Two Artistic Nude Photoshoots in One Year: Natalie's Journey to Motherhood
Part One: The Mini Session
At the beginning of last year, we had a nude goddess gathering, and afterward I did mini sessions with several of the women. Natalie was one of them. Her athletic body and bright, open smile got me excited to photograph her, and I had a feeling I wouldn't need to talk her into anything. Her adventurous spirit would be down for whatever idea we came up with.
We walked away from the tribe to play in the labyrinth nearby. Sunsport Gardens is a beautiful slice of paradise where we could be nude, feel the elements on our skin, and simply exist without shame. Natalie was confident in her body and didn't overthink my prompts. She would start with the "task" I gave her, like blowing on the fluffy-looking plants, and then let her natural curiosity take over and play.
The mini session flew by in the blink of an eye. For the closing shot, Natalie stood between two trees, holding their trunks. She took a deep breath and let out a scream at the top of her lungs, up into the treetops and the forest around us. Then she burst out laughing, and those are some of my favorite photos from that session.
"When I'm Old, I Want to Remember"
When I asked Natalie why she decided to do a nude mini session, she said: "Because when I am old, I want to remember what I looked like naked."
No one had ever given me that answer before. What a simple, honest reason. You can always look at an old passport photo and see what your face looked like, but very few photos preserve the memory of your nude body.
Here are the photos from that mini session. When I look back at these photos, I am blown away by HOW MUCH we were able to accomplish during that short mini photoshoot.
Part Two: A Nude Maternity Shoot
That November, Natalie reached out again. She was pregnant and wanted a nude maternity photoshoot. It was my first fully nude maternity shoot, and I was ecstatic. Since we already knew each other, I could tell right away that it would be two girlfriends playing out in nature.
A nude photoshoot eliminates one of the biggest headaches in preparing for a shoot: what should I wear? :) After our phone consultation, Natalie decided to bring fresh flowers and a scarf. She may have brought other things too, but those were the ones we ended up playing with.
Natalie also made a vision board on Pinterest and shared it with me. I always ask clients to do this. It's fun, it's part of the creative process, and it can spark an idea. That's exactly what happened here.
Finding the Super Nest
One photo on Natalie's vision board showed a pregnant woman sitting sideways in a little nest of dried grass, holding flowers around her breasts. We had the flowers, gorgeous sunflowers and more that Natalie brought, but we didn't have a nest. After trimming the stems with car keys (resourceful goddesses!), we went for a walk to see if we could find something similar. We filmed some behind-the-scenes videos, laughed, and then, to our great surprise, came across a gigantic pile of branches and dried twigs. It wasn't just a nest. It was a super nest!
Being as adventurous and playful as she is, Natalie was completely comfortable climbing into it. We started by recreating the inspiration photo, and of course our version turned out quite differently. That's the beauty of vision boards: they give you a reference point, but even when you try to copy one exactly, your version becomes your own.
Once we had that shot, I knew I wanted the flowers out of the frame. They were so colorful and perfect that they didn't belong there. Her skin against the texture of the sticks was enough. We improvised a few poses, and eventually I asked Natalie to lie down in the nest, holding only a tiny sprig of baby's breath against her belly. I kept joking that she was nesting, and we were both so grateful we'd found it.
These are some of my favorite images from the nest series. She is creating new life inside her, yet she is also in a womb herself, waiting to be born into motherhood. I love that duality.
At that point I already felt complete. I love Sunsport Gardens and know which spots photograph well, but I didn't want to do my usual thing. I wanted something uniquely Natalie's, and I'm so glad I let myself veer off the known path.
Purple Flowers, Spanish Moss, and the Last Light
Back at the meditation field, I noticed small purple flowers in a marshy area near the labyrinth, so we played there. Natalie's beautiful scarf had some purple in it, and I love how those images turned out. I also used an infrared filter on a few, and I'm absolutely obsessed with those purple-hued photographs. Natalie was a trooper, standing ankle-deep in some very questionable water while posing for me. That's what I call a wild woman!
Not thirty feet away, I photographed her sitting on the grass beneath Spanish moss hanging from a tree. A little farther on, some beautiful orange flowers inspired us. It was getting dark, so I used one light with a softbox, and I LOVE how those came out. Then a tree with bare brown branches caught my eye. It was really dark by then, but I'm so glad we captured those delicate brown hues.
Dancing in the Labyrinth
Our very last series was in the labyrinth, the same spot where, at the beginning of the year, I had asked Natalie why she wanted her photos taken. Now we were preserving the memory of her body as it created new life: baby Lina, who would be born in January. She danced between the rows of pink brick in the dark, my flash catching her body every so often. That's how these final images were born.
To Be Continued…
While writing this story, I realized we have to photograph Natalie with her daughter to make this project truly complete! I just texted her, so there may be a continuation. :)
This has been one of my most memorable nude photoshoots. What a gift to capture maternity in nude portraits. A woman's body is creating a miracle, and I feel the most honest way to portray that is without anything covering it. I'm so thankful to Natalie for trusting me to create these epic photos. ♥
