When Kim first asked me about doing a milk bath maternity session, I had my reservations. First off, I had a big obstacle… I had to find a bathtub to shoot in! I had also never done one of these before and my only real experience with them was admiring the beautiful images I had seen on Pinterest. I honestly hadn’t really ever considered organizing one of my own. I also didn’t know how I even felt about them. So you can see why I was a little weary. However, I am a firm believer in trying new things and I am a bit of a challenge junky. When I am presented with an opportunity to do something I’ve never done, I usually go all in! Like that time, while living in South Korea, someone challenged me to eat a live octopus...you bet your bottom I tried it (and it wasn’t that bad!) But I digress...
After securing a bathtub for our location (thanks to my dear photographer friend and proud owner of said tub) I began researching and planning out the shoot. Kim had some wonderful ideas of her own and together, we made maternity session magic!! Kim’s partner, Cody, is my cousin and also happens to be a photographer as well so he helped me set up the scene, got the ladder ready and happily poured the milk! We laughed a lot about how ‘out of our comfort zone’ it was but once we had the tub ready, we knew the images were going to be stunning.
Kim wore a beautiful lace gown and the most perfect flower crown. She looked absolutely radiant. After easing her into the bath and positioning her comfortably (cuz we all know how important that is during pregnancy), we spread dozens of flowers all around her. She giggled and smiled and made jokes about how she actually hates milk but loved the idea of having this experience so much, that she set aside her distaste to go ahead with it. She wanted to celebrate her body at this stage of pregnancy. She wanted to embrace motherhood to its fullest extent.
The journey into motherhood is such a miracle and our bodies do some really amazing things. It was such an honor to celebrate Kim’s journey and to show just how beautiful her body is when so full of life. For so many women (myself included), showing our body is off limits. We tell ourselves that we can’t do that. We listen to the voices in our heads saying, “Who wants to see that?” “What will people think?” “I’m too (fat, ugly, swollen, fill in the blank)” But you know what? It’s not true!! Women are beautiful, mothers are beautiful, pregnancy is beautiful. I think all of us should be celebrated for the wondrous life giving vessels that we are. I love that Kim took me down this road with her and gave me a challenge worth taking. It was a wonderful experience to photograph her in this beautiful setting and even better that I got outside of my comfort zone. It’s been an inspiration for me and I’m so excited to share these images!
How about you? Does this give you courage to try something new? Maybe a boudoir session? Comments and feedback always appreciated!
Love, Jenn
