Maternity Portaits (AKA - Baby Bump Pics)

My wife asked me about taking on a special project for breastfeeding awareness month coming up in August. She helps to lead a support group for breastfeeding moms, and she asked if I'd consider doing some maternity portraits for the moms in the group. It sounds like a great chance to broaden my experience, so of course I'm in.

I turn to Pintrest to get some ideas. I tried Google Images to get some more ideas. Here I my findings.

Good Ideas:
1) Get strong silhouettes via back-lighting the profile of your subject.
2) Stripes accentuate the curve of the belly.
3) Tie a wide ribbon around the belly--pink for a girl, blue for a boy.
4) NEVER DO AN INTERNET SEARCH FOR MATERNITY PICTURES!!!

Apparently, many women like to get pregnant and then get naked. All I can say is, I feel dirty.

I will not be taking "that" kind of maternity portraits.

[See a sample of the results HERE!]

Mount Hebron East Baptist Church

On April 27, 2011, a little country church-house in rural central Alabama was completely destroyed in the midst of the worst "single-system tornado outbreak ever recorded." Ever since then, contractors and volunteers from both inside and outside of the church have been rebuilding a physical home for the people of Mount Hebron East Baptist Church.

On July 13 and 14, the Carpenters for Christ from Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, AL came out to install the trusses, roof decking, and roofing felt so that another group could come right behind to install the metal roof. When I heard that people from my old church were helping rebuild for people in my current Baptist association, I knew that I had to go offer some time and sweat to the project. It just wouldn't have been Christian not to.

If you are wondering, "What's this got to do with photography?" then accept the following pictures as an explanation.

In case you are wondering, yes, I did actually put in some labor on this project. No, not as much as some. I never made it onto the roof, which is where I've traditionally ended up. This time it was mostly step-and-fetch-it tasks though I did do a lot of cutting on day 2.

(Additional photos can be viewed on my facebook page.)

One Wetumpka Sunset

On June 30, 2012, I met up with a family in Wetumpka, AL to take some portraits. These are not those portraits. These are some random landscape shots I took while checking settings and after they left. Some actual portrait samples may show up in an upcoming post, but I have to get the pictures to the customer and get authorization to post samples here before that happens. Enjoy!

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy having Adobe Lightroom4? Because it's great.