Portraits: My backyard winter maternity session

Well here goes nothing. If you read my blog, you know these things about me: 1) I'm much more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it and 2) while nothing makes me feel more alive than a newborn, nothing makes me feel less human than pregnancy. (I think the authors of "What to Expect" are writing a new symptoms section in my honor, and a support group has formed for those upon whom I have vomited over the last six years. Sorry about that.)

With a month to go (or less—please?), I would characterize my general functionality as this-has-got-to-be-some-sort-of-a-bad-joke level. But this isn't my first rodeo. If I really get a healthy baby out of the deal, I know this pregnancy will become just another hazy, extremely nauseating memory. And I know one day that baby will appreciate seeing some maternity photos, especially ones featuring the big sisters.

The logistics went something like this. First I baked cinnamon-sugar doughnuts (and withheld them until after the session), so I had some serious negotiating power with the girls. I wanted Jeff to appear in the photos, but I really, really wanted him to finish painting the nursery that day, so he got a free pass. Hopefully I can snap one with him later. I planned a winter outfit with boots and a coat, but it happened to be 70 degrees, so we did a few shots with coats and the rest in short sleeves. For our family and self portraits, I use a tripod and Triggertrap, which connects my camera to my phone and has a nifty time-lapse remote setting. (No, Triggertrap is not a sponsor. But yes, I love it so very much.) When the sun was right in the late afternoon, we headed to the backyard woods and got to work.

​The best part of the session was just letting the girls be their wild selves. They acted as my stand-ins for focusing, made me laugh by dancing behind the camera and forced me to bribe them continuously from start to finish with those fresh doughnuts. And gave the baby an unimaginable number of raspberry kisses. The outtakes and pullbacks are so funny (including a play-by-play fight scene that I missed when I turned my back and didn't see until I uploaded the photos) that I'm going to put together a separate post with them.

Remember these photos from 20 weeks? Well, things have changed a bit since then...

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