one type of light source when you can. In the photo on the left I had both the artificial overhead lights on, as well as light streaming in from the windows. Our apartment is already fairly dark ( ), and I didn’t get around to dressing in my outfit and taking these until later in the day than I would have hoped, so there really wasn’t enough natural light for me to leave the overhead lights off if I wanted That Husband to take the photos for me without seeing blur from shaking hands. I left the white balance on auto, leaving my camera confused. Should it be measuring for the daylight or the artificial light? As you can see it, did a rather poor job of choosing, and I’m not willing to take the time in Photoshop to try to fix the skin tones (usually I would just go with black and white in a situation like this if it was a photo I deemed worth keeping, but I want the whole series to be in color).

The photo on the right was taking at noon, with plenty of light streaming in through the windows. Much better right?

Of course this doesn’t apply if you are going to use flash, as your flash will overpower your other light sources and white balance won’t be an issue. And because every situation really is so different (I’m not trying to sell this as a universal rule, just hoping to suggest a solution for those who are frustrated regarding the color of their photos!), keep in mind that sometimes you can have both artificial light and natural light in one room, but one can overpower the other and you won’t have the awful color issues I’m having with photos like the one above on the left.

This shot from Kelli Nicole’s blog is a good example of how one light source can overpower the other. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that the artificial lights are on in the house, she just chose to take her pictures in a spot with plenty of sunlight streaming in so there are no funky skin tones to be had!

The moral of this post? Pay attention to your light sources, and try not to mix when you can manage it. If mixing is something you can’t control, I suggest finding a nice black and white conversion that you like and using that when you can. Much easier on the eyes than that blue and red mess you see me trying to get away with above!

Oh my goodness how I love seeing all of my planning come together…

I’ll tell you all about my hair and makeup drama when I get the rest of the photos back. It was a good splurge for me though. I felt so pretty!

TH came for a small portion. We nuzzled extensively and then and attempted to fly a kite from the dollar store.

My “field of pinwheels”! I love love love how this idea of mine turned out.

Balloons are so overdone when it comes to portrait sessions, but now I see why. Canvas worthy, no?

All credit for these goes to the adorable and incredibly talented Bethany Jackman. I’m both sad and glad she’s moving so soon. Her move to Boston is what is spurring her to edit these so quickly, but it means we aren’t going to be able to hang out (as we should, Bethany and I are really good together). More photos to come soon!

I’ve known for a really long time now that I wanted to have a photographer document my labor and birth experience, in fact, I started emailing birth photographers before I had decided on a midwife yet! Being a photographer myself I have what I like to think of “discerning taste” (really I’m just picky and opinionated), and I knew there weren’t going to be many available people in the Dallas area who do birth photography on a regular basis if I waited too long to schedule.

I came really close to working with Lynsey Stone Photography, one of the best birth photographers in the Dallas area, but she’s so good that her services were out of my price range and her packages didn’t quite fit what I was looking for. I wanted to take a moment to sing the praises of Lynsey though because she’s so incredibly nice! Even though I’m not one of her clients, she emailed back and forth with me with advice on midwives in the area, and recently sent me a message on Facebook to ask how my pregnancy was going. This is one of her birth shots, isn’t her work beautiful?

I hadn’t had much luck in finding someone else that fit the look I wanted, when my midwife mentioned Keri Duckett Photography as one of her favorites. I really loved what I saw on her site, and her package included a disc of images that I can use for blogging, something that’s really important to me as I’m brimming with excitement to share this experience in detail with all of you! I’ve spent lots of time since then browsing her site and imagining what my own photos could look like, as I always do when I hire a photographer for something (everyone else does this too, right?).

I’m hoping she captures moments like this with That Husband:

The first few seconds of life:

My first moments with baby:

and TH’s first encounter with baby:

Our first time together as a new family:

and of course a few portraits of our brand new little person!

Less than 60 days and those ladies will be ME!

Would I photograph births myself? I do love birth, and I’ve photographed one, but committing to be an official birth photographer is difficult because it means you have to be ready at any moment within a one month period to drop everything and rush off to take pictures. Although I might head that direction in the future, for now I’m not ready to structure my life that way.