R egular readers may have noticed that I love a good photo of Ettie and I. She really is my little best friend and I know her childhood is going to be over waaay to quickly so I want to try and capture as many of our adventures together as possible, so I have something to look back (and cry big weepy tears) over once she’s flown the nest and all I’m left with is Stu and his chat about the cricket!! (sob!)
Perhaps one of our greatest adventures together will be bringing this new baby into the world! It will make Ettie a big sister, me a Mummy of two (yikes!) and change the dynamic of our relationship forever so it’s no longer Ettie and her Mummy, but Ettie and her sibling (whatever gender it may be) with Mummy just popping alongside them for the ride!! Daunting, but ever so exciting! For that reason I’ve wanted Ettie to be involved in the progress of this pregnancy as much as possible, because it’s going to change her life just as much as ours. I’ve tried to capture photos of my growing bump, with her growing up alongside it as I know they will be photos to cherish in the future! It’s quite bitter sweet that she won’t actually remember this time, but hopefully by having lovely images to show her she will realise it was a time of great love and happiness. (I have a brother and its hard to imagine a life without him, but my parents, like me took lots of photos of that time so I know one does exist!).
So imagine my excitement when photographer Becca from Becca Wild Photography contacted me asking if we’d like to take part in a maternity photoshoot. I was so excited I almost dropped the phone in the bath trying to get my fat thumbs in some kind of rhythm steady enough to type a reply!
Becca is primarily a landscape and portrait photographer but she can turn her hand to anything! I’ve been a fan of her work for SUCH a long time, as she’s spent the last eight years travelling and has taken some incredible photos along the way (you can see what I mean on her Instagram and Facebook pages here Instagram: @RebeccaWildPhotography and here: Facebook @HeartsoftheWild). Her style of photography is vivid, exciting and also very unique. Every shoot has a slightly different take to it, but also demonstrates her own unique style and I literally couldn’t wait to work with her!
Becca’s goal is to tell a story through her photography by capturing the exact mood and emotions of the person (or people) in the picture. Because of this she always recommends an initial meeting with her client to help understand exactly what it is they would like to see from the shoot and also to gain an idea of their personality so she can use her creative background to come up with backdrops and locations that might suit the mood.
At our initial meeting, I expressed how important it was to have Ettie involved in the photographs and also that I loved light and crisp images. She instantly came up with a range of ideas for locations throughout our house which she thought would make a perfect backdrop in the setting sun (I’d also explained how much I loved the golden hour evening light), and identified some places in the local area which we could use for the shoot if we wanted to get out and about. I also explained that whilst I did want photos of my bump, I’d prefer not to have any that were too poesy and she understood completely which was a huge relief. I think this goes to demonstrate how diverse and unique her photography actually is.
On the day of the shoot, I was actually late getting home from work and so Ettie was in the bath when Becca arrived! Thinking on her feet (and unbeknownst to me) she worked with Stu to gather props from around our house and built a mini photo studio in our back garden so we didn’t have to travel far! It looked amazing! So relaxed and cosy with a real boho vibe, it was like having our own little piece of Ibiza in Sussex and I was so impressed with what she’d managed to create by doing a quick trawl of our house!!
Shoot Day
The shoot itself was lovely, Becca is so friendly and easy to talk to that she really put me at ease in front of the camera (even though my parents and Stu were in the background watching!) Ettie also absolutely loved her and kept talking about ‘Becca coming to take photograph‘ in the whole week that followed. Photographing a toddler is never going to be easy, but Becca was patient, fun and made Ettie enjoy herself which was hugely important to me.
It always takes a while getting warmed up in photo shoots, but Becca was brilliant at making the whole thing fun and relaxing so eventually I was just able to do my thing. If there were moments I lost my nerve she gave me some direction and told me if I had a stray arm or leg that was ruining the composition, but for the most part she let me just be myself which felt the most natural to me.
These images were actually unplanned, but when we changed shoot location to my bedroom, Ettie hopped up on the bed (took her clothes off – which is her favourite thing to do at the moment) and started posing for the camera like she’d been doing it all her life! It was so funny to watch and i’m absolutely blown away with the results. She looks so beautiful, seeing the end result made me really teary.
Presentation
As if the amazing photos weren’t enough, she also came round and surprised me with the most beautiful presentation box. This is something Becca creates for the individual and in mine there were dried flowers with lavender aimed to represent pregnancy. It also contained a framed print of one of her favourite photos of the day (which also happened to be mine!) It was such a special touch, again I had to get a little Kleenex at the ready to dab the corners of my eyes.
I really am truly thrilled with these photographs. Becca’s somehow managed to make me not even look like me (in a good way) and I love how she’s captured my bump naturally without me having to pose. I just know I am going to look back on these over and over in the future as something I really cherish, especially the ones of Ettie on her own.
If you’re in the Brighton area and would like to know more, you can find out all about Becca and her incredible range of photography skills on her website here : Becca Wild Photography. She covers everything from travel, lifestyle, weddings, portraits and engagement shoots and can tailor her skills to whatever you have in mind. She’ll also travel further into London/ Sussex if required.
Becca has also been kind enough to offer a 20% discount to all readers so if you are interested just mention my blog during your initial communication and she’ll knock a little money off.
I’ve had to restrain myself from putting all of the images up from our shoot (85!) but I’ve included a selection of my favourites below. If you follow me on Instagram i’m really sorry for the amount of pregnancy spam that is coming your way because I just know I am going to have to incorporate so many of these into my grid (although its going to be so hard to choose which ones).
I couldn’t be happier with the results. I feel like she’s captured my ideas perfectly and also thrown in some of her own with her brilliant and highly talented eye.
