Documenting Your Own Pregnancy Through Self-Portraiture

Share:000

Ok, seriously – how cute is Allie Shellaway?!?!  We here at TPW are all really inspired by Allie’s lifestyle self-portraiture journey through pregnancy. What a treasure for both her and her kids! We hope this article inspires some expectant mamas to do the same. Thanks for sharing, Allie!

A few years ago, when I knew next to nothing about photography, I came across the concept of a Maternity Series and I became completely inspired. I was pregnant with our first at the time, and knew I wanted to attempt something similar. My favorites were by Ryan Marshall and Lexia Frank, as I just loved the idea of writing little notes to my baby to go along with the weekly photos. So, armed with very cheap studio lighting, my “nifty fifty” and some free PSE actions, I set out to document my first pregnancy…

I look back on the photos now and despite all the technical flaws, I still love them. But when I got pregnant with our second earlier this year, I was way more knowledgeable about photography and knew I wanted to take my second maternity series up a notch. I wanted to really challenge myself to do something I hadn’t seen anyone do before, so I decided to do a series of lifestyle self-portraits.

I took one photo every 4 weeks for my first trimester, then started with the weekly photos and letters at 16 weeks. I really wanted to capture what life was like during this pregnancy – not just what my growing belly looked like.

(Each photo was posted on my blog with an accompanying letter to my baby.)

Yes, some weeks I was totally stumped for ideas, and some weeks I didn’t have much to say in my letters, but somehow I made it through, and I’m so so glad I did. I kept thinking about what a special gift the photos and letters would be for my baby… my whole purpose in doing these series was so that my children could see how blessed I felt to be pregnant with them. So that someday they could look back through the photos and letters and see how much I loved them – from the very beginning – and how truly lucky I have always felt to be their mama.

Pregnancy is such an immense blessing, and it goes by so quickly (in hindsight, of course). It’s all too easy to get caught up in life (especially if you already have children) and not really take that time to honor the journey you and your baby are on. Doing a maternity series is a perfect way to ensure that for at least a few moments every week you spend time just focusing on your pregnancy, writing to your baby and capturing that beautiful growing belly.

Considering doing your own maternity series? Here are my tips:

• Be original. Think about your family and your pregnancy and determine what it is you really want to make sure you capture about this time in your life. Also think about your strengths and style as a photographer and how you can use that unique vision to create something distinctly “you.”
• Create a Pinterest board with your favorite maternity photos. Trust me, you’ll want to reference them when you start running out of ideas for posing and locations.
• Make sure you have a remote, a tripod, and the Light Meter app. The first two are pretty obvious, and the Light Meter app will make it a little easier to set exposure and will result in a shorter initial chimping time. (Just stand where you’ll be for the photo, open the app, set your phone to the front camera and meter for the brightest part of your face.)
• Share, share, share. If I didn’t have the weekly blog and Facebook posts to keep me accountable I doubt I would have finished either series. Plus, friends and family LOVE to see the photos.
• Have fun with it! Feeling gross, tired, huge? Use it to your advantage, get silly, and get creative. Put measuring tape around your belly to show how big it’s gotten. Chug a 2 liter of ginger ale. Heck, I got into my wedding dress at 38 weeks because that’s our anniversary tradition. I laughed, I broke a sweat, I cried when it got stuck. But the photo still cracks me up. Make light of those less than glamorous pregnancy moments, and I bet those photos will end up being among your favorites.

Allie Shellaway

Allie Shellaway is a researcher by day, photographer and designer by night, currently residing in Maryland with her ever so patient husband and 2 awesome kids. She loves capturing those everyday moments with her family that make her feel so blessed to be a mama. If you want to get on her good side, ice cream, good tunes, and Pinot are an excellent start.

website | facebook | pinterest

Share:000

Categorized in: Families & Children, Guest Bloggers, Portraits