Our Maternity Photos

When we found out we were pregnant again, I knew I wanted maternity photos taken this time around. I had visions of John kissing my belly and precious interactions between the three of us. The actual shoot did capture those interactions but the story behind these photos is hilarious and not at all what I had planned.

I asked my friend and fellow photographer, Caitlin, to take our photos. The day before the shoot, I went location scouting. All four of my weather apps said that the day of the shoot would be a sunny afternoon/evening which would mean a lovely golden hour! I found some great locations in Raccoon Creek State Park that would work perfectly! I was so excited! The next day, we got ready for the shoot and John was not too keen on getting dressed. He was throwing a tantrum but I knew we had the drive to the park for him to calm down. By the time we arrived, I knew my vision for beautiful golden hour photos might not be a reality. There were so many clouds.

I looked at my weather apps. They all said sunny.

I looked at the sky. Very very cloudy. How????

So we started to drive around the park to find other spots that would allow more access to the sky to try and use any available light that we could get on that cloudy evening. Caitlin was such a champ, following us as we drove through the park. John was still not happy about being in the car so he was crying and I was trying to calm him. Matthew looked down at the gas gauge and it said we had 8 miles till empty. I told him there was a town near the entrance to the park that we could fill up in. So as we drove I frantically searched on my phone for a gas station. The closest gas station was 15 miles away! “How are there no gas stations in this town??” I said aloud. Some people like the thrill of driving on an empty tank. I am not one of them. It stresses me out! I don’t even like getting close to empty! At this point, finding a good location for photos was no longer important. We needed gas pronto. So we had no choice but to drive to the closest gas station and I prayed that we’d make it. On our drive, the sun began to shine and I saw this random field on the side of the road next to a cemetery and thought “gosh, I wish we could stop and take photos there! But no, we need gas.”

We somehow made it to the gas station, Caitlin still following us! Even through the crazy, she stuck with us. We filled up with gas and only had about 15 mins before the sun would set. At this point I was so flustered from all that had happened, I was ready to just go home. But the light! It was so pretty! And that field! So we drove back to the field we had passed and ran into the field tp use the last minutes of light that were left. John was cranky. I was stressed. The ground was muddy. And we still got amazing photos! I’m so thankful to Caitlin for sticking with us for that adventure and capturing these family and maternity photos. They are now framed and hanging in our home.

And we all learned that 1) there is no gas station near Racoon Creek State Park and 2) even though it was a crazy situation, it was worth taking those photos! I treasure these shots and I’m so glad I decided to go back to that field.

Here are some of my favorites from Caitlin and from another day that we decided to take the tripod out and take some pictures with a big tree with yellow leaves.