maternity photos Archives • Insley Photography

November 16, 2022November 18, 2022

What to Wear for Your Maternity Portrait Session

I’ll be honest with you, choosing what to wear for your maternity portrait session can be tricky! Your maternity session is usually between 28-35 weeks of pregnancy. You might not know exactly what size you’ll be or how comfortable you’ll be feeling. Plus, you might only need the outfit for the day of the session. (This is where a studio wardrobe comes in handy.)

I’m here to help! I’ll offer some guidance on what to wear for your maternity session and why you should really consider a maternity photographer with a wardrobe!

Choose Your Maternity Session Style

Before sharing tips on what to wear, I want to back up for a second. First, start with the end in mind and envision what you want to do with these portraits. Are you hoping to print a portrait to hang on the wall? Wanting to add some of these images to your baby’s first album? This will help you start. Second, think about what overall style you’re going for. Do you want a glamorous maternity session? Something more contemporary? Magazine Style? I have a whole guide on just choosing your maternity session style here.

What to Wear for Your Maternity Portraits

Here are a few ideas of what you can wear for your maternity portrait session!

Fitted Dress – This is a beautiful and classic look for your maternity session! A fitted dress shows off your beautiful bump and all your gorgeous curves. I tend to suggest a solid color for this type of dress so that a pattern doesn’t distract from you at all.

Flowy Dress – A gorgeous option for the mama who wants the glam goddess look. We’ll still show off the bump along with your beautiful self with this look. Different poses offer different looks with this style of dress.

Jeans and Top – This is more casual but still so beautiful! We can show off your pregnancy in a way that’s comfortable for you. This simple yet classic look offers the perfect peek at your glowing baby bump!

Barely There – All we need is your gorgeous pregnancy! These are the portraits that you’ll look back on and think, “Wow, my body can do incredible things.” Your body is doing an amazing job growing life. Now is the time to celebrate your superpower.

Insley Photography Studio Wardrobe

This is where the benefit of a studio wardrobe comes into play! Instead of stressing and shopping to try to find the right outfit, you can use one of mine. I have sizes and styles for every mama. On the day of your maternity portrait session, your outfit will be clean, pressed, and waiting for you. How easy is that?! You get to feel like the stunning goddess that you are without having to spend money on an outfit that you’re going to wear once. Bonus you can arrive in your pjs on the day of your photoshoot 😉

Fort Mill Maternity Photography

Mama, I believe that your motherhood journey should be documented and celebrated without adding any to-dos to your growing list. Once you arrive at my Fort Mill studio, you will feel pampered and loved. I want to help you celebrate your sweet baby and be part of your story. The best part is that you can let me do all the work!

What about hair and makeup? I’m so glad you asked 😉 I will coordinate that too. A professional hair and makeup artist can meet you at the studio before your session and help you get ready and feel pampered on your portrait day.

If you have any questions for me or want to schedule your maternity session, give me a call (803) 336-5125 or send me a message here.

Check out my friend Vanessa’s Delivery Bag Checklist blog post.

She shares all the things you need to have in your bag and it’s a lot less than you probably think.

https://www.vkeophotography.com/post/delivery-bag-checklist

September 12, 2022November 16, 2022

Including Older Children in Your Maternity Portrait Session

Capturing maternity portraits for you is such a precious gift that I just never want to take for granted! Those nine months of eagerly waiting for your newest family member can feel like forever. Taking the time to capture maternity photos is a wonderful way to celebrate your baby and your growing family. Whether this is your first baby or your fifth, each pregnancy deserves to be documented and celebrated.

If this isn’t your first baby, you’re probably wondering about a few things. The two biggest questions I hear are if mom should include her older children in the maternity portrait session and what to do if she didn’t take maternity photos with her first child.

I’d love to answer both of these questions for you!

Maternity Portraits with Your Second Child

If you didn’t take maternity portraits with your first baby, and this is your second (or third or fourth) child, are you feeling guilty? I hope not! There are a couple of things I’d like to say about that. First, maybe you didn’t even know that maternity photography was an option for you the first time. It could have been financial, or you just didn’t know about it. Either way, if you want maternity portraits the second time, you should do so without feeling guilty at all. You can ditch the guilt because mom guilt is for the birds. We will include your older children in this session so that they feel extra special.

Should You Include Older Children?

The short answer is yes! You definitely can include your older children in your maternity portrait session. Your pregnancy is a special time for the entire family, children included. They are just as excited about welcoming a few family member. Including them in the session lets them join in on the celebration and be part of documenting your journey.

As I said above, if you didn’t take maternity photos with your oldest child, these maternity photos with them included will feel just as special. We can give your kids jobs to make them feel important. Trust me, I can always find something for them to do!

A huge benefit of a studio maternity session is that your children will be happily contained in the studio. We don’t have to worry about chasing your toddler around the park as we snap a few solo portraits of mom. Another benefit of the studio is that it’s temperature-controlled and comfortable, so there won’t be any whining about standing in the heat.

Maternity Portrait Photographer

As a Charlotte-area maternity portrait photographer, I love welcoming my maternity clients and their families to the studio. My goal is to make the entire session as stress-free and fun as possible for everyone in your family. We’ll capture those dreamy maternity portraits in the maternity style that you want and document your family’s excitement for this new baby. I would love to be your maternity photographer. If you’re interested in learning more, please send me a message here.

March 7, 2022June 13, 2022

How to Choose a Maternity Photographer in Charlotte, NC

finding the right maternity photographer for you

Pregnancy is such a special time and it goes by way too fast. Well, it might seem slow to mom when she’s nine months pregnant and waiting for the baby to arrive. But, I can almost promise that you’ll look back on photos of your baby bump, and you might miss it.

This is why it’s so important to find the right maternity photographer for you. You only get one chance to capture such a sweet and short moment in your life. Maternity portraits are a beautiful way to capture your glowing pregnancy and that precious time before your new baby is in your arms.

I want you to find the best pregnancy photographer for you, so I’m sharing five tips on finding your perfect photographer.

5 Tips for Finding Your Pregnancy Photographer in Charlotte, NC

Style
Experience
Offerings
Full-Service
Personality Match

Style – The first tip for finding the right photographer for you is to find a photographer whose style you love. If you love gorgeous studio portraits, work with a studio photographer.

Experience – I’m not knocking new photographers by any means. I know everyone needs their start. However, this is such a precious time, and you only really have one chance to capture your maternity portraits, so you want to choose someone with experience that you can trust.

Offerings – I highly recommend working with a maternity photographer that offers newborn sessions and milestone sessions. There are so many reasons for this, but the best reason is that you only have to book once and you know all those sessions are properly taken care of. A full service portrait photographer who covers everything from wardrobe to printing your custom products. This leads to my next tip.

Full-Service – Mamas, I cannot emphasize this enough! Find a photographer who will take the entire process off your plate. You don’t need to worry about finding an outfit for your maternity session or stress over choosing which products you’ll want. Work with a photographer with your interests in mind. Letting the professional guide you through all the details will save you a ton of stress.

Personality Match – My final tip is an important one! Find a maternity photographer that you really like and feel comfortable with throughout the process. It may sound silly, but it’s important that you can find a photographer that you can trust and that will treat you more like family than a client. This will make everything so much more enjoyable!

Your Maternity Photographer | Charlotte, NC

As a mom of two boys myself, I know how special the season of pregnancy is and how fast it goes. My mission is to make the maternity session process as easy and stress-free as possible. The Insley Photography studio is temperature-controlled and comfortable all year long located just outside of Charlotte, NC. My clients have access to my gorgeous client wardrobe, so they don’t have to worry about finding an outfit. After the session is over and you’ve selected your images to display, I even hand-deliver them to your home, and a professional art installer can hang them on your walls, all without you lifting a finger! How’s that for full service? If you have any questions or want to know me, send me a message here.

February 21, 2022February 21, 2022

How to Choose Your Newborn Portrait Photography Style | Charlotte, NC

sweet newborn girl poses for her newborn portrait session

You spend nine months waiting to meet the love of your life. All those months, you dream about this little person who you can’t wait to hold in your arms. It’s a surreal and beautiful moment when that moment arrives, and you get to hold your sweet baby for their newborn portrait.

Those first few weeks with your newborn are a crazy blur as you get to know each other. It’s so important to capture this important milestone with newborn portraits. An essential part of planning your newborn portrait session is to decide which type of newborn portrait style you wish. I’d love to walk through the different styles and help you decide which one is right for your family.

Baby Photography Styles

There are two styles of newborn portraits to choose from and they are studio or lifestyle. Both are beautiful, but you need to understand the difference and choose the right style for you! We want to start with the end in mind for every portrait session. How do you want to display and love on these portraits? Are you going to display them in your living room or create an heirloom album? Maybe both! Knowing this helps us plan your style.

Lifestyle Newborn Portraits

A lifestyle photographer will come to your home after the baby is born to capture lifestyle newborn portraits. The photographer works within your home to take photographs of your baby and usually doesn’t bring props or wraps. Instead, they use your home and decor as a backdrop for the portraits. For this reason, parents need to clean and prepare their home before the session so that it’s portrait ready! These portraits can feature the rest of your family as the photographer captures your family’s big milestone.

Studio Newborn Portraits

All you need to do is bring your beautiful new baby to the studio for this style of newborn portraits. Everything is perfect and ready for your peaceful session within the studio setting. Something special about studio portraits is that your newborn is the primary focus of the studio portraits.

I have everything we need for your baby’s session, including props, wraps, and even a wardrobe for mama. The studio-style offers the ability to sweetly and safely pose your newborn to get the perfect photo.

If mama has a specific pose in mind, I have training and experience to pose your baby. However, your newborn runs the show. If your sweetie isn’t feeling a particular pose, sometimes I can use some Photoshop magic to create the perfectly posed portrait for you. This is a much safer option than trying to force a pose that might be uncomfortable for your baby. Of course, if you have other children, you’re welcome to bring them to the studio for this special session. I love creating sibling portraits, and they are almost always one of mom’s favorites.

Charlotte Newborn Studio Photographer

Your newborn portrait session is such an important milestone to capture, and you only get one shot to get it right! Newborn portraits are best to capture between 5 and 14 days old. Trust an experienced newborn studio photographer located right in Charlotte, NC. I’m honored when families choose me for this precious time, and I don’t take a moment of it for granted. If you think I may be the right fit for you, let’s have a conversation.

February 21, 2022July 19, 2022

Why Work With The Same Maternity & Newborn Photographer | Rock Hill, SC

studio maternity session near Rock Hill, SC

Meeting my newborn clients will never get old! I absolutely love when mamas book their maternity and newborn sessions with me. Not only do I get to relive that special time over and over again, but I find that I’m just as excited to meet the new baby as I am to see the mama again.

There are so many reasons why I highly recommend using the same photographer for both your maternity session and your newborn session. I have my reasons, but it’s really a great thing for mom. Let me share a few reasons with you!

Using the Same Maternity Photographer and Newborn Photographer

These are just a few of the best reasons why you should consider booking the same photographer for your pregnancy photos and your newborn photos. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

No Strangers Here – At your newborn session, you won’t be meeting a new photographer for these precious portraits. You’re already confident and comfortable with your photographer, and you know exactly what you’re going to get. Instead of saying, “Nice to meet you,” you’ll say, “It’s so great to see you again!”

Easy Newborn Session Planning – You can plan out both sessions when you have the same photographer. Instead of wondering what poses you want or what props you’ll need, you can work through that during your pregnancy.

Priority Scheduling – My newborn clients have priority scheduling. Of course, babies come when they want, but I have my booked in newborn clients’ due dates on the calendar and make sure to be available around that time. Mamas just need to let me know when their baby is born to finalize the date of the session within the ideal two-week timeframe.

Don’t Be Camera Shy – For some of my clients, their maternity portrait session is their first professional photos since their wedding. Whether you love being in front of the camera or not, having the same photographer means you and your partner have an opportunity to get comfortable in front of the camera.

Displaying Your Portrait Artwork

Style Your Session – The best part of my job is to deliver my clients amazing portrait artwork they can treasure forever. You see, my job isn’t over until your portraits are displayed in your home. It’s that important to me! When I work with my clients for their maternity and newborn sessions, we can style their sessions so that their portraits match their home’s styles. We also offer installation for your wall art. I want to do this for you so that you can focus on bonding with your baby and not asking your partner to hang the art. That way after your baby arrives you can focus on bonding with them and we can get your portraits on your walls for you.

Maternity and Newborn Photoshoot | Rock Hill, SC

Honestly, I can hardly wait for when my clients walk into the studio with their newborns. Meeting your sweet babies is such an honor, and after getting to know you at the maternity session, I am genuinely excited to hear the good news! I love that I am able to get to know my clients and be part of their growing families. As a maternity and newborn photographer, I’m here to capture your most precious moments. Please send me a message here if you want to schedule your session with me.

Interested in something different for inspiration? Check out this milk bath maternity session a friend of mine created.