Maternity Session at the Anchorage Municipal Greenhouse

In-Home Maternity Session | Madison & Denali

Turnagain Arm Maternity: Meredith

How lucky am I to be a photographer in Alaska?! And how lucky am I to have the easiest access to the Turnagain Arm where there are so many wonderful places to take photos!? For Meredith’s maternity session we started out at McHugh Creek (which is always notoriously windy, though I love it!) and then moved on to Beluga Point just down the road.

I love getting to photograph maternity sessions because it is such a wild time for a woman and her partner. I love that the session feels like a fun date-night, but it is also such a great time to focus on baby and this journey you are on. I also love my clients, and the fact that I can say things like, “Now for this shot, I want you to look at the water and imagine your husband is at sea,” and no one will bat an eye. The best! <3

Flat Top Maternity Session: Ashley

This was my first photo session back after sheltering in place for almost two months during the Covid-19 pandemic. The whole drive up to Flat Top, I was worried about feeling rusty. Once I got there, it felt weird to put my mask on before climbing out of the car. Once Ashley and Dan arrived, it felt even stranger to not shake their hands— or give hugs. (I’ve learned through isolation that I’m a hugger!)

The light at Flat Top was absolutely beautiful in the way that only spring nights in Anchorage can be. It was almost 9pm, and golden light flooded across the town and lit up the green and red lichen on the Glen Alps. Before we started, I gave my usual spiel about posing and prompts, but this time added in information about how I would be staying 6-feet apart from them and how we would work around things like errant hairs and dresses that needed fluffing. I wasn’t sure I could get used to shooting in a mask and not getting up super close for all the detail shots I love… but then something happened.

It was like every instinct I had came rushing back. It was amazing to be able to talk and joke with people that weren’t my family. (No offense family, it’s just that we’ve been seeing an awful lot of each other lately. Ha.) It was like for that hour and a half, our world was almost normal again.

Ashley and her fiance, Dan, rocked the session. Rocked it. They were so much fun to work with— and I will never forget the moment I posed Ashley against the gorgeous mountain backdrop and asking her to yell a cussword at the Corona Virus. It was a truly cathartic moment, and I’ll see if you can guess which one of these photos has some f-bomb thrown in. ;)

Jennifer: Winter Maternity

Maternity sessions in Alaska can be tricky sometimes because you don’t have all the time in the world to wait for Mother Nature to get her act together. Jennifer had such a perfect vision of snowy flocked trees in Girdwood for her maternity photos, and I was willing to try anything to get them for her. I location scouted so many different spots, but there just wasn’t enough snow— or when there was snow, it fell on dates when neither one of us was available.

Finally, we had to go for it at the beginning of December or run the risk of not getting them done before her baby boy arrived. We ditched the idea of Girdwood thanks to copious amounts of rain. (Are there really still people who don’t believe Climate Change is a thing?!) And then Flat Top turned out to be so windy and the snow was blowing so hard, that it really wasn’t safe. We took only a handful of photos before I turned to Jennifer and said, “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to trust me. There’s a place where I can get you flocked trees, gorgeous light if we leave now, and it will be out of the wind. The only problem is it is right on the side of a road and when you pull up you’re going to think I’m crazy.” But she was a trooper and trusted me, and I think these photos speak for themselves.

If you have a vision for what you want your photos to be, I’m always down to do whatever I can to make that a reality for you. <3

Tara: Beluga Point Maternity Session

One thing you need to know about me: I’m incredibly passionate about motherhood and supporting moms. After becoming a mom, my business focus completely shifted and I wanted to spend my time documenting families in all stages. There’s something about maternity sessions where I just really love the chance to connect with women while they are going through such an amazing time. The prenatal stage is full of so much love, excitement, fear, anxiety— and I really appreciate the chance to just slow things down for a bit and check in with the mom-to-be. This session was especially big in that way because I was just coming off of my own maternity leave and it was my first session back since having my daughter. I was so excited to be back to work— as well as loving the chance to connect with other adults! (Tara did tell me later that I was like a puppy who was seeing people for the first time all-day!) I hope all that joy really comes through in these.