I’ve gone Ga-ga!

Well well, I haven’t blogged for a while but I guess it’s a good thing that I’ve been busy.

I am now officially a Bump and Baby Photographer under the name of Ga-Ga Photography. I posted a message on Freeconomy for pregnant women and babies to photograph, so I could get some experience, and they got some free photographs out of it. I had a great time and it confirmed that I really wanted to do it.

I was surprised actually how much I enjoyed photographing them, and how much I was learning from it. Not just the technical side of how to work my flash and getting to grips with the camera, but also how much I learnt about motherhood!

I’ll probably get to the stage where I can write a book about everything the ladies have told me about the reality of pregnancy and motherhood. The one key fact I found out is that you have to make it up as you go along! You can read all the books and watch all the ‘how tos’ about it, but really you just have to go with your instinct and learn from your mistakes.

Another thing it confirmed for me is that every lady is different and every baby is different. Before I started properly I was unsure about how to market myself to appeal to everyone because everyone is different. Most of the other photographers I came across seem to market themselves at everyone, or so they thought… All of their work and marketing was a bit OTT for my liking, and was of the general theme of ‘everything about pregnancy and babies is amazing, every moment is perfect and special’. Although it’s lovely to have this view, it’s not at all realistic.

So the view that I’m coming from is that it can be perfect and special, but most of the time it’s uncomfortable, frustrating and unpredictable. A lot of the ladies I photographed seemed to feel like they weren’t looking as good as they should. Their bump should be more round and pert, they had too many stretch marks, they weren’t toned enough. That really scared me. Although it’s great that there are more pregnant women in the media, they’re piling on the pressure to look ‘perfect’, and if you can’t look a bit tired and marked when you’re pregnant, when can you?!

I’m still in awe when I photograph a woman when she’s pregnant – I think it’s the most beautiful thing in the world, and I’m honoured that I’m let into their lives. Without trying to sound too gushy, and whilst still keeping up my realistic view, it is beautiful and perfect!

I’ve uploaded a lot of my images onto Flickr and they’re all there on my website. So have a look!