A Late Spring Pregnancy Session

Stephanie and I first worked together at the end of 2008, and while we'd worked together almost a dozen times now, the sessions became less and less frequent, as her professional career took off, and demanded more of her time and passion. As soon as I learned she was pregnant, however, I reached out and offered to build on our earlier work with some pregnancy session! Stephanie was more than enthusiastic, and a week or so later, we headed out to make some images.

Digital infrared original

For a first session I decided to stay close to home, and we started working in old military ruins; I have always enjoyed the juxtaposition of the Nude against the ruin and decay of older buildings, and these military buildings have been a setting for my work going all the way back to 1989 (and pregnancy images of my soon-to-be-daughter in utero). Our session was scheduled for the good light at the end of the day, and we were fortunate enough to have some perfect light find its way though a doorway, and onto Stephanie.

Digital infrared original

After starting in the old buildings, and making the most of them, I asked Stephanie if she was up for a set of images in the woods surrounding the buildings; several places provided easy access, and the light filtering through the trees was just lively. After carefully walking in, Stephanie posed in some high ferns, and I used a long lens with the largest aperture (f/1.2) to give the resulting image extremely shallow depth of field to place Stephanie's figure against a sea of soft, luminous trees.

Digital infrared original

As we were walking back to car park, I caught sight of a shaft of sunlight falling on a patch of high grasses, and asked Stephanie if she'd pose with the grasses and light...however by the time we were set up and ready, the light had shifted (evening light moves surprisingly fast), so I had to change the concept to focus on the light falling across Stephanie, and use post production to create some luminescence in the forest behind her.

Digital infrared original

The last image set of the session was one I actually decided to make as we passed the space walking in. A long large glacial erratic lay just off the path, and I thought it would make the perfect background for an image of Stephanie - by the time we were returning, the sun had moved very low in the sky, and the light in the forest was soft an even - just perfect for a celebratory image of Stephanie's pregnancy!