Kiara’s Maternity Shoot.
Welcome to the very first edition of Heirloom Tales, an online magazine dedicated to the stories of my clients. This is a platform where I get to further elaborate on the stories of those I am privileged to capture and stretch out my creative writing muscles.
First, a Thanks.
There are no better candidates to debut Heirloom Tales than my very first clients, and my dear friends; Kiara and Brandon. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Kiara and Brandon for the past decade, where we have shared many milestones together. I’ve been lucky enough to become a part of their story and as a result they have entrusted me with the documentation of the three most important moments of their lives; their engagement, wedding(s) and now pregnancy - I refer to this as a Photographer’s Holy Trinity (a feat I doubt I’ll ever achieve again). The trust they had in me since the beginning to capture their moments, really allowed me to explore my creativity and it is because of them that Heirloom is what it is today.
The Conception.
Now back to our regular program.
Kiara reached out to me one fine day, disturbing my peaceful European holiday to enquire about a maternity shoot. “Sure” I said, “anything for you.” We penciled in a date and that was that. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I’m back from my holiday and we catch up at the shoot location; their home.
Now, if you know Kiara, she’s meticulous when it comes to designing her home - if she wasn’t in youth work, she’d probably be an interior designer. Matter of fact, she’s the one person that comes to mind before I attempt anything remotely related to home decor, she’s my barometer to whether or not I should buy that lamp or paint that kitchen. Her creativity goes beyond just homeware, she’s got an eye for design and back in our uni-days (university days for our readers beyond Australia) she created a clothing brand called Kiaz Culture, blending the worlds of her Sri Lankan roots, with with a modern, chic twist.
So Kiara comes up with the idea of a ‘Maternity meets Architectural Digest’ shoot and that became the theme for the shoot. Having clients like Kiara is a blessing, as they take a lot of the work load off by coming up with these unique ideas that resonate with them and all I have to simply do is direct and shoot.
My mission was to showcase the beauty of maternity alongside the beauty of the house, and see these two ideas overlap to tell Kiara’s story. A major source of inspiration for me was reflecting back to the magazines of Hollywood celebrities doing day-to-day tasks in their homes, and it was this essence that I wanted to capture.
This day was all about Kiara and her bump, but there are several other players in her life that are important to her; Brandon and their two chocolate Labradors Coco and River. You’ve got the dumb boy, Coco and the oh so sweet, nurturing, caring, majestic girl; River - can you guess which one is my favourite? Both the dogs have such different personalities and I feel it really reflects in the photographs.
The Plan.
We had a couple of hours to get the shots we needed, so I had to improvise a shot-list in my head and go with the flow of the day. I didn’t know what I was going to shoot, or how I was going to shoot it, but I knew the locations I wanted to shoot and an experiment I wanted to try and that’s about it.
So quite simply the plan was: Living Room, Outdoor Patio, Bedroom. In each location the following shots to be taken: Kiara solo, Kiara with Dogs, Kiara with Brandon, Family Photos.
The essence of each plan (besides getting the shots) was to showcase what daily life with a bump looks like, but in a very Kiara fashion.
So what was that experiment I mentioned? Well, while scrolling through Pintrest for some inspiration, I came across a really interesting photo of an ultrasound being projected in a room with the mother-to-be, and I thought I had to try it for myself!
Daddy and the bump.
Kiara’s working it.
Ultrasound Projection.
It was hard to balance the lighting in this scene with the lights I had.
Ultrasound Projection.
Notice that the belly-button is also the mouth here.
Book and Coffee.
The results.
The only problem - I don’t have a full studio set-up with a big enough projector to encompass the whole room. What I did have - a small projector and a white wall. So going with the flow, and by working with what we got we managed to get creative and managed to get arguably my favourite shot of the day. Sometimes having constraints are a blessing as it breeds resourcefulness. An on-going joke is that magic always happens in Kiara and Brandon’s bedroom - because that’s where we got some of their best wedding photos, by once again working with what we had at the time.
Overall, I thought the day was a success utilizing both natural and artificial light in the scenes as I saw fit. I believe I captured what maternity is like for Kiara and displayed it in a way that’s both visually striking and true to the theme. Once again a fun little intimate shoot with a couple of my favourite people.
Enjoy your Heirlooms!
Anthony.
