First of all, we need to talk about how fun it is to work with fancy dresses. They take an everyday (for me) session and add a whole other element to posing, angles, and composition. They open the door for creativity and an energy you don't often get when you're working with an everyday dress. When Kiley reached out about maternity photos, I knew we had to have some fun with them, and it started with the dress.
Kiley and I crossed paths thanks to a military spouse Facebook group. She is interested in photography and wanted to chat with someone about how to get started. I'm an educator at heart (I worked in higher education for 8 years before starting my business), so I immediately reached out to her for a coffee date.
When we met, Kiley shared that she was pregnant with her first child and she was incredibly nervous about it. At her anatomy scan, her little one was moving a lot and they had a hard time finding all the things they needed to find, which lead to the doctors sharing that the baby might have some medical complications. Kiley and I chatted about parenthood and anxiety, acknowledging that the two seem to be forever linked. We love our kiddos, and we will forever worry about them and want the best for them.
Thankfully, a few days after we met, Kiley had another ultrasound and they were able to see all the parts of the baby they needed to see! Kiley was immediately relieved and shared the joyous news with me. We started chatting about maternity photos and I began cooking up some ideas with my dear friend Jess, owner of Jessica Albert Photography. We had creative maternity session dreams and a client who was willing to try anything we threw at her, so we had to take advantage!
Jess started coordinating with Book A Look - a DMV area dress rental company. We were a little crushed when the dress we wanted wasn't available, but thrilled when we were able to get the same dress in a different color (and a second dress on top of it - for that story, check out Carrie and Shawn's maternity session).
Kiley and Ben were amazing - they didn't look at us like we were crazy and they went along with all of our crazy ideas, even though it meant walking into a field with tall grass they couldn't see the bottom of! In addition to the gorgeous open-front maternity dress photos, we did a playful beach vibe for the second part of Kiley and Ben's session and it was an absolute blast. We played in the water, walked on the beach, and had all the romantic sunset vibes. Check out the two-part session below!
