DIY Maternity Photos

Given that I follow a lot of photographers' blogs and am somewhat immersed into the world of professional photography, I've been seeing maternity photos on a regular basis for years now. I've always loved how they capture a moment in time--a snippet of that nine months when mommy and baby are still "one." As I've said before, I think there is much to cherish about pregnancy, and photos are an excellent way to remember what the time was like, even long after the pregnancy is over.

My problem is that I've never wanted to pay for maternity photos. It's not that I'm decidedly against doing so, it's just that I can't see myself forking over a few hundred dollars for photos of every pregnancy, and I'd feel badly having maternity photos for the first child and not for any subsequent children. I think half of the reason to do maternity photos is for the child to be able to look back at someday, knowing how his/her parents were anxiously and happily awaiting his/her arrival.

So, if not pay for them... what's a girl to do? Well, I started to think... I have a really nice camera, and perhaps a teensy bit of skill--and why pay for what you can get for free? The only issue was figuring out how I was going to be both in front of and behind the camera. At the same time.

Enter my husband into the picture. I told him that I was going to try to DIY some maternity photos with a tripod and the timer. He suggested that it would be even better if we went out together, and I could coach him to take the photos. Good call, Honey.

Last week, we went out on a couple of really nice evenings and snapped some pics. Here are our results: