Maternity session

Before 28 weeks the shape does not yet read clearly in a photograph, and after 34 weeks swelling and fatigue make an hour on your feet genuinely hard — with the added risk that an early arrival cancels the session altogether. Between those two points is the window, and for twins it moves about four weeks earlier. Booking inside it rather than hoping to fit it in later is the single decision that most affects how this session goes.

At home is often the better choice and it costs nothing extra within the metro area. A home session needs one window with reasonable daylight and nothing else; it removes the travel, it lets you change without a changing room, and it puts the photographs in the room the baby is about to live in — which is the detail people notice years later far more than they notice the backdrop.

On what to wear, bring something fitted and something flowing, because they photograph as two different sessions. Fitted jersey in a solid colour shows the shape and is what most people picture; a long unstructured dress moves and is what most people end up choosing. Anything with a defined waistband sits in the wrong place by this point and is worth leaving at home. A partner in plain mid-tones and bare feet keeps the attention where it belongs.

Seventy-five minutes covers solo portraits plus partner and sibling frames, and thirty-five retouched photographs arrive within five business days. Older siblings are photographed first while they are still interested, which takes about ten minutes and is the part of the session most likely to go sideways if it is left until last. From $350.