Kirrillee - Beach Maternity Session

Port Stephens Maternity Session

Maternity sessions are something very close to my heart.

Being a mother myself, I know exactly how it feels to carry around a little one for 9 months, the joy and the pain, and the ever-changing things that happen to your body. I never organised a maternity session for my first child, and I've regretted it ever since. Even though at the time I felt like a beached whale, I was really so proud of what my body accomplished at that time. This is why I'm such a huge advocate for them now.

I wanted to do more outdoor maternity photoshoots incorporating beach portraits, and luckily enough my cousin Kirrilee was pregnant with her little one. The best time for a maternity session is between 32 - 36 weeks, as bumps have popped out and mums are usually pretty mobile still. She was right in the perfect stage for a Port Stephens maternity photoshoot and was up for anything I had in mind.

We organised a few beautiful maternity outfits that complemented the beach surroundings and the style of the shoot I was aiming for. We met up on a stunning Summer evening for our beach photoshoot out at Birubi, and could not have got a more gorgeous sunset.

Kirrilee was amazing, trusting my vision and being super keen to try whatever! I think this is a really important aspect of maternity photoshoots, which is trusting your photographer. It's really easy to feel vulnerable and exposed, especially when you're usually very uncomfortable towards the end of the pregnancy. But trusting your photographer makes a huge difference to the photos and how you feel about them.

We spent the afternoon watching the sunset and strolling about the water and the waves. It was such an honour to be able to capture these fleeting moments of such a life-changing experience, as it really does go by so fast. And like I said, you may not feel it at the time, but you will look back on sessions like these and be amazed by what your body endured and the beauty of it all.