In many ways, a maternity photo shoot is like a couple portrait session. But with an extra person. In an engagement shoot, I might crop closely to the faces, but if I do that with a couple in a maternity shoot, we miss the whole point. The pregnant belly becomes an essential feature of the photo, as important as the couple's heads, and I design my compositions while keeping this in mind. For example, I would never crop through the belly, as I wouldn't crop through the middle of a face. The belly shouldn't feel "left out" of the photo, any more than one would place a baby off to the side of his/her parents. I try to involve the belly, with placement of hands or directed gazes.This couple was interested in something different from a nature-y background, so we went to the Baker Beach barracks - old concrete forts and former homes to canons, in the olden days when defense was focused on attack via ocean. It is full of precarious stairways, locked doors and eroded, stained walls, all features that are fun for photographers! It was fun to contrast soft curves and lovey looks with this surreal landscape.
My listing is finally posted under Tiny Prints Photographer Favorites! http://www.tinyprints.com/tiny-prints-local-photographer-recommendations.htm
I'm very pleased with this, and the news has kicked up my Day Quality by a couple of notches. I don't think that many people actually refer to this resource page when looking for a photog, as presumably if they go to TinyPrints they already have photos ready to print. But... that's OK!