9 Reasons Why You Need To Capture Life Before Baby
Have you ever looked at old photographs of your parents and wondered what life was like for them before a baby came along? What did they do? How did they spend their time?
My mum was quite a socialite. She loved spending time with her friends. I have had many conversations about the photos of her and parties with her friends along with the post party hang over photos with my antagonistic grandfather poking fun at her.
Those visions are totally foreign to me, with my younger siblings she needs to look after I could not imagine seeing my mother, being miss socialite every weekend. All I have are the photos to paint a picture for me.
Now, maybe you do have a few photos of your parents from their pre-parent life. If you haven’t looked at them in awhile, pull them out. My guess is that as you’re moving into parenthood yourself, you’ll look at these photos with a renewed perspective. You’ll look beyond the 1970’s hair and bell bottoms and you’ll see the story of two care-free individuals without littles in tow.
Whatever you see, I want you to go one step further. How do you FEEL looking at those photos? What kind of emotion do those photos bring to you? You probably love being able to take a look into their pre parent world and what life was like for them as care free adults.
This is an old photo of me taken by my husband before kids. When my daughter saw this, she asked where we were and what were we doing. . Now, she’s only 6 and she’ll take the photo at face value now, but I have no doubt that when she has grown into a woman, she’ll love that she has this photo, because this is the day my husband proposed to me. In fact just moments after this photo was taken.I love looking back at this photo. When I fell pregnant with my first child. I did have maternity photos taken. However not like this. They were the typical cheesy belly studio shots that you typically see. I never ever thought about capturing what our life looked like back then and what our relationship meant to us before the next chapter started.
Rebecca celebrating her one on one time with her son before #2 comes along
If you don’t have any photos of your parents, then I bet you kind of wished you knew more about that time. Am I right? We may not be able to get time back, but we can do better for your baby.
Here are 9 reasons to capture what your life looks like today:
1. WHEN ITS JUST YOU AND HIM
You will never be alone again - haha just kidding I'm sure you will but just not so easily I guess. Make the most of the simplicity of life just being about you and him and the fact that you love each other.
2. YOU HAVE HOBBIES
How you spend you time and your interests help define who you are as a person. Sometimes we lose bit our identity putting all our focus into motherhood. Imagine capturing those moments that make up who you are today before becoming a parent.
3. YOU'RE NOSTALGIC
Do your children a favour and give them a piece of history. Your life before parenthood will be important to them. Imagine having a child that had the same interests or talent as you? How awesome would it be for them to see you in your prime doing what you love that they could totally relate to.
4 YOU'RE A LITTLE BIT WANDERLUST
Plan on doing any travelling before parenthood? What about a baby moon? What a perfect chance to capture a slice of life of you - travelling and exploring new places.
5. SLEEP INS
I cannot express enough how much I miss this. We used to sleep in til noon on a sunday. Imagine capturing a lazy sunday snuggling in with your partner.
6. BEING SPONTANEOUS
How often do you and your partner just decide to go out for a night on the town? Grab a coffee or just simply go for a walk?
7. BEING SOCIAL
I used to love a good house party, spending the night with just my friends over a few drink and a BBQ. This is a great past time that I no longer get much time for now. What a great way to capture you being you in good company.
8. SELF INDULGENCE.
when the end of the day meant time to switch off and relax... instead of catching up on on looking after everyone else. Bubble bath and wine instead of cooking for 4? Yes please!
9. When one becomes two
so your adding the next little sibling into the family. Your angst is probably on high and I bet your savouring every last moment you have where its just you and your little one getting on eon one time. Soon that dynamic will change with a new baby to care for and priorities will change. This is a super sweet reason to capture the family as it is right now.
Best Time To Photograph While Pregnant
While conventional maternity photos are widely popular, everyone is still under the belief that maternity photos need to be all about the baby bump. This couldn't be further from the truth!
Don't get me wrong, I love pregnant bellies and truly believe women are at their most beautiful during this time. Its not the whole story. Photography can go so much deeper than that. We can celebrate what brought you and your partner to this point in the first place. Celebrating these moments means a maternity photo shoot can be done at what is going to be most convenient based on the memories you would like to capture. There is no right or wrong answer here.
So there’s only one question left: How?
How do you photograph what our life looks like?
Take a moment to think about you and your partner. Here are some questions to get your wheels spinning. Have fun with this – no thought is too silly or unimportant. Let it flow.
What are your most favourite things to do together alone? Do you sleep in til noon on a Sunday then chill together going out for coffee? Any memorable road trips that had you pulling your hair out and cuddling looking into the sunset?
The reality is these romantic trips and treasured alone time will go on hold for a while and will become golden memories. It’s not the beginning of an end, but it is the beginning of great change, growth, and maturing together. Consider documenting what today looks like for you and for your baby.
Now that you have some ideas of what your life looks like, envisioning these details in a photo session may be tough. Lucky for you, that’s where I come in.
Here is my FREE 7 amazing photo session location and ideas cookbook available for download. Get those ideas flowing for your very own maternity photography session.