Is this personal work or client work?
This session was client work for Chelsea Celeste Designs & JH Gowns.
What about this session was most memorable?
My favorite part about it was seeing the women in mother nature, something about the grandeur of the mountain backdrop speaks to my soul, I want to breathe in that fresh air and stay there awhile. It was wonderful dressing them up and celebrating them as the fierce and beautiful creatures that they are. Women getting together and talking birth, babies and motherhood, and doing it with respect, vulnerability, curiosity, love and laughter is such a beautiful and powerful thing. As I took our first photo’s, I knew we were onto something special and could feel the excitement of the girls growing as they watched each other getting them done.
Were there any hurdles?
We had a lot of obstacles in getting there, finding dates that worked, location changes, travel arrangements, sickness, and I must admit I had some hesitations when I saw them doing hair;) (Which turned out great!) Despite any obstacles we pulled together the day of, decided our locations, combined our visions and made some magic.
Your best photographer/session advice?
If I were to give advice for doing a session like this, don’t attempt it all on your own. Make sure you have at least a second set of eyes and hands. We went with 2 dressmakers, a photographer (me), makeup professional, and 4 pretty mama’s, all women, all mothers or just about to be. I had Chelsea from Chelsea Celeste Designs helping to adjust dresses, hair and move girls, etc. We have done it enough that we work pretty well with each other, each of us calling out our own directions to the models, somehow in a way that flowed and worked well. We also had a lot of help from Johanna (JH Gowns). I think it would have been much less efficient and our models would not have been able to last had I been doing that all on my own.
What gear was used to achieve these?
These were all shot on the Canon 5D Mark iii with the Sigma Art 35mm. All natural light, no reflectors, other than the snow.
About the photographer:
Andrea is a mother to three superheroes of varying sizes. They are her pride and truly, her joy. She redecorates homes instead of counting sheep to put herself to sleep. She loves her family and their thanksgiving football games. She loves her friends and making new ones. She sometimes engages in games of synchronized golf, and enjoy other random silliness. Her dreams are full of hot air balloons and European or tropical traveling adventures. She loves ideas and spends large amounts of time thinking about them. She loves people, and capturing the raw, quirky, interesting, imperfect and beautiful things about them.